Traveling with family - what to charge?

[Anonymous]

I am traveling with my nanny family over the summer for two weeks, and am struggling with what to charge for the trip. I will be sharing a room with the child, which typically means I'm paid 24 hours/day. However, my hourly rate is $55. So this would end up being ~$25,000 for the two weeks. That is A LOT.

They already agreed to pay me 24/7 for the trip, but I don't feel great about charging this much. / I don't think they did the math.

How would you handle? I would love any insight from nanny employers.

And background info that may be helpful - I typically work 50 hours a week. The child sleeps 12 hours a night but will likely wake up 1-2 times a night. And they chose to have the child sleep with me versus with themselves. (Which would have greatly reduced my hours).

Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

55 x 24 x 14 = $18,480. If they want to secure care for 24/7 for 14 days, that seems about right.

Are you sharing a hotel room with the kid, such that once kid goes to sleep you are stuck in a dark hotel room, trying not to make noise? That’s a major inconvenience and you should be compensated.

Or is it a house situation, where you can be out and about until you’re ready to go to bed?

What does the kid need during the night? A bottle? Rocked back to bed? A snack? If you’re not used to it, being awoken during the night can be really disruptive to your sleep.

If you want to do a flat rate for the 12 hour overnight part, I’d say a minimum of $250. If you’re in a hotel room with the kid, I’d say $500/night.

Is it a nice vacation spot and will you get time off to enjoy it? You could take that into consideration too and adjust your fee downward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am traveling with my nanny family over the summer for two weeks, and am struggling with what to charge for the trip. I will be sharing a room with the child, which typically means I'm paid 24 hours/day. However, my hourly rate is $55. So this would end up being ~$25,000 for the two weeks. That is A LOT.

They already agreed to pay me 24/7 for the trip, but I don't feel great about charging this much. / I don't think they did the math.

How would you handle? I would love any insight from nanny employers.

And background info that may be helpful - I typically work 50 hours a week. The child sleeps 12 hours a night but will likely wake up 1-2 times a night. And they chose to have the child sleep with me versus with themselves. (Which would have greatly reduced my hours).

Thanks so much!

You charge your regular rate. You should not cheat yourself. If they cannot afford to pay you then they can try a novel approach of taking care of their own
children. THIS IS NOT A VACATION FOR YOU!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I'd lay out the options - if they're wanting you to do 24/7 care (including overnight wake-ups) then charge for that. Or charge for 20 hours a day and say you need a 4hr break.

Or give them the option of having kid sleep in their room and you charge a $100 daily travel fee on top of your regular working hours (or more if this isn't a trip you really want to go on)

Our nanny travels with us and we pay an extra $100 / day. She's volunteered to share a room with a kid when needed, but our kids sleep through the night with rare exception so she'd be off the clock then (we've never had her share a room, i'm just saying she offered). you'd clearly still be on the clock if the kid needs care during the night and should be paid for it.

[Anonymous]

You make $55 an hour to care for one child? That’s wild. Is the kid disabled or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You make $55 an hour to care for one child? That’s wild. Is the kid disabled or something?

She makes $55 an hour because she’s expected to be available to travel for 2 weeks with zero breaks at the parents’ discretion.

Sounds about right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:55 x 24 x 14 = $18,480. If they want to secure care for 24/7 for 14 days, that seems about right.

Are you sharing a hotel room with the kid, such that once kid goes to sleep you are stuck in a dark hotel room, trying not to make noise? That’s a major inconvenience and you should be compensated.

Or is it a house situation, where you can be out and about until you’re ready to go to bed?

What does the kid need during the night? A bottle? Rocked back to bed? A snack? If you’re not used to it, being awoken during the night can be really disruptive to your sleep.

If you want to do a flat rate for the 12 hour overnight part, I’d say a minimum of $250. If you’re in a hotel room with the kid, I’d say $500/night.

Is it a nice vacation spot and will you get time off to enjoy it? You could take that into consideration too and adjust your fee downward.

OP here. I am paid OT for anything over 40 hours per week, hence it being 25k. But yes, she would be in the same hotel room as me. And I would be hovering in the bathroom once she's asleep. Luckily I sleep trained her very early, so she shouldn't have any night time wakings unless she's teething, adjusting, etc. And the location is not overly exciting. I actually used to live there!

But thank you for your response! It was helpful. I mainly wanted to see if people were shocked by the amount. Which they don't seem to be. So I feel better moving forward with the hourly rate. Thanks again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am traveling with my nanny family over the summer for two weeks, and am struggling with what to charge for the trip. I will be sharing a room with the child, which typically means I'm paid 24 hours/day. However, my hourly rate is $55. So this would end up being ~$25,000 for the two weeks. That is A LOT.

They already agreed to pay me 24/7 for the trip, but I don't feel great about charging this much. / I don't think they did the math.

How would you handle? I would love any insight from nanny employers.

And background info that may be helpful - I typically work 50 hours a week. The child sleeps 12 hours a night but will likely wake up 1-2 times a night. And they chose to have the child sleep with me versus with themselves. (Which would have greatly reduced my hours).

Thanks so much!

You charge your regular rate. You should not cheat yourself. If they cannot afford to pay you then they can try a novel approach of taking care of their own children. THIS IS NOT A VACATION FOR YOU!!!!!

Very true. Traveling can be a lot, especially when rooming with the child. So I will stick with my hourly rate. Thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You make $55 an hour to care for one child? That’s wild. Is the kid disabled or something?

I don't live in DC. In my city $55 isn't abnormal for a professional nanny in a fully staffed UHNW home.

& no, the child is not disabled.

[Anonymous]

They are asking a lot of you so I would have zero problem charging the full rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You make $55 an hour to care for one child? That’s wild. Is the kid disabled or something?

I don't live in DC. In my city $55 isn't abnormal for a professional nanny in a fully staffed UHNW home.

& no, the child is not disabled.

What city is this? I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and I know 0 people with 55/hr nannies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am traveling with my nanny family over the summer for two weeks, and am struggling with what to charge for the trip. I will be sharing a room with the child, which typically means I'm paid 24 hours/day. However, my hourly rate is $55. So this would end up being ~$25,000 for the two weeks. That is A LOT.

They already agreed to pay me 24/7 for the trip, but I don't feel great about charging this much. / I don't think they did the math.

How would you handle? I would love any insight from nanny employers.

And background info that may be helpful - I typically work 50 hours a week. The child sleeps 12 hours a night but will likely wake up 1-2 times a night. And they chose to have the child sleep with me versus with themselves. (Which would have greatly reduced my hours).

Thanks so much!

Sounds about right; if you’re going to be on it 24/7 and sharing a room with he child I wouldn’t feel charging the regular fee. I’m a CPD and i charged $50/hourly daytime and $65/hourly PM had travel with fams and agreed that my services are hourly if they had me on the clock. Don’t ever feel bad for charging your fee, it’s a hard job having to be away from home working 24/7

[Anonymous]

That's a lot of work. I would charge a lot

[Anonymous]

When I was a right out of college in the early 2000's and working as a teaching assistant at one of the DC privates I went on vacation with a family from my school- they paid me $500 for the week and I had the 8 YO in my hotel room!

My entire salary that year was 24K!

[Anonymous]

I know a lot of local nanny's wages and $55/hour is way way more than any of them. Unless they are just insanely wealthy and wouldn't care either way, I would charge a flat overnight fee.