Money Moral Dilemma: How much should I pay towards the holiday home I've rented with two couples?

gerrag

yp70479 said:

We have been going on group holidays for 30 years (we were all at university together). Numbers have varied from 6-12 people, and we always hire a house. Currently, this year we are two couples and 2 singles. The house price is divided by 6. Everyone pays the same for a room. We try to get houses with doubles and twins, so that everyone has  similar sized rooms, but sometimes the singles have to have a smaller room with a single bed. We rotate around so that if one single gets the duff room one year the other single takes it the next time. It seems fair as I (one of the singles) does the organising - and fining a suitable house an take hours on the internet, and I carry the cost of the deposit until the final payment is required, and the other single does the driving when we go out. When couples had children at home they were allowed to come for free and took potluck on sleeping arrangements (cots, fold down beds etc). It couldn't have been too bad as one came with us until he was 18!!. Food and wine are run on a kitty basis, but beer and spirits are bought individually. Everyone provides receipts for what they have bought and one person (one of the singles) who understands double entry book keeping keeps a spread sheet so at the end of the week we can balance out who owes who and how much. We've never had any disagreements over money - the last major incident was over who unloaded the dishwasher the most (and she wasn't invited again!)

That gets my vote for common sense and fairness!!

harrietliberty

We went on holiday recently to a place that sleeps 7. We were 2 couples plus 3 singles and there were 3 double bedrooms and 2 single rooms and we divided the cost by 7 and so each single person paid 1/7 and each couple 2/7. Didn't even occur to us to do it any differently. It's not about the size of the bedrooms it's about the cost per person and most couples have 2 wages coming in while a single person only has 1.

Numby

I have just done this with my sister and her partner. We have three separate incomes so we split the cost three ways

baldypaul76

In this situation, I don't think it's unreasonable to split the cost per adult - you are subsidising the cost of their accommodation.

You could suggest that you all pay 1/6 of the cost for filling 5/6 of the property, and then you all split the remaining 1/6 by all.

Using £300 as a cost example:

Split three ways:
Two couples paying £50 per person
You are paying £100 per person

Split five ways (Paying 1/6, and then 1/5 of the remainder):

Every person pays £50 (1/6th of the bill)
The remaining £50 is then shared between each person - so £10 more per person
Total £60 per person
 
Ultimately it comes down to how comfortable you feel bringing this up. I would probably avoid the confrontation, but then I would never go on a trip with those two couples again.

Kat1107

If you all booked into a hotel you'd likely still be assigned a double room (as many hotels no longer do singles) and you'd likely have to pay the same as the couples. Yes you're the one who is essentially paying more as an individual, but why should the couples pay for part of a room that they won't be using? Splitting the let on a per bedroom basis therefore seems fair, though you should discuss how food and other expenses will be split ahead of the trip.

McTavish71

It's a difficult one, but I look at it this way - if it was 5 friends all staying in 3 bedroom cottage, you'd have 4 sharing two rooms and one in a room on their own by default- would you still expect the one on the room on their own to pay a third?  No, all 5 would share the cost between them and agree who shares

Rd1994

5 way split for sure. As you said you all shared common areas. Should have agreed this before booking it however to make sure it within everyone budget. 

littlemillridge

john_evmk said:

If you are single and go out to a restaurant with two couples, would the bill be split three ways or five?

Paying one sixth per person won't work - there are only 5 people - so who pays for the sixth sixth?

Perhaps next time all parties should agree how to split the bills BEFORE booking. But I guess you already figured that one out yourself.

The single person would be paying TWO sixths. Very unfair IMO as all five are using the rest of the facilities, they are renting a whole villa not just the bedrooms and will no doubt be using the rest of villa as much as, if not more than the single person.

Ringo90

Really surprised by the amount of people believing this should be split 3 ways.
It is not a flatshare or a hotel, where the individual room is rented, it's presumably an AirBnb or something like that. And it's not the single person's choice to have a room all for themselves, it's because of the couples who presumably share their room at home as well, by their own choice.
It'd be different if, say, this was a group of 5 single friends renting a 3 double bedroom house. In that case I would assume that the friends sharing the room (or even bed) don't do it to their own benefit and by their own choice, so I would strongly consider the idea of splitting 3 ways to make it fairer.
But this is couples, and as a person in a couple I would never expect the only single person in the house to pay more than me!

bionic72

Having been in this situation for 33years, I find it hard to believe that it can still be an issue. Presumably all 5 people work? and therefore each have a salary (regardless of the amount). As individuals sharing the house and all its facilities, the costs should be shared 5 ways. It is always easier dealing with these things before embarking on shared events. As a singleton for many years, I always pay my way and equally expect others to do the same. I adopt the same equality when out with friends for meals, drinks etc. Best not to complicate things.