Do you divide up the cost per person or per rooom?

[NatureNatur]

Friend is hiring a house abroad for a big birthday (v short plane away) Around 5 couples going, and 3 singletons. It's for 4 days.

I have confirmed I am going, but said my DH will have to see closer to the time. We have young kids and no family who could have them for longer than one night really. Elderly or unwilling family either side.

Just had the cost through and it's £400 per person. I had thought it would be worked out by room - e.g. I can just pay to have a bedroom and if DH joins for one night - all good as he would be in my room. Was I unreasonable to presume this?

But it's costed per person - so would be £800 for a room, and the singletons pay £400 for their room.

Is this fair? Of course we can't justify DH paying £400 for one night so I'm going to need to say that and then i gues costs are going to go up for everyone so ppl aren't going to be happy and DH just stays home.

Do you divide up the overall cost by person or by bedroom?

Singles don't need a room each either. They can share. Choosing not to share comes at a premium, because its a luxury. You're having a two person room all to yourself. (small single rooms excepted).

Many couples sleep apart at home either sometimes or always.

DH and I would happily share and halve costs, but I'm not prepared to pay double for the privilege of sharing.

One room, one cost. A bigger cost for a bigger/better room, absolutely, and a smaller cost for a small single (and I'd broadly expect a small single bedroom to cost about half the large master, so effectively each person pays for a half room). But a single in a double room needs to pay the same as two singles sharing a double room or a couple sharing a double room. It's not the couples (or two sharing singles) fault if one single doesn't wish to share, and they shouldn't bear the cost of that decision.

This.

It's so annoying how couples always try to advantage themselves in these situations.

And suggesting that singles "bunk together" is obnoxious. Sharing a bedroom with someone you don't ordinarily live with is a strain, and not comparable in the slightest to sharing with a family member.

Why would you presume that singles are willing to give up their privacy?

Exactly. Sharing with a friend or acquaintance is not comparable to sharing with a spouse. So condescending when the marrieds fail to acknowledge this.

Two singles sharing a room should pay the same as two people in a relationship sharing a room.

Someone (single or in a relationship) having a room to themselves should pay more than someone (single or in a relationship) sharing a room.

It has nothing to do with relationship status. It has to do with the choice for a private double room over a shared double room.

A couple should not have to pay twice as much for the same room as a single person.

Why do singles always think they are entitled to be subsised by couples? Your relationships status is not our responsibility! If you aren't prepared to pay for a private room, accept that you need to share.

Per person, but I think that is largely by the by. This is about how you deal with people staying only part of the holiday. A single friend wanting to come for one night would have exactly the same dilemma being asked to pay £400 for one night. In fact it would be even more if you were splitting costs per room. But if they were charged per night, and just stayed 1 night, their friends (ie you) would be subsidising their room standing empty x 3 nights. I bet that wouldn't feel fair either.

We tend to organise it that people commit to paying for the whole thing or not coming. Anything else gets too complicated. But there should be an underlying spirit that people want friends to come along, and no one's trying to screw each other over. Your group needs discussion about this, not someone dictating accommodation and cost split.

Always per person, as the couples usually get the beer rooms and obviously there's two of them. Why wouldn't it be that way? It would be so unfair on single people otherwise.

The entire house is being rented, not just the bedrooms, so the cost should be per person.

The rental price is £5200 altogether, regardless of how many people are going or sharing rooms.

You're all sharing the other facilities (kitchen, living rooms, garden, etc) so you should all pay an equal amount for that.

It's not unfair for a single person having privacy and a whole double room to themselves to pay more than two people (single or otherwise) having to share a room and not having privacy.

Lets assume everyone going on the trip is a group of friends and all are single. No-one in a relationship, no-one shagging each other etc. 6 equal single people are going. It's a 4 double ensuite bedroom house. All rooms are equal in size and facilities.

Charlie and Rob share one double ensuite room
Millie and Poppy share one double ensuite room
Jonnie has a double ensuite room to himself
Reeva has a double ensuite room to herself

Would you really expect the cost to be split equally per person when they're all single?

So there's 13 people, 5 couples and 3 singletons.

OP states it's a massive house. It sounds like there's a bedroom for everyone.

