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.

Do we know if the OP invited them? This is crucial I feel.

I have heating in my house but I don't have it on all the time as I can't afford to. If someone was using my house as a free holiday home I sure as hell wouldnt want to fork out for them to put it on overnight

And before you ask why I have heating it's because it came with the house 😁

If you can't afford to make them comfortable don't invite them

I would perhaps email/call them in advance and just give them a heads up so they can budget for it if needed, but personally if I were staying with someone I wouldnt want to be uncomfortable (and hate being overly hot at night) but also wouldnt want to have someone out of pocket so would rather know so I could pay my way.

That does seem so expensive. Is that to run for the whole night? We have 2 air con units and would never use them if they were close to that for use. But we also have timers on ours and usually just run them for an hour at bedtime when its hot, and if we wake up during the night hot, pop it on for a bit but never leave it running the entire night. Is that an option?

Not ridiculous at all, flights to a 'tropical island' are probably very expensive, maybe they usually go to Spain all inclusive for the cost of flights, including a working aircon. I wouldn't invite family to stay with me and then tell them no aircon, this type of thing needs to be mentioned before the time of booking. I've lived in Thailand, electricity was costly, I always had the aircon on at night, my friend never did but I cannot sleep in humid heat as I find it unbearable, so to tell family no aircon unless you pay £15 a night is a joke, just maybe they cannot afford to pay this additional cost they're being told about after booking their expensive flights. Not everyone has spare money for unexpected costs.

I agree with this tbh. Not a dig, but I just wouldn't have agreed for them to come since they aren't even close friends. I'd suck it up unless finances are super tight. If they are, then ask for some money. Don't let people use you stay in your nice villa in tropical location unless they're good friends though.

Why are they staying with you OP ?

To avoid any unawkwardness I would turn off completely and then tell them you only use the fans due to the expenses and tell them £15 to use overnight so the fans are the only things used.
If they then said oh we are happy to pay £15 then I would let them use it.
I wouldn't ask them to though.

So when you stay with friends/family instead of at a hotel you don’t consider this a saved hotel cost? How odd.
If they cannot afford the cost of the aircon then they can just tell the host. I agree with the poster who mentions heating costs. If a friend stayed at my place when I was away ( invited or on their own idea) I would say if you increase the heating you’ll have to pay the extra costs. If they didn’t like this they could stay elsewhere and hotels are expensive. If they could not afford the extra then they would have to wear extra clothing which I would provide- shawl, large wrap, slippers etc

Say the aircon is broken.
Easier.
Disable it if you can.

When I lived in the tropics, it used to drive me nuts that guests would leave the AC running all day, even when they were out. Don't let them think this is acceptable.

I used to live in Bermuda and the cost of electricity was unbelievable. I didn't have air conditioning in my rented place. People I didn't know that well often used to ask if they could come and stay and, in the early days, I agreed so I can see how this happens.

I'd ask them not to switch it on or put signs over the controls saying "do not use" or similar.

Yes, I would take the fuse out (or equivalent) to make it stayed "broken"!
If they can't stand the heat they shuldn't go to stay on a tropical island:

I do think for the future if people ask to come and stay (who are not close friends) you make this clear at the time of booking their flights. So ‘yes but just to let you know we don’t use the air con as too expensive - you can turn on if you are happy to shoulder the cost’. Then they are aware of total costs.

Do you really need to be walked through the fact that aircon is not a given in a private home and if they were that concerned they could have asked?

I voted YANBU but only if you pre-warn them. As they aren't paying to stay in your villa, they can afford to spend on the air-con but you can't land them with the charge as soon as they show up. They need to be made aware of it before they depart.
I would be very angry if someone offered their villa to me (even if they didn't charge for the villa) and then as I was leaving they presented me with a bill for the electricity usage during my stay. I'd want to have been pre-warned and prepared for that.

If money’s that tight they can stay at home for free, no-one has forced them to book flights.

Yes I do, because I wouldn't dream of offering to host my family then a week before arrival tell the no aircon or pat for aircon, on a tropical island.

Goodness, what am I reading? People telling the OP to take the fuse out of the airconditioning, to prevent her guests from using it? What nasty, tight and miserly people! This thread is horrible!

You must live a very sheltered life if a discussion on someone getting a free holiday but being asked to pay for an expensive resource is nasty, tight and miserable

How low is your bar for horrible 😂

Not really because unless I was offered to stay with friends, I probably wouldn't be going to a tropical island. Just like if family visited me where I currently live ( below freezing) I wouldn't then dream of charging them for the heating. I would just presume it was part of the package /hospitality. Like I said maybe the family don't usually spend a lot on holidays so to pay for flights then be told an additional £15 a night to sleep in comfort is asking a lot imo. Transparency is always best, from the beginning.

Exactly.

Well then you need to get out more - because many houses worldwide, particularly period houses, don’t have aircon. Some places don’t even bother with fans as nationals are used to the heat.

There’s no obligation to tell them there’s no aircon before they arrive, there’s no obligation to have it.

BEFORE booking the flight.

But the OP hasn’t offered to host her family, they are not family or even close friends. So until we know how this trip has come about it’s hard to call whether she is BU or not. It’s definitely a bit late to spring this on them though.