He Questioned Free Usage of the Family-Owned Airbnb—So She Suggested Paying the Mandatory Cleaning and Utility Overhead Fees
Canva
Mixing family, marriage, and a rental business can turn one free stay into a surprisingly expensive conversation.
This husband co-owns an Airbnb with his parents, and his wife wants to use it during a work conference.
Rather than immediately agree, he worries that waiving the fee could cost bookings and establish unlimited family access.
Would he be protecting the business or overcomplicating marriage?
AITA for not letting my wife stay in my Airbnb?
I recently started an Airbnb rental in a nearby town that my parents live in. I own and operate the Airbnb jointly with my parents, 50-50.
My wife has a conference in this town coming up and asked to stay in my Airbnb for free.
However, he was unable to immediately offer it to her…
I told her that if it was just mine, it would be an immediate yes. But, since I’m in a partnership with my parents, I would have to clear it with them.
I also told her that, knowing my parents, they would immediately offer for her to stay with them in their house, which she does not want to do.
They’d be losing out on financial gain because of the wife’s personal preference.
We would have to be clear that she does not want to stay with them, but by herself in our Airbnb, which would prevent paying guests from booking those dates.
I told her that if it were my parents asking me if, say, another relative who lives nearby asked to stay there for free, I would feel pressure to agree to it despite having misgivings about it.
This could in turn create a bad precedent for any family (or friends) to expect to use our Airbnb for free.
However, I am worried that I am being a jerk and putting my parents and our business above my wife’s request.
AITA?
Does Reddit have an opinion on the matter? Let’s read some comments below to get an idea of what everyone is thinking.
Redditors had strong opinions on the matter.
And they noted that having a wife was very different from just any other relative.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a sister who feels badly about unknowingly encouraging her younger brother to play with bullies.
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
Many said “YTA”, no question.
This husband was reasonable to consider his parents’ ownership stake, but treating his wife like any other relative made the request unnecessarily transactional.
A fair solution would be clearing the dates together and personally covering his parents’ share of any lost income.
He owns half the Airbnb but somehow booked himself a stay in the marital doghouse.
Enjoyed this story?
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
