When you take family, do you charge them for the room?

[puffkin]

The in-laws will not be ruining the trip for my niece, I can guarantee that! If she wants to stay at the resort by the pool, she can, but she will have the opportunity to do as much as she wants with me if the rest don't want to do things. That is one thing I am really excited about is getting to be there when she experiences WDW for the first time!

I plan on booking Hoop Dee Doo for our non-park day and hopefully an Illuminations Cruise and the Princess Breakfast. My DH and I will cover the Cruise if we are lucky enough to get it, but they are going to have to pay for the other things for themselves. They already balked at those prices, but I think it is something they will really enjoy once they do it. Beyond that, any other PS's will be optional for them, but my DH, niece and mom (if she comes) will be booked with our best interests in mind, not theirs. I will make the PS's for 6 people, but if they don't want to come, that is fine with me. Don't get me wrong, I am trying to include them in all the planning and I am trying to be as nice as can be, but I am not going to be jumping through hoops to accomodate them.

It has been very helpful to read everyone elses opinions and suggestions. Thanks so much!

 

[rocketriter]

The only other thing I wish I'd done is we were so busy, we never took a night to let my MIL babysit so we could go out.

There's a very good idea in here. We always plan a meal that just a "date" for my wife and myself. If it's just the four of us, we either hook up with an in-resort service or use Kids-Nite-Out. Otherwise we ask our guests to watch the kids for the evening. One our last visit, our guests were delighted to do so and the kids were very excited about it!

Consider doing the same. Give yourself and DH an evening at, say, the Brown Derby or Artist Point or Blue Zoo, someplace grown up where the two of you can de-stress by yourselves, and then walk around the park or DD for an hour or two. You'll love it and so will the kids.

 

[MOMO2DK]

I never charge parents, just hope for a night of babysitiing. When we are joined by my bother or sister and their families, I usually ask them to pick up the tab on a minivan rental, or some groceries.

 

[disneyberry]

<font face="times" size="+0">First, I wanted to pose this question:
If you were to go on a trip with <i>your</i> parents, would your DH be okay with you not charging them? If he wants you to be okay with treating his parents, then it should also be the same the other way around.

My own situation is like this:
DBF and I are not married, but we've been together long enough that these types of issues do come up. Shortly after we bought DVC, we did sit down and discuss what we think is fair as far as booking rooms for other people, including family members. What we personally decided was that for parents, we would not charge them... <i>unless</i> they try to abuse the privilege (i.e. deciding that they love WDW so much, they'd like to go very often on trips w/o us, and I would never want that kind of situation where they take <i>our</i> DVC membership for granted like it's free for us or something).

But, DBF and I also have siblings to worry about, and we decided that we cannot afford to not charge them.

The "invitation" issue is weird too. For us, our possibly upcoming trip came about this way: DBF's mom knows that I'm the WDW expert so 2 years ago she had asked me to look into booking a trip for DBF's whole family (his parents, siblings' families, and us) because she wants to go now when DBF's nephew is still about the "right" age to enjoy WDW (his nephew has only been to WDW once at age 1, which IMHO is too young for him to remember anything!). This was before we bought DVC, and his family has been so fickle about actually <i>planning</i> the trip that it's taken 2 years to get around to the beginnings of a real discussion. Now that we own DVC, it's likely we'll be using our points to book multiple rooms for this big-family-trip.

We are too early in the planning stages to have any discussion about costs yet, but DBF and I plan to tell his family that we will pay for his parents' room, but his siblings' families will basically rent the other rooms from us. Not sure how that will go over, but it's what we're aiming for.

Anyway, so our situation is one where we didn't invite anyone, and they didn't invite themselves along either. It's just that the idea was thrown out that a WDW trip for the whole family was something they might want to do, and DBF and I (being the Disney freaks in the family) would probably be in charge of planning it. Although I do have to admit that because we <i>are</i> the only Disney freaks in the family, we probably want the trip to happen more than the rest of them do.

After reading a few horror stories here about guests taking DVC members for granted, and not appreciating it when they are treated to a free DVC room, I'm really wary on the whole issue of treating people. It's hard for people to appreciate the value of something they're getting for free. So for now, we plan to charge everyone except for parents. Besides, we really don't have enough points to treat people (we own less than 150pts), and likely will need to rent transferred points from other members in order to afford booking so many rooms.

