So you have chosen a gorgeous, tranquil, and affordable lodge in Harare for your multi-family holiday. Bravo. There will be 3 friends with their clans paying for a $2,000 accommodation bill for 4 rooms for a week. Dead easy to split costs, yes?
You may find out the contrary.
One friend has 3 children, one friend is single and childless and one is only staying 5 days with her husband and baby. Eeek.
So what is the fairest solution to this?
Split Expenses By Room
If everyone is wealthy enough to be very relaxed about money a three-way split is simple with compensation in other areas to balance things a bit. For example, giving the single traveller or the smallest family the master bedroom.
A tighter split per room used would only be viable if you choose a lodge that will be able to accommodate all of you at once but can accommodate the 3rd friend for 5 days only, not the full seven days. The lodge will have to fill those 2 days.
Splitting Expenses By Person
All-inclusive resort methodology could be an option. Set a rate per adult, price children at half-price, and price babies for free.
The family of five is paying more than half of the accommodation costs.
One friend may not be as well off as the others; however, it is widely agreed that income should not be a factor when splitting vacation expenses.
Splitting Expenses By Person Per Night
Splitting expenses per person per night usually works out to be the fairest, with each person paying according to the number of nights they were there.
If the calculation discussions become too terse, it might be a better solution to book a lodge, like Willow Lodge, Harare, that can assign rooms per family and let each family deal directly with the lodge for their accommodation costs.
Splitting Food And Other Expenses
Sharing drink and food costs is the next challenge.
If you are at a self-catering lodge, you can take a buy-your-own, eat-your-own approach. If there is communal dining, each family can take a turn buying for and preparing a meal.
It might get tricky to keep track of who ate the strawberry yoghurts. Try the concept of shares, whereby an adult is allocated one share of the expenses, and children get a half-share. Alcohol costs are, of course, split only between those consuming it.
Alternatively, eat at venues and get separate bills at the end or get your lodge to cater for your 3 meals a day. They can also supply packed lunches for your road trips.
For a hassle-free split of expenses at an affordable lodge in Harare, contact your Willow Lodge team today. You will experience an exotic, tranquil location, with the finest food and the most breathtaking travel treasures all around. And your friendships will have strengthened by the end of this beautiful holiday.