USVI-On-Line

I think that the fairest way is to divide the villa cost by bedroom. 3 equal bedrooms means 1/3 for each bedroom BUT it really depends on what the group decides is fair. Also, if the 3rd bedroom is not equal some sort of agreement should be worked out. The one thing you don't want on vacation is hard feelings because of costs. As far as other costs, I think that 1/5 per person for food, jeep and other costs unless otherwise agreed upon.

With the way the villas are priced (different prices depending on number of BRs used), one way to look at it is the cost per person without the sister (using 2 BRs) vs the cost per person using 3 BRs. With the villa we will be using, adding a 3rd BR and splitting the cost 5 ways would end up being cheaper for everybody even though it may appear the sister is getting a "deal".

I don't think any of the suggestions above are "wrong" - there's more than one way to look at it. When I actually did the math, it's really not enough money to get worked up about - and I consider myself a budget-minded, frugal, (OK - cheap) person.

5 ways. It's not fair that your sister has the pay 1/3 of the cost just cuz she's single.

If she had a significant other then there'd be 3 couples each paying 1/3. But technically each couple is sharing 1/3 of the cost or 1/6 of the cost per person.

To charge her 1/3, your sister'd be bearing the weight of a cost that the two couples are sharing.

Totally not fair.

And even though she gets her "own" room, the couples kind of gave that "own room" idea when they became a couple. C'mon now. The villas maybe priced by bedroom but everyone shares in the benefits of sharing a larger 3 bedroom villa vs having to pay for a villa all by themselves. Hubby and I have done both and you pay waaaaaay more for 1-2 bedroom villas travelling alone than sharing with others.

We always divide it by the people when we have the group of women. Some people get better rooms and on occasion someone may have their own room. No one complains. We divide the groceries and car rental equally. Some people drive and some don't. It all seems to work out in the end.

LysaC wrote:
To charge her 1/3, your sister'd be bearing the weight of a cost that the two couples are sharing.

CariBert wrote:
If each couple only had one income (like a single person) it would make more sense to split it 3 ways, but usually the single person is a one income family, and the couples are two income families, and if it wasn't for the split, the single person may not be able to go at all. How terrible would that be?

First I’ll say that we aren’t charging her 1/3. I'm leaning toward somewhere slightly over 1/5.

But secondly I’ll say that my husband and I are not a two-income family. I am a stay at home mom and we have to live much more frugally than my sister does. She has a high income for a single person who is only 27. My husband makes slightly more than she does, but he has a family to support. So proportionately, she has a lot more money to spend on vacation than we do. I don’t know if that should play into the equation or not, I’m just giving more information that relate to the responses above.

Steve S wrote:Just put it to a vote. Who's for splitting 5 ways?

Teresa - yes - she's your sister
Sister - yes - duh
2 guys - yes - Small premium for a 50% more female-age around the pool.... no brainer.

1 gal - maybe yes/ maybe no

Tally the votes - Minimum of 4 yay vs max 1 nay.
There's your democratic answer.

And I had to laugh at this. My husband and my father better not prefer for my sister to come so there's another female around the pool.

[/quote]

First I’ll say that we aren’t charging her 1/3. I'm leaning toward somewhere slightly over 1/5.

But secondly I’ll say that my husband and I are not a two-income family. I am a stay at home mom and we have to live much more frugally than my sister does. She has a high income for a single person who is only 27. My husband makes slightly more than she does, but he has a family to support. So proportionately, she has a lot more money to spend on vacation than we do. I don’t know if that should play into the equation or not, I’m just giving more information that relate to the responses above.[/quote]

Of course that makes a difference, Teresa. If our single friend has a better financial situation than we do, she would pay 1/3 of all the costs. I was just saying that under our circumstances, she would not be able to go alone or at all if we didn't divide the expenses like we do. And that would be a terrible thing (if she could not go at all). I think the way you have it set up is just fine.

-Bert

Depends.....If you had already rented the villa for the two couples, I might just charge her the incremental rate for the third bedroom. If you had, however, knew from the beginning that she was coming and you knew you had to have the third bedroom, I would charge her 1/3rd for the house. All other expenses by the person - don't forget that you will need a bigger car for 5 people as opposed to 4.

IMHO spliting it five ways. I also respectfully disagree that the income level of the person is a consideration on how the costs are divided. Just because someone is "more moneyed" doesn't mean they should have to foot a larger bill, unless of course they volunteer.

These kinds of things are always so touchy with my family. Once we rented a beach house and one of my sisters wanted her paying rate adjusted for the amount of time she was actually breathing air inside the house. It was ridiculous. The place rented per week and I didn't want to pro-rate it simply for the principle of the matter. But my husband and one of the other sisters felt it wasn't worth the debate. As you can tell, I'm still steamed about it. LOL. I guess I'll say ask the sister what she thinks is fair. If she is reasonable then everyone will be happy. If she's not, then you and I will have more in common.