Do you "charge" guests sharing your room?

[katied]

I'm planning a trip for May 2008. It will include my sister, cousin, a friend and myself, and we'll each have a child under the age of 2. We're planning on sharing a 2 bedroom villa. It started as a trip with just my sister, niece, DS and I, but then grew... I have no intention of asking my sister to pay anything for the room, but DH says I should have the cousin and friend each pay 25% of the "cost" (which he calculates as $10/point). I don't feel right asking people to pay, when I'm not really spending money for the room (I know we spent the money to buy the points, but I want to go there, and I'd be using the same amount of points anyway for just my sister and I and the babies).

Any ideas? What do the rest of you do if extended family/friends join you on a trip?

 

[Maistre Gracey]

We have never asked anyone to pay a portion of the room, but we have only brought family. Friends may be different, but only if they came along repeatedly. The first time I would probably insist that it be our treat.

There are many opinions on this. There is no right or wrong answer here. The best answer is to do whatever is comfortable for you.

MG

 

[MichelleB]

Anyone we've ever taken has asked to pay a portion. We usually tell them to cover a meal or two. We've had one set of relatives that insisted they pay something and cover a meal. They gave us $300 for 6 nights which we did not ask for. I thought that was nice considering we'd reserved several rooms at HHI a couple of years ago with my DH's family and no one other than this relative even offered a meal. And then had the nerve to complain about a minor issue. We didn't expect compensation but a thank you would have been nice and we didn't even get that. Needless to say, we decided those relatives won't be invited back. We've taken the appreciative ones several times and they always want to pay something. We usually negotiate something small so they feel they've contributed.

 

[vwlvette]

If we invite we cover the room, If it is one of our kids friends then we pay all, including cool disney stuff to take home. If it is family, I usually offer to cover everything, Last year I insisted, I did not take a penny from anyone (12 of us). This year Bro said he wouldn't go with his family unless he paid his way, So, we are splitting the expenses, taking my parents and in laws also, On us.

You think the way I do, I was going to use the points anyway, I love to share the Magic!

Enjoy!

 

[MichelleB]

Sharing it is so much part of the enjoyment! I can also understand that some people feel the need to pay something (truthfully I am that way with people I know yet I hate taking anything for inviting someone along). If they insist, we come up with something to make them feel better but that is minimal. A "thank you, I enjoyed myself" is worth so much more to us.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We never ask guests to pay anything toward the room. Most feel obligated to pay something though, and we usually "suggest" that they take us out to dinner one night. If they don't ask, we don't "suggest" anything.

 

[schwenksvillemouse]

We've been on both ends. Travelled with DVC's owners at their expense before we were owners. We picked up dinners and some bar tabs. As owners we've brought family and friends and wouldn't dream of asking. If that was a concern for me I wouldn't ask them to go. Next summer we're bringing family to Vero. In return they are using Marriott points to put all of us up at the World Center for four night before our trip to Vero.

 

[spiceycat]

depends if I am traveling too. No - I pay for room, sometimes the food and tickets too.

if I am not going, then for family it is still free, but for friends or co-workers I now ask for money.

 

[gppnj]

This year I went to WDW with two friends. They both work, so there was no reason they shouldn't pay something. I'm not a charity. However, I thought for quite a while about how much to charge them.

One possibility was that I would charge each of them one-third of the cost of renting the room for cash. Another possibility was to somehow figure out what that room was costing me and charge them each one-third of that. However, I didn't think either one of those options was fair because if I didn't have DVC, we wouldn't have stayed in that huge room. They should have to pay their fair share for a room, but they shouldn't have to subsidize my desire to buy into DVC.

So what I decided was to charge them each one-third of the cost of what we would have paid if I didn't own at DVC. If that had been the case, we would have stayed at a moderate resort. So I got the moderate rack rate for that time, added on the tax, and divided by three.

With the money I got from them, I got my spending money for the trip, and they got a great deal for a magnificent room. Everyone won.

 

[casper]

I guess I'm the unusual one on this thread so far. My first trip home is just a week away. I'm taking my parents and brother's family. We are staying in a 2 bedroom for six nights. I did charge them, not $10 per point though. I charged them for the cost of maint. fees for the points used. They are getting a 6 night stay for approx $500 each family unit. Since this is my first trip, my cost per night is over $3000. That will go down each time I go, of course.

But I'm also going to sleep on the sleeper sofa and give all of them the beds.

