September 14, 2024 at 2:23 pm

A Relative Wants To Use Their “Family Vacation Home” For A Free Wedding Venue, But When the New Owner Charges Airbnb Rates Tensions Rise Among The Family

by Heather Hall

Source: Reddit/AITA/Pexels/Kenan Turguç

Family traditions and memories can create a strong emotional attachment to places, but things can get complicated when ownership changes hands.

But what happens when you turn a beloved family vacation home into a business and a relative wants to use it for a special event?

This homeowner faces this exact dilemma.

Let’s see how they handled it.

AITA for turning a “Family Vacation Home” into an AirBnB and charging my cousin to have her wedding there?

My grandparents owned a 4-bedroom lake house with about an acre of land for about 25 years.

Through the years, they hosted many family events, and people visited often to get free getaways.

Last year, they wanted to move into a nice old folks home that’s basically a resort.

To do that and finance the rest of the years they sold their main condo and put this up for sale.

I bought it at what was a fair rate at the time; it has since gone up in value by about 25% due to the recent housing surge.

I just finished some renovations and officially got it listed on Airbnb as a side hustle.

Some people don’t understand that it’s no longer a “family vacation home.”

This summer, I’ve gotten lots of requests from family to visit, and I’ve said no because it’s being renovated; I also told them I intend to use it as an income stream, not a family vacation home.

I got some pushback but held firm.

Well, now my cousin just got engaged, and they want to plan a May wedding on a specific day that is significant to them.

This will end up being over Memorial Day weekend.

My cousin Jean called me and asked if they could have it at the lake house since there’s so much land for an outdoor wedding, and she and her Fiance met there years ago (his family is friends with our family).

This is where Jean got very upset.

I told her that I anticipated renting it out that weekend and that she could have the first dibs for the days needed, so I sent her the link to reserve it.

She then realized this would run her close to 6k plus deposits and service fees, so really like 8k.

She flipped out, saying that this was a family event and a family house, so I shouldn’t charge. She then said it should be like my wedding gift.

I told her, “Jean, my wedding was 3 years ago, and you got me a set of knives (which I do like). It’s not really fair to say I should basically give you $6,000”.

She flipped, called me greedy and a terrible family member, and hung up.

At least a few family members are still on their side.

Since then, my parents, aunt and uncle, and one sister all told me that I was being greedy as well.

My brother, who helped with the renovations, is on my side 100%, and my grandparents told me they’d love to see a wedding there but said they sold me the house with no conditions, so they won’t pressure me.

But I’ve been getting so much flack from a couple of people in my family.

AITA?

This is a tricky situation, and the family jumping in is only adding fuel to the fire.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit weighed in on this situation.

Indeed, anyone could’ve bought the property.

Source: Reddit/AITA

People’s opinions change when it pertains to them.

Source: Reddit/AITA

This is excellent advice.

Source: Reddit/AITA

It is very much a slippery slope.

Source: Reddit/AITA

There’s no obligation to help here.

The property was sold, and a non-family member could’ve bought it.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.