Friend stayed

[Creek2025]

I live at a holiday destination people like to come to I had a friend invite themselves I felt I had to agree so I said a couple of nights which turned into a few nights extra. I collected my friend which is an hour away from the airport and spent time 3 solid days with her but expected me to pay for everything and do groceries etc without offering or even putting hand in pocket.

is it normal when a guest stays to pay for everything I would at least pay for groceries or a meal out if it was the other way round.

I have had people stay before where I’ve ended up paying more with Ubers etc but not like this.

No they're getting free accommodation. They pay for what they do when there

I had a similar thing recently with a woman I knew years ago in the context of a group. She asked if she could stay with us on her way to somewhere else, but without giving a date- she would plan the trip around us. So we could not just say we were busy that weekend. I’d never been close to her and hadn’t seen her for several years.
It was really hard to do, but I eventually replied’sorry we can’t invite you to stay, we have too many visitors in the diary already and are finding hosting very tiring nowadays’. It was a relief to say it and also true. Hosting is tiring.
People can’t really invite themselves, they can only ask to be invited, and it’s important to find a way to say no.

This is why I say no to guests 🙁 sounds like your friend just wanted a free holiday!

Nope, guests should at least chip in for groceries or a meal, especially if they invited themselves and stayed longer than agreed. Your home is not a hotel and they should have at least got you something to thank you for your hospitality.

If they try it again, just say you’ve already got family/friends staying over or if you do fancy having them over, agree on the dates upfront and ask for grocery and fuel money in advance. CFs will probably run a mile, real friends won’t mind.