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.

You don't think telling OP to take fuses out of aircon so it doesn't work isn't petty, spiteful and miserly?? Why go to that extent? That's ridiculous. What next, removing the plumbing in case they use too much water.

Get out more! You're a clown. I've lived in many countries that are classed as tropical or subtropical desert, hence why I think it's a bit of a joke to invite family that live in the UK to come stay then revoke the aircon, which is generally needed for people not used to tropical living, non nationals of a tropical climate.

Surely an hourly rate is meaningless without knowing the energy consumption…? I’ve got AC units that are 3Kw, and so at 27 cents an hour peak cost (France) that’s nearly 70p an hour. I can easily imagine that being more on an island.

But I agree when you have more than one home you need to be resolute in standing your ground about visitors. Not so much close and family - I don’t mind them using places if I’m not. It’s the people who are more acquaintances than friends that can be the least backwards in coming forwards. And often, by the time you take into account flights, car hire (they’re definitely not borrowing my car!) it’s often not the cheap holiday they’re expecting!

Having said that, if I’ve invited someone to stay with me I want them to be comfortable, and if we are talking somewhere tropical I think most of us unaccustomed to living in that environment would expect air-con.

Aircon is far from standard in most of the tropics. The houses are generally built such that it is close to useless. Where you lived, or your personal homes, were the exception not the rule.
Now I'm wondering if I inadvertently horrified visitors with the provision of a meager fan. Dear me.

They are not her family. Regardless of any other opinion. She has not invited her family to stay. She said they are ‘friends that they are not close to’. And we don’t know if they invited themselves or not which does change things. We need clarification from the OP.

No, I don't think it's any of those things but then I'm not generally prone to extreme reactions

It's one of a number of options to address the possible issue. We have little information to go on in this situation, the guests may be perfectly happy to pay the additional cost, we don't know, the OP is musing about options.

If water was a costly resource then yes, it would be equally valid to think about how to not incur additional costs when providing someone you aren't close friends with with a free holiday. I don't see anything controversial in that. Most of us don't have unlimited funds to do all the things we might like to

I live in the Caribbean and surprisingly very few solar panels and the electric is extortionate.

It depends on your financial situation I guess but I think the guests should have been given the heads up long before they booked the holiday.

On the other hand, if this is a second home they are staying in, I think you should suck up the cost and perhaps just ask them to be mindful with the usage - ie not leave it on all day.

What is '50p per hour electricity'? Do you mean 50p per kw hour? If so a small 3kw AC unit would use £15 over 10 hours use. If they leave it running all day it would cost OP £36 just for the AC.

I beg your pardon? You’re very gauche for someone who is claims to be cosmopolitan. Part of my family is from a tropical country, part is from a Mediterranean country, I’ve lived and stayed in places all over the world. Some places have aircon and some don’t. If it was a dealbreaker for me, I would enquire before booking.

Exactly.

They aren't close enough friends to just tell them how much it costs to run the air con, so why have them stay in your home?

When use ils cottage we pay cost of electric/gas and cleaning and we are grateful for the bargain!

Do not do this

I think it's fine to charge...just let them know now so they can budget for it

As long as they know in advance I can't see why not. That way they can budget it into their holiday funds.

I think you should charge them for the air con and the cleaner but mainly I think you should've done that before, when you were discussing arrangements.

Btw is that you, A?

Absolutely not problem saying “you’re very welcome to use the fans for free. Electricity is extremely expensive here, if you’d like to put the air con on, please could you make a contribution of £15 per night to help us pay for it”.

I can’t see anything wrong with that at all.

Someone has to pay it and if they’ve saved £1000 on accommodation and they have a choice if they want it on or not, then it should be them.

why on earth would you pay it?

£15 per night is expensive for one room. Op should definitely charge for air con. It's not an unreasonable ask for what they are getting.

Free accommodation in the tropics they are getting a very good deal .

This is not some Downton scenario!! In many parts of the world maid is the word for cleaner. I have american friends call their twice weekly cleaning lady "the maid".

Of course it's entirely reasonable and polite to just tell the truth. Give them the option. It doesn't have to be weird or complex

That's what I'd do. Turn it off.

I would say it probably depends on who asked who to stay, like did you invite them or did they ask and when they asked did you mention the cost at that point

You should have said you’ll let them stay for £15 a night. Missed a trick there.