To think we should get the best room in a villa?

[hwange]

We’re going away as a family to celebrate two birthdays: my husband’s 60th and our son’s 30th. There will be five adults: me, my husband, our two sons (30 and 28) and older son’s partner.

We’ve rented a five-bedroom holiday house. The plan is:

• One room for me and my husband
• One room for our older son and his girlfriend
• One room for our younger son
• Two smaller spare rooms

Everyone is paying an equal share, and our older son’s girlfriend organised the whole booking.

All the bedrooms are nice, but one is clearly the best (great view and a fancy bed), one is also very good, and one is more basic but has a small kitchen.

What’s the fairest way to decide who gets which room?

To the person upthread who thinks you just open the brochure and pick and voila holiday booked…

1. pick dates, not easy with larger groups
2. pick country and resort, does it suit everyone?
3. check you can fly there from local airports on right dates
4. slog online through every local villa. Check bedrooms have right beds/bathrooms/location ok
5. work out hire care/taxi/transfer options
6. book it, pay money, get money back ryo everyone. Make sure everyone has got flights sorted. It’s not a 5 minute job.

I think out of respect, they should ask you if you and your DH want it, as you’re the elders and it’s your husband’s 60th.

Yes, they have fewer years of life left; but given that they'll most probably be retiring in a few years, and their days of having to work their own lives around those of young children are over, I would expect that they have a good number of lovely, free years ahead of them.

Do you really think that, because one supposedly mature adult decides to sulk like a little child because they don't get preferential treatment, that means everybody else should just give in to them and let them get their way for peace? On the contrary, in reality, such behaviour would almost certainly earn you a firm exclusion from ever being asked on any more joint family holidays.

Out of interest, what would be your feeling if they were the elders, but it wasn't either of their significant birthdays; but it was still a significant birthday of one of the younger couple? Who would 'win' then?

And also, one very crucial point is that none of us know what their DS and his GF's plans are, in organising this holiday for them all. They may well have intended to offer - and insist on - the best room to his parents right from the outset.

It's kind of randomly being assumed that they will be as selfish as OP is and won't hear of anybody else getting the best room; but we have no way of knowing that they aren't kind and considerate in prioritising other people's happiness in simple little token gestures like this.

The moral of the story is "Whoever did the work gets the payout". Next time you want first dibs at a room, you organise it.

Come off it. I'm 70+ and would not expect any favours if someone else had done all the arrangements. I'd happily have a lesser room if I was just on the holiday and not saddled with the responsibility.