‘I told her I wasn’t switching, my hotel was part of the special deal’: Cousin tries to turn an adults‑only Cyprus getaway into a family trip on the couple’s dime, trying to switch the booking, and gets shut down

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Aug 31, 2025 4:00 PM EDT

Under a half‑packed suitcase and printed boarding passes, a cousin's eight‑year‑old announces that "we are all going to Cyprus," because his mother already promised a group trip on an adults‑only booking meant for a quiet week with a boyfriend. 


The reservation is a rare discount at a five‑star couples hotel after two months of unpaid babysitting, and the plan is simple: fly together, rest, and reclaim silence. The cousin's counterplan arrives preloaded: switch to a family hotel, add three kids, and put it on the couple's card, with the built‑in expectation that the child‑free relative will double as vacation childcare. Practical help is offered in the form of family‑friendly options, and a firm refusal is given to subsidizing or supervising, which somehow earns accusations of selfishness from houseguests already avoiding five‑hundred‑a‑night local rates.

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  • AITA for refusing to switch hotels for my family member's kids?

    a small hotel pictured from its floor level balcanies. each one of the rooms has a private beachbed next to the window
    via lesya_green

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Hello amazing potato people! Once again, I have come before you to ask if I was an AH... So, let's get into it.
    via Motormouth5620
  • I (34F) booked a vacation to Cyprus at an adults-only hotel. Now, don't get me wrong-l adore kids (heck, most days I act like one).
    via Motormouth5620
  • But I spent most of this summer babysitting and watching family members' kids so they could have some "couples time" or just a break.
    via Motormouth5620
  • So, I decided it might be nice to book a 5-star, adults-only hotel where I could relax after two months of running after nieces, nephews, and little cousins.
    via Motormouth5620
  • I managed to score a great deal and booked a week at the Amavi Hotel in Paphos for a ridiculously low price, including flights.
    via Motormouth5620
  • the shoreline at the city of Larnaca, Cyprus during the daytime
    via Hert Niks

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • While setting up this trip, my cousin (let's call her DD) and her three kids were staying with me, since hotels in my area were insanely overpriced
    via Motormouth5620
  • and I live in a vacation destination and a 4 min walk from the beach. My cousin's son (let's call him Matt) overheard me telling a friend about my trip-how everything was booked and we
    via Motormouth5620
  • (my boyfriend and I) were all packed. He immediately ran to his mom and asked if they could come with me.
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  • Without thinking, DD said, "Of course we can! Your auntie will find us a great deal and we'll all fly out together!" I was dumbfounded.
    via Motormouth5620
  • I pulled DD aside and explained the deal was for an adults-only couples hotel because I wanted to spend quality time with my boyfriend.
    via Motormouth5620
  • Aerial picture of a seashore
    via George Lemon

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  •  The farce escalates when the cousin calls the travel company to move the booking, adds a suite and business‑class seats, and claims the original traveler requested a cancellation to spend more time together, only for the agent to verify and halt the switch. The boundary holds: keep the adults‑only reservation, decline the subsidy, and let anyone determined to take a family holiday fund it and staff it themselves, while the intended travelers finally take a trip that functions as rest, not a shift.

  • We'd both been extremely busy with work, apartment hunting, and me babysitting kids all summer. DD just shrugged and said, "Well then just call the company and switch hotels, what's the problem?"
    via Motormouth5620
  • I told her I wasn't switching-my hotel was part of the special deal. I even offered to help her find a family- friendly hotel and gave her options.
    via Motormouth5620
  • She looked, then turned to me and said, "Wait, but if you won't be at the hotel, who will help me with the kids?"
    via Motormouth5620
  • I said, "I don't know -get a babysitter, bring your mother, discipline the kids so they behave better, pick one." She got upset and called me r de and selfish.
    via Motormouth5620
  • She claimed that since I don't have kids, I don't understand how important vacations are for parents, and that she deserved a break too.
    via Motormouth5620
  • I reminded her I'd been watching her kids every day after work for the past 4 days while she was staying at my place ―so she was already getting a break.
    via Motormouth5620
  • Her response? "So what, I have to be with them all the time. The least you can do is help out once in a while.
    via Motormouth5620
  • You're not married, you have no kids, you basically have nothing to do with your day." And this is where I may have been the AH.
    via Motormouth5620
  • I told her flat out that I don't owe her anything. I was already doing her a favor by letting her and her kids stay at my place since they couldn't afford $500/night hotels.
    via Motormouth5620
  • I am not her childcare. Then I asked how she expected to afford a vacation like mine when she couldn't afford a hotel in our own country- especially with 3 kids.
    via Motormouth5620
  • Her answer? "You guys can just pay and I'll pay you back when I have it. I mean, you don't have kids and your boyfriend makes great money.
    via Motormouth5620
  • Tell him to pay for us, he won't mind." I don't know if entitlement was on sale that day or if there was a clearance on audacity, but I wasn't having it.
    via Motormouth5620
  • I told her she must be high if she thought we were going to pay for her and three kids. She got upset, packed her stuff, and left to stay with my mom, as I was being a bad host.
    via Motormouth5620
  • An hour later, I get a call from my mom and her mom, asking how I could "kick her out at night with 3 kids." (It was 6pm, and she left voluntarily.)
    via Motormouth5620
  • I explained everything, but they sided with her and told me I should just pay. I told them if they wanted her to go on vacation so badly, they could fork out the $4,000 and babysit too.
    via Motormouth5620
  • Later, my mom called back after learning DD twisted the story, claiming | was flaunting my money and vacation in front of her kids to make her look like a bad mom.
    via Motormouth5620
  • (For the record, I work 10-12 hour days and hardly have money to spare.) My mom tried to keep the peace but eventually realized I wasn't budging.
    via Motormouth5620
  • Then last night, I learned from my boyfriend that after leaving, DD actually called our travel company and tried to switch my hotel booking to a family hotel, adding a suite for her and her kids, plus business-class flights.
    via Motormouth5620
  • She even lied, saying I wanted to cancel my trip to spend time with her. The agent thankfully called my boyfriend to double-check.
    via Motormouth5620
  • For context: my boyfriend is extremely generous-the kind of person who would literally give his coat, hat, and shoes to someone freezing in the street (and has, literally las winter).
    via Motormouth5620
  • If I had asked, he probably would have paid for her vacation without hesitation. But since she was being so entitled, I refused to even bring it up.
    via Motormouth5620
  • She's already raising her kids to be entitled, and I wasn't about to enable it. So, Reddit... AITA?
    via Motormouth5620

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cyprus meet and greet family drama inheritance aita AITAH brother family trip mother tradition siblings tourists family feud favoritism parenting wedding aunt sister trip fiancé attraction grandmother tour guide entitled people Father vacation
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