Money Moral Dilemma: Should we pay for their cut-short holiday?

snootybutnice

They left you to have (according to them) a "bad holiday"...it was so "bad" that they couldn't bear to finish it. It was entirely their choice. To my mind, they should have been more positive and made the best of the holiday and spent time expounding the "positives" ...rather than giving up due to a few drops of rain. They've also made the holiday more expensive for those they left behind, as the remaining people will have to pay a little bit more pro rata for food/fuel etc.

If they feel strongly about their holiday disappointment, they can always apply to the charter company for a discount due to the "rain" (but I doubt they'd get anywhere) - but for you to contribute towards their holiday?...definitely NOT. Bring them back a bottle of something nice if you want to.

butterfly56_2

I do not think you should pay for your mates holiday. The holiday was booked on a group and the price was budgeted for this. For those that went home that is their decision but you should not pay for them. They didnt give you chance to get anyone else to take their place so they should pay their share. The only concession maybe the food but even then if the food was bought already no refund but maybe they could have a share of the food. They had broke the contract so they have to deal with their financial loss.

jude121

I would say absolutely not, unless the £50 for food hasn't yet been spent. If you've had to give it to the trip organiser in advance and you won't get it back, then your friends should have weighed up whether one day's bad weather was really enough for them to throw away all the money they'd spent on the holiday (seriously though - who gives up on a holiday because of a single day's bad weather?!!). Ultimately, it was their choice and it's not your responsibility to subsidise their mistakes.

If, on the other hand, you all put money into a kitty that you were planning to use to spend on food over the whole holiday and you just used some of it on the first day (i.e. you only bought enough for the day), then I would say just give them back their full £50. I think it would be unfair to hold on to the whole amount in that case, and a bit tight to work out exactly what you'd spent that day and how much their portion was before saying 'ok Sophie, you can have £48 back; Dave, you only get £46.50 because you had seconds...' etc . If that's the case, just make sure they know they owe you dinner when you get home!

Money can cause such problems among friends, but paying up when you feel hard done by will cause just as many problems as refusing to pay up just because one friend reckons you should. I think you should just question why you should subsidise your friends - maybe your fellow hardy travellers feel exactly the same and will be grateful you raised it.

Jude

garymarnie

I wouldn't pay; it was their choice to go and their choice to go home early......

as much as i like my friends, its a non-issue for me

Gary

mebmate

The controversy seems to be around whether the £50 for food was post-paid or pre-paid. The food cost is the same in both example scenarios and is estimated to be £500.

Example 1 (post-paid)
To keep the accounting simple, one person agreed to be 'catering manager' and pay for all the food during the holiday and at the end of the holiday asked for the other nine to pay their share.

Example 2 (pre-paid)
Now suppose that instead of one person paying for everything from their own pocket and reclaiming the money back, the other nine each gave £50 to the 'catering manager' who then paid for everything during the holiday.


In the first example, how much would the 'catering manager' have charged the three who left after 1 day? Certainly not the same as those who stayed.

Therefore, in the second example, the three who left should not be charged the same as the those who stayed.

Give them some money back but not the full amount.

bennett2kuk

Not a chance. No way I'd pay up regardless of who it was, family, friends, whoever. If you choose to go home then why not ask the nice people at wherever you're staying for a refund. See what they say. It shouldn't be non those who stay to fund someone else's poor decisions.

janeybaby13

No way should you pay....its only 50 quid are they really going to be bothered. They should just cut their losses as it was their choice to leave.

lizlovesbargains

You are lucky to have friends!

Augustus_the_Strong

Have you spent all the food money? If not, give them back their £50s. If you have, too bad (or you could send them some of the left-over food). They have left you in the lurch - are six people enough to sail the boat? - and shouldn't be so feeble.

boredmum

So what would have happened if everyone except for you had chosen to leave early? Would you have coughed up for all of them? They're adults, it was their choice. If you didn't like the breeze and chose to leave a barbecue early would you expect to take your food or drink contribution back home with you? Doubt it. you wouldn't be invited again!