Group trip - who gets the master?

[Anonymous]

Renting a house with 2 other families for a 4-day weekend, sharing the cost equally. Each couple will have their own room and all the kids will bunk together.

Everyone was involved in circulating listings and choosing the house.

How to decide who gets the master? Is it automatically the couple who put down the deposit even though finding a suitable house was a group effort?

What's fair/should whoever gets the master pay more?

[Anonymous]

It's usually not a group effort as to who planned the trip. It would be pretty surprising if it was totally equal. Someone started the conversation. Someone moved things along.

If everyone did the exact same amount, then yes whoever put down the deposit should get the master. That's some extra amount of work dealing with the landlord, having your name on the docs, receiving the correspondence, getting the instructions to be let in, etc. Not to mention floating money.

[Anonymous]

Who ever organized it.

If it is truly equal, then yes possibly the couple who stays in the master can pay a little more. (Not a lot more)

I would open it up to discussion and see what everyone thinks.

[Anonymous]

Flip a coin. Putting down the deposit is not a lot of work.

[Anonymous]

I am not at all a fan of whoever gets the master pays more. It's like people who want to split the check because they ordered something cheaper. It just comes off so poorly past a certain age. Either your friends with people and you're doing things you can afford and there will be give and take over the course of the friendship and it all works out or don't do it.

[Anonymous]

In my friend circle there's clearly one person who puts in more work than others.

If you guys are truly equal, then do a draw and rotate for the next trip.

[Anonymous]

Whoever put the money down. If you had a good reason for requesting a specific room I think its fine to throw it out to the group. We were once splitting a house with friends and we were the only one with a baby. So in advance we said we would like the room that was connected to the bathroom with a tub since our baby only took baths not showers. No one seemed to mind. We also have had friend request two rooms close together cause their youngest still could come sleep with them in the middle of the night. Also seemed totally reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not at all a fan of whoever gets the master pays more. It's like people who want to split the check because they ordered something cheaper. It just comes off so poorly past a certain age. Either your friends with people and you're doing things you can afford and there will be give and take over the course of the friendship and it all works out or don't do it.

Let me guess you always order more and get the best room. Yes, they should pay more. Why should someone else pay more if you order tons more food and drinks and they ordered less.

[Anonymous]

We've taken trips like this quite a bit and the primary BR usually goes to, in this order:

- the family with a need for privacy/space (babies, small kids or a workaholic that needs the desk space etc.)
- whomever did the majority of organizing/planning/deposit
- whomever arrives first, gets first dibs and/or if someone is leaving early they would get the "lesser" option

I don't think we've ever divided cost based on room. Generally speaking everyone spends time in the common area or are out skiing, hiking, whatever all day so it's not a huge deal to have a "lesser" room in a vacation house.

[Anonymous]

Even if all things were done fairly equally, yeah, the person who actually put down the deposit should get the master. This is because it is their name and credit card on the line if there are disputes over damages, etc.

[Anonymous]

We flipped a coin.

[Anonymous]

Usually you split the cost of the house equally and split the cooking responsibilities. Years ago we split a summer rental with friends. Two of us had our own apartments, while the 3rd couple was living in one of their parent’s attic. Of course we agreed to give them the primary bedroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flip a coin. Putting down the deposit is not a lot of work.

+1

[Anonymous]

I usually let whoever is the biggest pest and wants it the most to have it. I don't have trouble sleeping and dh and I don't mind being agreeable.

[Anonymous]

Well if you’re my friends I traveled with *just the one time*, you get the master because your husband is “tall,” and you just can’t sleep in a Queen no matter what, despite the fact that I did allll the legwork, including a deep dive when you complained the places I picked looked “cheap,” and your top choice, which the group agreed to, had only one king, despite many other options having multiple king rooms. Then you’ll use my bathroom because it’s more convenient to the living area.

If you’re my brother/SIL, you’ll insist we get the master, since we did a little bit more work and paid more because we had a bigger budget. And I’ll say it doesn’t matter I just want everyone to be happy and together.

Otherwise I’d draw straws or the person who did the work/paid more/paid initial deposit.