Let's say it has 8 bedrooms. A room for each couple and each singleton.

What difference does it make if the singletons share a room or not? There's still 8 bedrooms.

I think it should be in the middle, something like £600- £650 per room if there are 8 rooms.

The difference is that a 6 or 7 bedroom house would generally be cheaper (and there would be more choice) than an 8 bedroom house. So the costs go up for everyone by providing the single people with a private double room all to themselves.

Let's say for this group of 5 couples and 3 singles they found a 5 double bedroom, one triple bedroom villa (and £££ cheaper than the 8 bed villa). So the couples share a double room each and the singles all share the triple room - come on, singles, still happy to pay per person? After all, fair's fair... So you, 3 in a triple room are happy to pay the same per person as the couple in the double room?

So if all 3 singletons share 1 room, that leaves 2 empty bedrooms.

Who pays for them if they're not being used.

PP seem to not be considering the entire house is being rented out. The house is £5200 to rent, regardless of whether people share a room or not, the amount of bedrooms stay the same.

But a house of that size at that expensive cost has been chosen to give the singles their own private rooms, which has bumped the cost up. If they are happy to share, they can likely find a 5 double one triple room villa at a lower cost. That villa is not the only villa in existence!

If everyone has a room (so each couple and each single person), I can see the point of going per room. Even though it would mean the people leaving their DP at home are worse of (and really should be considering taking their DP with them).
If any of the single oerson has to share? Definitively per person

If it is per room, the single people should have an option to have the double room with ensuite, rather than the small room.

Absolutely assuming all rooms are doubles, why not, draw straws ( I've already said a single should be charged at less than a double).

As a couple, I'd have no problem with this. Nor would I have a problem with bigger rooms with ensuites etc being charged at more than standard doubles.

What I do have a problem with is paying twice as much to share a room as someone else pays to have an equal private room to themselves.

This is one of those things that is an art rather than a science and massively depends on the rooms themselves and the people involved. We've generally ended up doing a hybrid between per room and per person as it's very rare for villa rooms to be of equal "niceness" in terms of facilities/ views/ location etc.

Bummer for the single people, always expected to take the worst rooms!

Fair point. I suppose that scenario would be per room.

I suppose it depends if the host booked the property specifically for the amount of couples and singletons, and whether she wants to book somewhere else.

We dont know if the host booked a luxurious home that has 10 bedrooms, a hot tub, pool, etc, so it wouldn't matter whether singletons share or not.

Or it could just be somewhere that states 'sleeps 15' but rooms different sizes etc.

But why should that scenario be per room (benefiting the singles), but the other scenario be per person (also benefiting the singles).

Peoples relationship status is irrelevant. It's either fair to split per room or per person. You can't pick or choose based on which best suits the single people, which is always what's suggested.

Personally, I would do per room, but with a bigger amount charged for larger rooms/king beds/ensuites. Generally singles want their own room, but are happy for it to be smaller as it's the privacy they value, couples are happy to share but value the kingsize bed/ensuite and are prepared to pay more to have them. So this way suits all and balances things out in both directions. Yes, it's a bit of a pain for the organiser, but fairer all round.

A per person cost when some, but not all, people are sharing is never fair, and is only ever suggested by singles who want a private room at half cost.

But it's not just your sleeping room. Couples = two people using all of the other amenities such as the kitchen, the televisions, the pool, laundry, etc. and just generally taking up space.

The cost is for the use of the entire villa, not just the sleeping rooms.

@mrsm43s that only works if the singles also have the choice to pay more for a more luxurious room. When I was single, I would have done so.

A third of the cost apportioned to the shared spaces, and divided by the number of people. Two-thirds apportioned to bedrooms and divided by the number of rooms. From the starting point of £5,200 cost, 8 bedrooms and 13 people attending, this would result in couples sharing bedrooms paying £700 in total, and solos with their own bedrooms paying £567. You can debate the shared space/room allocation of course.

But the couple is getting more than "a room," they are two people using all of the functions of the villa. The bedroom isn't the only consideration.

And let's face it, the couples always demand the best accommodation. Do the married / partnered people ever take the bunk beds or sofa beds or pull-out n the lounge, leaving the king bed with ensuite for the single person?