 

[Granny]

There are many opinions on this. There is no right or wrong answer here. The best answer is to do whatever is comfortable for you.

MG

Yep.

 

[deerh]

Again, no right or wrong answer. We take family of course-no charge.
We take kid's friends-we pay all the food/room but THEY buy their own WDW tickets.
If we take friends-we pay for the room/they buy their tickets and their own food.
Now, at the grocery store, we will split the groceries, but out to eat, friends are on their own.

Our friends have bought us a dinner at Flying Fish, etc, but we never ask, they just do it!!

That's the way we do it...

DeerH

 

[OKW Lover]

I treat DVC just like I treat my own home. We don't charge people to stay with us at our own house and we don't charge people to stay with us at DVC. Sometimes (always?) they offer to pay for some meals and we do graciously accept those offers.

 

[MomWith2Cinderellas]

I'm planning a trip for May 2008. It will include my sister, cousin, a friend and myself, and we'll each have a child under the age of 2. We're planning on sharing a 2 bedroom villa. It started as a trip with just my sister, niece, DS and I, but then grew... I have no intention of asking my sister to pay anything for the room, but DH says I should have the cousin and friend each pay 25% of the "cost" (which he calculates as $10/point). I don't feel right asking people to pay, when I'm not really spending money for the room (I know we spent the money to buy the points, but I want to go there, and I'd be using the same amount of points anyway for just my sister and I and the babies).

Any ideas? What do the rest of you do if extended family/friends join you on a trip?

I would personally feel funny asking for family or extended family pay for a portion of their stay. However, I would not make it a habit since this is our family vacation and we do like to do thing just the four of us.

 

[MinnieGi]

When we took my parents and sister. We did not want any payment. It was actually a thank you to them for helping us out with DD and DS for things like babysitting, driving DD to school etc... However they bought a nice table service meal for all of us, treated to speed boats, bought snacks at the parks several times for alll of us and bought each of the four of us a really nice souvinier. They so LOVED BWV and had a great time.

Since then they have gone to WDW on their own cost and usually reserved a room near where we were staying. For instance they stayed at WL when we were at VWL. A bunch of family is coming along with us in Nov. and they are all paying for thier own accomadations. I wish I could treat them all too nice DVC ones, but just don't have those points.

 

[HUFF590]

We never ask guests to pay anything toward the room. Most feel obligated to pay something though, and we usually "suggest" that they take us out to dinner one night. If they don't ask, we don't "suggest" anything.

Same here, I love to show off DVC when I get the chance, after they see the room, all I get is thankyou thankyou etc.

 

[CarolA]

I have given points to several friends and I am often not there with them. I don't expect payment and make that very clear. I have recieved some "gift cards" from these same friends when I moved into a house etc... and they tell me 'Well you made our vacation so nice"

I have friend, her DH and three kids going next month. It's my gift as a "present" for survival of the cancer treatment she just went thru. It thrilled me to be able to do something nice for her, she has been such an trooper!!!

IMHO it's not like I am giving you a FREE vaction, you still have to GET to Orlando, buy tickets etc.

 

[Princess Roo]

I agree there is no "right" way to do things.

If it's not costing me anything extra, I wouldn't charge my relatives or friends. If I had to pay for a night or two with cash or rented points because of staying in a larger sized accommodation to fit them, then I might ask them to cover some of that cost. Would really depend on the situation.

I think in your situation, it might be awkward if it "got out" that you charged the cousin and friend but not your sister.

 

[TEK224]

I went this past Jan. and took 5 friends. I didn't charge them anything. One person gave me(I didn't ask) some money to put towards the cash nights (which totaled $700).

Jan. 08 I'm going again with some of the same friends and some different ones. However, the two cash nights will total $1200. So I asked each person going to chip in for the cash nights. So for $200 each, they get one week at SSR. We all chip in for grocerries and they buy their own tix and restaurant meals.

 

[DisneyBB]

We have taken both friends and family. With the friends we charged them for the maintenance only as which worked out about $3 a point at that time. When we took my IL's we didn't charge them at all, it was nice to do something for them. They paid for their tickets and meals etc. We have been on holiday several times with them to different places, in Italy and Portugal they insisted on spitting food bills down the middle even though there is 4 of us. I think it is nice to treat family, friends etc, but I would hate to take anyone who complained about DVC and that could ruin a friendship.