Pay Dirt

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Pay Dirt is Slate’s money advice column. Have a question? Send it to Kristin and Ilyce here . (It’s anonymous!)

Dear Pay Dirt,

I recently planned and paid for a trip for my mom and aunts to spend time together to reminisce. I booked a large vacation rental for them all to stay in. Unbeknownst to me, one aunt invited two more cousins.

When I learned they planned to come, I explained on two separate occasions that the two cousins were not invited so as to provide uninterrupted time for my mom and aunts. The uninvited cousins still showed up on the vacation and interrupted the trip. Was it OK for them to show up at the vacation rental even after it was explained why they weren’t invited? Shouldn’t they have cleared it with me, who planned and paid for the trip? Should the two cousins have just come at the rental because one aunt invited them? What is the protocol?…