.. I personally wouldn't, I would expect them to pay for their own flight and spending money but I wouldn't charge them for staying with us.
I'm in a situation that involves my best and oldest friend, her family and my son. The two families are exceptionally close and our friendship spans over 45 yrs. They first invited my son, then 15 to join them on a family holiday to Spain a few years ago. We paid for his flight and also covered his expenses whilst there which I thought was reasonable. I only recently found out that my friend charged him £270 for his stay (sharing a room with their son) which my son paid. He didn't tell me until recently so I was completely unaware.
Fast forward to a year ago, my son was again invited to join them on holiday. He bought his own flight and was again charged for his accommodation (sharing a room with their son).
Unfortunately Covid meant it had to be postponed until this January where it clashed with my son's final Uni exams (the exam dates were only released a few weeks beforehand so not much warning) which meant he couldn't go. It was a huge shame because he had been looking forward to it for so long. If he had gone he would have missed an important exam which is worth points to his final degree mark. Also if he had caught Covid whilst there he would have missed ALL his exams which would have been disastrous.
Me and his father felt he had made the right decision not to bin off his final year exams and he reluctantly had to pull out.
He has just been given a voucher for the full flight amount but my closest friend is keeping his accommodation money which I think it so morally wrong. The £300 was to cover his stay in the villa whilst he was there (showers, electricity etc) but the poor kid didn't go so he's basically given them almost £300 spending money for absolutely nothing!! It wasn't even as if my son had his own room (on either occasion!!).
My daughter has recently been asked if she would like to join one of her friend's and their family on a holiday this summer to Greece. The first thing they said was "We'd love it if your daughter could join us, we will obviously cover the accommodation side but if you could cover her flight and give her some spending money that would be great".
In my mind that is how this should work. Makes perfect sense. If a family are going on holiday anyway and an extra person doesn't increase the cost of the accommodation - why on earth charge them for it?!!!!
When my best friends returned from their holiday we asked if it would be possible if my son could have his money reimbursed and the answer was a straight out and out NO. End of. Their answer was "he chose not to go so he loses the money".
I am so shocked and hurt by this - a student who had worked hard during the Summer to save up for the holiday and they felt they were totally justified in keeping his money. I know that if the shoe was on the other foot there is no way firstly, I'd even consider charging for accommodation but if I did and the child couldn't go there would be no question of me giving the money back. I simply can't get over their decision which I believe shows zero loyalty and is totally morally wrong.
My best friend and I are no longer talking but hopefully my son and his friend will continue to remain close. 45+ yrs of friendship down the toilet. To rip off my son once is bad enough but to do it again is unforgiveable in my mind.
I would love your opinions on this whether you agree or not. It's a very sad situation but I think it's about principles and I feel my son has been treated very badly by so called life long family friends.