How much do you 'charge' family & friends?

[CRSNDSNY]

We are taking family and friends next year on two separate trips with us and staying DVC. What do you do when they insist on giving you some $ toward the stay? How do you figure out how much they should contribute? What is fair? What have you all done?

 

[tixx]

be a sport just charge them the maint. fee

 

[ClarabelleCow]

If you invited them nothing. If not, here is where I come off cheap. My family always feels more comfortable contributing money up front, then while on the trip, we just split meals. We are going to OKW in November, my sis and fam and parents are coming, we figured out the extra points needed for them to come with us, then calculated out the maintenance, It was an extra 124 points, so they are paying the maintenance on them. So for approximately 250 each they are getting 5 nights at OKW!!! They wanted to pay more, but I figured we already bought and paid for the points, so just maintenace is fine.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I am inviting my sister and her family in April, and she has not offered any money, and I have not asked. She knew upfront when I 1st invited her, I was inviting her to save her the money on a room. She has a family of 8 (her, her dh, 5 kids and her son's girlfriend) so, expecting her to contribute to our meals would not be feasible. So, I am hoping to use her or one of her teenager's as babysitter a couple of times, so DH and I can get out at night alone.

I have invited a friend and her husband and daughter to join us next Thanksgiving. She tried insisting on giving me somethinf for the room, but I told her if she really felt she needed to repay us, she could treat us to a character meal. We would enjoy getting a free meal for a change, and she can feel like she paid something. It is still a considerable savings. So, in the future, I do not expect anything if I am the one who did the inviting, but if they insist on paying something, I will just ask them to treat us to a character meal.

 

[jaysue]

If people insist, I would ask them to pay the mtce. fees for the portion of points involved

thanks
jaysue

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Unfortunately, for us it is a losing battle. We didn't want any money for the stay, but each party said they wouldn't go unless they gave us *something*.

Ok...so if I pay $3/pt maintenance and their stay requires 100pts, I would ask for $300?

 

[Geyser Gazer]

Neither my nor my Wife's parents are allowed to pitch in for accomodations on points. Other friends and relatives help with the costs at least as long as we continue to make monthly payments toward our DVC mortgage's.

 

[KyBill]

We invited friends last January and again for next month at OKW. Since we invited them as our guests we don't expect them to "pay" anything.
We have never charged any family members and don't expect to as long as we can afford it. And that includes seperate ressies for them when we are not attending. That's why we bought the points and had to add on 4 times. Whew.

 

[Disney Doll]

I charge them the cost of a moderate.

 

[Snowgod]

I invite them to stay in my home at WDW. I don't charge anything but I get the pleasure of watching them enjoy themselves and that is worth more than money. I also get taken out to dine quite often.

 

[jade1]

Same here, my parents are coming along this Christmas-2BR BWV-they have never been to WDW so we asked them to come at no expense. Next August my Wife's parents are coming with-2BR at BCV, same thing. Should be awesome.

 

[Richyams]

We have never charged. Some will buy buy a dinner or two, some will buy the groceries, we will buy park tickets for some, some will buy groceries and several dinners.

 

[disny4ever]

We have never charged anyone in the past, we have allowed them to take us to dinner or something similar if they insist. We bought for our pleasure and if someone else gets to enjoy things too.....great.

 

[Dean]

This is such a personal decicion. You really have no way to win. In large part it depends on the personality of the parties involved. Will they expect to be treated each time? Will they expect the same price next time? If you charge them too little, they may think that's the true value. We normally treat family ourselves but we can do that. They could also take the group out to a nice restaurant and pay for all. Good luck.

 

[Mickey]

We had my realative go with us this past time and we charged them . I charged them a moderate fee, plus they paid for 1/2 the groceries. I enjoy having guest, however, the end result is if they don't pay something they we're paying for their vacation. I figured out our yearly cost and then divided that by two. That gave me something to base it on. I didn't charge them half, but I wanted to know what should charge them and discounted it from there. I was fair and they appreciated what I did and were okay with it. We had a great vacation. Good Luck

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Pretty much depends on what I feel like doing. Generally I ask people to cover whatever fees are involved. The last time I asked my db and wife for the exchange fee (I wasn't going and it was somewhere in VT). I was slightly upset that my sister in law was perturbed...the thing was 72 points and all I asked for was the exchange fee. The only thing I can figure is that it bothered her she was paying ME...it isn't like she didn't know what the stay was worth because she researched the B&B...I didn't let them know it was costing me more than that. My mom & sis were upset in the reverse because they didn't feel they were paying me enough for accomodations we shared. It may just be SIL is from a wealthier background than we are...who knows...it'll be a while before I offer to take them/send for virtually free again.

 

[mom2rb]

We are taking my husbands family next Dec. His brother's family is going to spilt the maintance fees with us since we will be using all of 2004 points. Mother-in-law and college age sisters get to help with food only.

 

[Lexxiefern]

I am taking my mom in january. I would never charge my mother. I am also paying for her airfare and she is paying for the rental car.

Now I just offered for my sis and her family to come with us dec. 04. They insist on paying and they won't only pay $300. They feel that is not enough. My husband doesn't like anyone going for free (except my mom, he understands that). He figures he laid out all this money and why should others get to enjoy it for free? (These are my husbands sentiments, not mine. I love my family to come and I would not charge them)

So if they come we will work out something with them. Of course we would never charge more than what is fair. Probably around $6 point which equals $4/year per point for dues and $2/year per point for what we paid - $84/point divided by 39 years.

 

[Sarangel]

We're taking my DH's family in Nov/Dec. We're staying for 10 days and we had to use 3 years of points to cover the trip, so each of the adults is chipping in $600 towards lodging (my DD and neice get to stay free). It's less than the cost of renting points to stay & much less than the rack rate for the rooms. We're also expecxting to split costs for groceries once we're there.

As others have said, it's a very personal decision and depends a lot on your family and you and your finances and who invited who. Good luck with making your decision.

Sarangel

 

[TDC Nala]

I don't charge my mom if she stays with me (imagine, charging your mom!) For friends who want to come along, I charge them $20 a night. My friend and her son are getting 3 nights at BCV for $60 total in November (not charging extra for the kid; hey, the hotels don't.)