To ask guests to pay for air con?

[rubbergloots]

We live on a tropical island. Electricity is very very expensive here. The house has floor and ceiling fans which we run. In addition to this, there is also air con in the bedrooms. We never use it as it’s fine with the fans.

It would cost about £15 a night to keep the aircon on in one bedroom. We have guests coming to stay from the UK. AIBU to ask them to pay for air con if they want to use it?

We aren’t charging them to stay in our villa of course. They are not close friends. They have probably saved about £1,000 over the week they are staying here with free accommodation. We are also happy to pay for the maid to clean their room etc.

I'd happily pay if I was getting otherwise free accommodation on a tropical island for a week! I agree that it's tricky to ask so close but I would maybe say that it's very expensive to run it and see if they offer to contribute.

Really?!

You know the price of electricity everywhere in the world?!

I think it's fine to pass the cost on. If they're not happy they can stay elsewhere or manage without ac.

I'd say "we don't use the air con as electricity is so expensive on the island, if you find you do need to use it, we'd really appreciate a contribution towards the cost of running it".

I would just say the cost of aircon here is extortionate so we don't use it, if you feel you need aircon the cost will be £15 per day which you'll need to cover, but the fan should suffice, that's what we use.

I'd explain how expensive it is and let them know you don't use it because of the cost. But do that now.

I'm bemused that you'd have guests who are not close friends coming to stay with you. They wouldn't be, if you weren't on a tropical island, would they?

You're blurring the lines. Either operate as a guest house and charge accordingly - or only have guests that you love and will actually want to host.

I would have just put the air-con charge on whatever correspondence there was and made it very clear that it needs to be paid if they want it.

Pretty much yes the main places.

Good point though, forgot ac costs
more if you have a very inefficient unit, possibly up to £1.50 per hour to run. most cost maybe 50p hour even in high cost areas.

Also, is the £15 per day or just 8 hours at night. Because it would be uncalled for to run it 24/7

I'd just send an email with some pre travel information like insect repellent, what travel pass to use etc in bullet points and include that the aircon is expensive 15 per night so you don't use it but they are welcome to put it on in their room if they want to cover the cost.

Is there an option to compromise and cover half of the costs? I’d definitely tell them before they get there, just say by the way we don’t use the air conditioning because of expense, it’s around £15 per day. If you would like it on we would really appreciate a contribution of £X for the week, otherwise we normally use the fans which are fine for us but appreciate you might prefer air con!

obviously it would have been better if you raised it earlier, but you’ve been generous and I think most people wouldn’t mind given the money they have saved. Don’t lie and pretend it’s broke - I hate being hot and would happily pay the extra!

I don't think you can just suddenly ask them to pay towards it, no.

Your options are:

• Only ask people to stay who you're close enough to to cover the whole cost.
• Ask people for a nominal payment for their stay - to cover the air con but without telling them that's what it's for.

It seems weird to me to let them stay when it would cost so much otherwise, but then to make them pay for the air con. If you can't afford to have people to stay for free - don't.

I too am intrigued by the cost per night. I have a house in Spain with a whole house air con system, so I'm used to what that costs to run and we find that fine there.

May I ask what you pay per kWh of electricity OP, and what the wattage of your air con unit is? I'm genuinely interested.

Would an option be to put it on in a timer for a bit before they go to bed?

I thought you were going to say you run a B'n'B, in which case you would be being unreasonable. But since you're letting friends stay for free, I think it's fair to say, "I'm happy for you to have the use of the villa, but I'm afraid I have charge £15pp, per night, to cover the cost of utilities, which are really expensive on the island." This is still considerably cheaper than they would have to pay at a hotel or if they'd booked a villa through an agent or Airbnb.

If they aren't close friends then getting free accommodation is already a bonus! I would go with we don't use it. It costs £15 a night and we can put it on if you wish and will cover the costs. Otherwise our home is run the way we usually run it

😂

They are getting the villa and all amenities for free, they can def stomach the cost of air con

I would be happy with this if I were them. I would pay £15 a night for air conditioning, if I were getting a free stay on a tropical island 🏝

No way I'd ask now. Surely that's part of an upfront conversation.

Is this somewhere tropical where solar panels are not the usual? Fine to ask people to cover basic running costs if expensive at the point at which they are deciding whether to come over, not when they have committed and paid for airfares, etc. I know someone with a ski chalet. When people they know stay in it they are asked to pay for the housekeeping and other fees. It still works out a lot cheaper than renting the chalet. But everyone knows this is advance.

The "main places"? Which would those be?

Not necessarily - the costs of getting there might be as much as they would pay for another holiday in its entirety.

Are they coming to see you or having the villa to themselves? If the latter you can definitely charge. If the former then you probably need to address the issue and decide on a plan because you will find a steady stream of people wanting to come and visit you since you live in a holiday destination. I personally would just switch off the aircon altogether and say you don't use it (take the fuse out of the fuse box) rather than charge. Guests need to live how you live and if they don't like it they needn't come again (assuming the temperature really is ok with just fans).

One problem is that as northern Europeans, a lot of us tend to put the aircon on at a very low temperature, for example 18 degrees.

The first thing to understand here is that setting the temperature so low won't make the house cool down any faster than setting it at a higher temperature. You are just instructing the thermostat to only turn it off when it gets to that temperature. That will rack up your bills if you run it for hours at a time.

The second thing to appreciate is that when it is really hot outside, then just cooling the air down inside by a significant margin already feels much more comfortable. Being too cool inside can really make you suffer with the uncomfortable contrast when you go outside. If it's 40 degrees outside, then eg 23 or 24 degrees makes a very comfortable contrast.

Indeed, the Spanish government have passed a law that public buildings cannot be cooled to less than 27 degrees as a result of the recent energy crisis, and this is what you will experience eg at Spanish airports nowadays.

I think you are fine to ask them. They aren't close friends. They don't have to use the a/c and they are staying for free.
Alternatively I would ask them not to use the a/c and to speak to you if they think they need it, then you can make noises about how pricey it is. If they have any common decency they will offer to pay at that point.

@Lobstercrisps For ref, I am not in the UK. I am not in a valley nor am I by a river. I am in a house that doesn’t need to comply with UK or EU building regulations and when it is 32 degrees at 10 pm at night, 25 degrees is very comfortable. It’s the movement of air that aids cooling.

Also, setting the temperature at 68f/20c is not cost efficient and that it what the OP is concerned about https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2024/january/air-conditioning-tips-and-tricks