UPDATE: Entitled mother-in-law invites herself to vacation, family rebook vacation for new spot and leave her fuming: '[Mother-in-law] ended up canceling and had to pay a 50% fee'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Nov 6, 2025 3:00 PM EST

There are few encounters more awkward than having to tell someone they aren't invited to an event they were planning on attending. This is especially awkward if the person you've excluded is someone you care about… but you just don't want them around at that particular event. 

For some reason, a lot of parents and in-laws have trouble with boundaries like this. If you find out that your adult child is going on vacation with their own family, and your first instinct is to be upset that they didn't invite you, you should question why you feel that way. After all, there are plenty of other times you can see your child. You could even plan a separate vacation with your grown child and the grandkids, which would help out your kid, since they'd have less planning to juggle. 

But no… a lot of parents get extremely upset if they discover their adult child is vacationing without them. This is just bizarre, because what do you mean you want to tag along on a couple's vacation? Why would you want to insist on going to a trip you're not wanted on? Why does all of this upset you personally when it's really and truly not personal? 

This mother-in-law discovered that her adult son and his wife were going on a trip to a resort, and her first instinct, bizarrely, was to whip out her credit card and try to book herself into a hotel room for the same time and date! Even if she had succeeded in joining her kid, why would she want to endure the awkwardness that would ensue? It's just so odd… check out what happened below, along with the very satisfying update, both included down below. 

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  • 01
    Woman in blue holds hands with child who holds hands with man in white shirt and shorts in beach setting, on the right an older woman in a blue shirt looks upset
    via Brock Wegner For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02

    'MIL tried to make our vacation a family vacation. Now she’s mad we cancelled ours.'

    DH and I have been saving to go on a much needed vacation and finally booked it for next month.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 03
    We were so excited. We shared the basic info about it (location/resort & dates) with our immediate family and started looking into excursions and tours.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 04
    Everything was perfect. On Sunday, just before family dinner, my SIL and I caught MIL on Expedia with credit card in hand booking a trip to the same resort at the same time we would be there.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 05
    We told DH and he confronted his mother. She said it looked like fun and she wanted to go there too.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 06
    She said her and my FIL discussed it and thought it would be a great idea to book the same vacation for themselves and my SIL and BIL so that we can "all have a well deserved vacation".
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 07
    SIL and DH immediately shut it down saying that they were not invited and cannot just invite themselves.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 08
    That they are intruding on our plans. Then cue the waterworks and victimization from MIL of how we don't want her around.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 09
    FIL yelled at us for being disrespectful and hurting her feelings and said that "you don't control where and when we go somewhere.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 10
    So deal with it". SIL confirmed to me that same night that they did in fact book the vacation, just without my SIL and BIL because they refused to go.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 11
    SIL, the nicest person she is, connected us with her friend who is a travel agent.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 12
    The TA was able to find us a cruise that goes to the same location and a few others with a good last minute deal and was less than the original trip.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 13
    Thankfully, we were able to get a refund on the resort and get flight credits for the flight since the cancellation penalty period hasn't started yet.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 14
    On Thursday, we saw his parents at our niece's kindergarten graduation. MIL came to us and tried to get us to book excursions with them.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 15
    DH told her that unfortunately, we won't be there anymore and are going to another undisclosed vacation without them with smug look.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 16
    MIL called us selfish and they both keeps calling us and SIL trying to get information she won't be getting.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 17
    She's been making passive aggressive posts on Facebook and telling everyone how selfish we are.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 18

    Here's the update, one month after MIL originally tried to insert herself into the plans:

    A month or so ago I posted about how my MIL tried to hijack DH's and I's vacation and make it into a family one.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 19
    We cancelled ours and my angel of a SIL had a travel agent friend that was able to hook us up with a cruise instead.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 20
    When my IL's found out they started calling us selfish for changing our plans when they wouldn't (we cancelled before penalty window).
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 21
    There were a couple of flying monkeys that came at us due to my IL's twisting the story, but whatever.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 22
    After explaining our side, they went away. The good news is we made it! We're on board and having a blast of a time!
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 23
    SIL and my parents are the only ones who know where we're at. There were a few calls from FIL demanding we pay 1/2 of the money they lost.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 24
    They ended up cancelling and had to pay 50% fee. Apparently we owe it to them because they needed us there with them to be able to navigate everything.
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 25
    They won't see a dime from us. Thank you to everyone and your kind comments! We have learned our lesson!
    via u/Bride1234109
  • 26
    Woman in blue holds hands with child who holds hands with man in white shirt and shorts in a beach setting with crashing waves in front of them
    via Natalya Zaritskaya on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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family drama mother sister in law father in law in laws family daughter family vacation son vacation
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