Community Chat

[NicksmomESQ]

  DH & I did it once when my son was about 10 years old. We went on vacation with another couple & their 2 Kids. We rented a 3 bedroom condo.It was a disaster.Never did it again!!

  The other couple grabbed the master bedroom & the second largest room for their kids, as soon as we walked in the door.Leaving the smallest room for the 3 of us!!

  They insisted on cooking all meals in.We were on vacation & wanted to go out for some meals.They didn’t.They bought a lot of food that we didn’t like.So we basically ate very little or walked to a nearby diner.

  At the end of the trip they handed my husband a breakdown of all charges & expected us to pay half. At that point my husband said that they hogged 2 out of 3 bedrooms,& bought food that we basically didn’t eat.My husband said he wasn’t going to pay for their vacation & offered to pay 1/3 of the expenses.They agreed to it.

   We are still friends today but have never vacationed together again!!

[Georgiagrama]

Unless one person is o.k. with picking up the majority of the expenses, I have never seen this work.  There is always someone who thinks they have paid more for this or that, and ends up resentful of the ones who don't contribute as much.   I've never seen it work out comfortably for all. 

[mamaslittlepotato]

That could be a touchy situation......If it was me, I’d prefer everyone get their own hotel rooms and meet up with each other each day.

[Miss Shelly]

I recently took charge of acquring 2 rental homes for our family reunion.  We have a family facebook page, so I asked everyone to post who was joining us so I knew how many bedrooms we needed.  

It was decided to charge per person for everyone over age 5.  We had a mix of couples and singles and only 1 child this time around. The total cost of both rentals combined came to $186 per person.  I put the rentals on my credit card and everyone sent me a check for their portion.  

The homes were side by side, 2 story, with 5 bedroms and essentially identifical, except there were different bed configurations in some rooms.  I assigned rooms in the houses based on physical limitations, size of bed, (twin/bunks/queen,etc)   Upon arrival I posted a sign on the bedroom doors with the occupants names. Due to a broken foot we needed to change 1 room from upstairs to downstairs as we didn't know sister-in-law was injured.  

This is a large family and they grew up in a small house, so they really aren't that picky  which makes it easier    

[JaneMarple]

In early October I'll be going to the Outer Banks with two of my sisters and their husbands. I'm divorced so will be the fifth wheel so to speak, we're renting a three bedroom house and both brothers in law will be splitting the cost. I will be buying the food for our three day stay and share in the cooking. We've all agreed on one night out together where we'll split the bill. 

[stevieb]

Costs can be divided many ways. The key is to ensure everyone agrees on the ground rules up front.

[saltysails]

We just stayed in Corolla, NC on the outer banks and are planning another stay next summer.  

[libbyannE]

Ew. Bad idea to share a vacation house. If you're already concerned about who pays what, there must be issues. Sounds stressful. Tailor your vacation to what you can afford without cramming two families into one house.

[Nataliesgramma]

I'd sit down withe everyone whether in person or on Skype and discuss it...

[VaBelle35]

To me, it would depend on the house.

Not all houses have equal bedrooms.  The ones my sister has rented at the beach usually have a master bedroom with a private bathroom and then the other rooms have had 2 sets of bunk beds, some also have a fold-out sofa in the den and living room and even the deck has some sort of futon to sleep on.

For me personally, I did it once with my family and never went again.  I am single, no kids.  I'm not really interested in going grocery shopping almost every day and cooking most meals for a crowd while on vacation.  To me that's not a vacation.

My sister has now moved to an all inclusive because I finally convinced her that this wasn't a vacation for her, it was basically just being in a new location cooking and cleaning up after everyone for a week.

I now stay in a hotel somewhere nearby and meet up with them a various times.  No cooking and cleaning up for me while on vacation.