Sharing a hotel with friends is a great way to save money, but what would you do if your friends backed out at the last minute forcing you to pay the hotel bill by yourself?

That’s that situation in today’s story, and the friend left with the bill is not happy.

Let’s see how the drama escalates…

AITA for going off on (and refusing to apologize to) friends that backed out of a hotel booking last minute, leaving me to cover extra costs?

So, some background: I’m significantly wealthier than my friends, but not independently—my family helps me out financially and covers my tuition, though I’m trying to be less reliant on them.

My friends and I planned a trip for an event months ago, in summer, and we all agreed to split a hotel room to save costs.

One friend, Hel, booked the room using her employee discount.

Some of her friends can barely afford the trip.

The group has faced a few ups and downs since the original plans.

One person attending, Molly, who is a single mom, wanted to come along but couldn’t afford the flight due to sudden financial hardships.

To help her out, I paid for it (she’s promised to pay me back eventually, but the group doesn’t know that part, they just think I covered it as Molly and I didn’t feel the need to elaborate past “situation was handled.”)

Another friend, Jools, lives paycheck to paycheck but budgeted for the trip and is only just able to afford it and will be starting a new job when the trip is over, so they’re stressing over money.

Now the other friends backed out.

Now, less than a week before the event, Hel and Lee (Hel’s roommate) decided to back out of staying in the hotel because they live close enough to commute to the event.

Hel claimed she was “putting herself first” because the other two had money concerns about the trip earlier (even though those were resolved).

Her reasoning feels flimsy to me, even though she’s still willing to give me a minor discount on the room, but it’s going to cost me significantly more.

Jools and Molly can’t afford to help cover the difference, so the financial burden falls entirely on me.

She is very upset at Hel.

What really pisses me off is that I don’t mind helping my friends financially when I choose to, but I hate being forced into a situation like this. It feels manipulative, like Hel and Lee are leaving me no choice but to step up because they know I have the means.

I also feel like Hel’s decision to drop out last minute is inconsiderate, especially since all the nearby hotels are fully booked, and they know it would leave me in a bind to find something more affordable for Molly and Jools.

We also asked if she could leave the original reservation and just not come (still a higher cost to me, but less so) but received a “not comfortable” response.

The friends are split about whether or not Hel is wrong.

For context, Hel has made comments about my finances before and often posts “eat the rich”-type memes, which I think might be coloring her perspective here.

This whole situation reached a climax of me snapping at Hel over her decision and telling her that her make-up offer was garbage, as I said, her attitude seemed to stem from “PoolInteresting7857 can afford it, no big deal.”

Some of my friends think I’m being too harsh (I disagree) since Hel is talking about moving to another country (still in talks and isn’t planning to do so until next year) and that I should apologize, so there won’t be tension at the event if we see each other (lots of mutuals attend) while others agree that the way Hel and Lee handled this was in poor taste.

I’d be upset at this situation too. I definitely wouldn’t make plans with Hel ever again.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

This reader suggests letting Hel eat the cost.

Another reader outlines two options.

This person suggests a few more options.

This person provides a suggested script to use to cancel the event.

It’s all fun and games until someone refuses to pay.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.