Anyway, these are my thoughts on this subject. I hope it all works out for you.</font>

 

[Disney-Kim]

after reading these posts again...I honestly think it comes down to "inviting" people and people asking to come and use some of your points to help alleviate their costs.

The "invitation" would be free...in my eyes.

it seems like this is how most people are treating it.

 

[rocketriter]

Even after you distinguish between "inviting" people and "people asking to come," there are still issues of transportation costs, park tickets, meals and so forth. They must all be addressed, preferably during the very first conversation that comes up on the subject. It's often not practical or reasonable to take the position of "an invitation is an invitation, so the inviter has to pick up everything."

We recently took some family to BCV. We invited them, and made it clear from the start that this meant we'd give them their room for free. They happily paid for their own transportation and park tickets. We went "dutch" on most meals. We picked up the cost of the birthday party, and they bought us a couple of thank-you meals. Everyone was happy with the arrangement, and it was negotiated up front.

 

[TDC Nala]

Not family.

I charge nonfamily guests a little cash per night to help cover the dues.

Everybody pays for their own park tickets.

 

[CdnPoohBear]

As with many of the other posts, subtle invite or not, I don't think you can now ask for money. We have travelled with my inlaws, and I have felt somewhat the same re why are they not offering something. We are travelling with them to Vero end of this month, and they will likely pay for a few meals and I suspect, a good portion of the groceries. We were young as well when we purchased our 150pts, and this is the second dvc trip with them.

On the flip side, unlike yourself, we now have 3 children, whom my inlaws are very good to, and help us with them on a fairly regular basis. They would never take money for childcare, so this is a way for us to thank them, and they do appreciate it.

The only issue I have now is, my Mom seems to be keeping track as to how many times we have taken my inlaws and EXCPECTS a turn. I have a bigger problem with that, my inlaws did not excpect it at all.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

We usually split costs by having relatives pay cash for the Fri and Sat nights. We pay 5 nights they pay 2. It works well. We are upfront about it, and don't feel the need to "treat family" to completely free accomodations.

If for some reason your vacation goes south, you will not feel like you've wasted 2 years of points on a lousy trip. There have been many posts on the DVC board about family DVC trip disasters. On the other hand, if your trip goes well and you want to vacation together again, you won't feel you have to always "treat" in the future.

Good Luck

 

[queenof4hearts]

Puffkin,

I know this is off the subject. But..................

I tried to book the illuminations cruise last year and couldn't get it so I decided to try the Wish's Cruise on the pontoon boat out of CR. I had absolutely no problem booking this. We loved it. With the Electrical parade? in the water and the little tour it was great.

We had a birthday dinner at Chef Mickey's first and then let the kids swim for an hour at the CR and then we did the cruise. It was magical!!

Just a thought in case you are not able to get the illuminations.

Good luck w/ all your plans.

 

[nezy]

We have "somehow" gotten into the routine of "inviting" my in-laws . Not a complaint. I love that the kids get to spend time w/ thier grandparents. My MIL anf FIL are also VERY generous when it comes to meals or have even paid for park passes. It all seems to come out in the wash.

-disneyberry -your situation sounds a bit different. You were asked to plan a family trip not host one. Do the research and give everyone the info and what they should expect to pay. For example, mention that points can be rented for such and such or that rooms are available at this rate-Whatich would you prefer to do? Let them know what to expect re: meals and park passes.

I have planned trips fro my friends and they have said How much and where and when do I show up.

Also, what is the "sixth' borough of NYC?-Nassau?

 

[chieften]

Just got back from a great trip where we invited MIL, BIL and SIL. Since they were our guests, we wouldn't think of charging them.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

When I invite family members, I make it clear, the room is "on us" but they have to find their own transportation (we drive), passes and spending money.

That being said, I have so far, only invited my sister and her family, and next week my MIL and FIL are coming with us.

If I invited them, I would not feel comfortable then saying. "oh by the way, can you pay us such and such for your portion of the room?"

 

[MAC3]

We like sharing it with family & friends. I too end up borrowing from the next year. Oh well, so be it. When they offer,I say you can get dinner one night.

If they do more fine, if not that's fine too. I just get a little disappointed by people who come and don't enjoy it. That makes me wish I had charged them. But like we all know some people get it and some never will.