Villa split between childfree couples and families

[Adrianne1234]

Trying to organise a long weekend away (2 nights) with a group of friends for autumn and this is the group split:

Family 1: 2 adults & 2 kids
Family 2: 2 adults & 2 kids
Family 3: 2 adults & 1 kid
Family 4: 2 adults
Family 5: 2 adults

We don't seem to agree on how the total price would be split. The house has 6 bedrooms. 3 family rooms (king beds + single beds) with ensuite bathrooms, 2 standard double rooms and 1 room with 2 single beds for "extra space" (6th room is not claimed by anyone but deemed necessary by the parents to have additional space).

2/3 families seem to think the total bill should be split by couple, without considering the kids.
1/3 families and the 2 adults families think that the families should pay more because despite everyone technically occupying 1 room, some rooms are family rooms.

To state the significance of this, if we wanted to find accommodation for 10 adults, the price per couple would be around half the one we are paying to have a place that can accomodate all the kids/has the right sort of family rooms.

If it was to be split by couple, price would be £550 per couple, which seems pretty steep for families without kids (that also end up getting the crappier rooms).

Food bills will be split amongst adults so kids won't pay for that which has been agreed by everyone.

Thoughts?

Didn't expect this to be so one sided, feel better about not being the unreasonable ones as I had to started to doubt myself

Sounds like me might be on call baby sitters too 😅

This. The childfree thinking oh they won't eat much they're only little. Not realising children have hollow legs and it's a holiday so parents will indulge their desire to eat their own bodyweight in sweets.

If I was one of the childfree couples I'd be opting out of the shared accommodation and going to stay in a hotel, which would cost much less for accommodation and come with the advantage of not having to share a bathroom. Plus having more of my available holiday budget to spend on eating out and other holiday activities. In the OP's proposed scenario the childfree are subsidising significantly the families holidays. I'd have to be both stinking rich and love them very much to do that!

I don't think it's fair that childless couples are subsidising the holiday for families with kids, and also have the crappier rooms. If you are paying per room then room allocation should be random, which of course it won't be. I don't think the childless couples should be subsidising food for the families either! And I say all that as someone with kids. I'd feel really embarrassed to put childless friends in that situation.

Exactly, "let's everyone pay for this room we.dont need....oh no one using that room?, I'll just pop Topsy and Tim in it then..."

Used to be on the other side of this, going on holiday as a childless couple with friends when friends had kids. Emphatically did not babysit for anyone.

Could 1 family have a small double and the spare twin room, so that a couple can have an ensuite?
As a parent I'd trade a second room for an ensuite any day!

Pull out while you can. No good will come of this.

Ah but then the parents would have to actually parent their DC the entire time they were on holiday. Instead of sitting in a living room/hiding out in a bedroom ignoring the DC while they run riot elsewhere in the villa/garden. Can't be having that now, can we?! 😅😩

Just in case of what? Can't see why they would need a spare room, it's only going to be 2 nights!

Well the 2 families with kids trying to get a financial advantage are outvoted arent they? So they need to get over it and accept that childfree people dont have to subsidize them.

I think the child free couples will drink a lot more than the parents (or at least the mums sadly) so that should balance out.

I'd make sure kids only food like snacks and crisps and children's yoghurts etc are covered by their parents

think the child free couples will drink a lot more than the parents (or at least the mums sadly) so that should balance out.

Not in my experience! Plenty of people (mums, too!) with kids are often quite happy to get shitfaced when on holiday!

The extra bedroom is ridiculous. An extra bathroom so that the child free couples get their own bathrooms would be fairer

The families know if they were to stay in a hotel they would pay more for a family room than a double room so they are being cheeky - especially since the couples have accepted paying for the kid's food. Kids aren't that old but still feeding 5 kids for a week is not nothing.

Big assumption that they drink, they might be teetotal for all you know and doesn't even come close to the cheeky fuckery going on with room costs

@LumiB I'm only taking about the food and drink shops costs not the rooms

As others have said, demanding an additional 6th bedroom that you just know DCs are going to end up sleeping in, is ridiculous. Demanding this and expecting the ensuite bedrooms as well and paying the same as the no DC couples is beyond ridiculous.

I wouldn't agree to split the costs evenly. At the very least those who are insisting on a "spare" bedroom should at least carry the additional cost for that, and the ensuite rooms should carry a supplement. Maybe the way to do it is something like Bedroom with an ensuite -£120 per night , non ensuite bedroom £100 or whatever the actual numbers are and split the cost of the sixth bedroom between the DPs.

Or failing that go for separate groups of cottages which will be more expensive for everyone but at least is fair.

I've never heard of getting an extra room in a holiday let for no reason, it's obviously for the kids Can you pull out of the holiday, or switch to hotel rooms? The food thing is a bit odd too.

When’s the Zoom call? Good luck!

It’s tricky but the suggestion of kids costing half extra seems fair. We had a similar holiday but all families had children however one family was 2 adults and a child and the other family one adult and 2 children. Another was 2 adults and 3 children but only one income on that household. It got very tricky to agree the rooms. Made harder by the fact the most of the rooms were not family rooms so some kids were sharing with each other, 1 shared with their child, one couple kept both their kids. I don’t even know what happened in the end as I k ow someone did agree to pay extra for someone else due to circumstances both sides.

It’s sometimes hard to get a place with the exact number of rooms required for the number of people. So it probably wasn’t deliberate. They probably didn’t request a spare room but found the only thing that would take all of them did have a spare room. I’m surprised one of the families of 4 hasn’t requested it so they don’t share with their kids but are happy to pay extra for it.

Per head - definitely .. regardless how you work out food etc .. accommodation is still worked out on number of beds required
we had this - 18 of us went to stay in a villa in Portugal .. everyone was happy to split the bill equally .. we were the bigger family (5 of us) .. I wasn’t happy with that and insisted we did it by person .. nobody really cared to be honest but I was happy we’d paid our fair share x

Is the villa made out of solid gold? Beds encrusted with diamonds? Jeez the price of it

This is how I’d do it too - an adult rate and 50% child rate. It’s really not on to expect childless couples to, effectively, subsidise the children in the party.