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I can see two arguments. As a respect thing, I would always give my parents the master. But if it didn't make sense based on size, I wouldn't have a problem asking for it.

We are at a rental right now with my parents, my sister who is on her own, and my other sister who is with her husband and two kids. Each "couple" has a master bedroom with its own bath; my sister who is single has her own bedroom but is sharing a bathroom with my nieces (who are sharing a bedroom). My girls are sleeping in a sitting room off of my bedroom. Since my sister with kids and I each took two rooms, we each paid 1/3 of the rental; my other sister and parents each paid 1/6. Some of us have bigger rooms, some have better views, some have nicer bathrooms, but it all works out. How much time is everyone spending in the bedrooms, anyway!?

In your case, your family definitely needs the larger space. I'd also consider location of the master - you probably want the kiddos in the room farthest from the main living area so they won't be disturbed in the evening.

@alphagam84: in regards to your question about cost, we just had this come up in my family. I rented a 4 bedroom place for my family/extended family to use for a wedding weekend. I decided to split the cost per room, instead of per person (but I did split all the fees and stuff per person). So my cousin staying with her child paid for a full room, but my sister & other cousin split the cost because they shared a room (2 twin beds). It seemed fair and no one complained.

@SugarplumsMom:

In our family and friend trips, whoever does the organizing and legwork on the trip gets the best room. However exceptions made for people needing more space. Sometimes the best room for kids is not the master. On a recent family trip we found a small office to put one kid and then the master bedroom Walk in cedar closet for the other.

My parents take the master because they pick up the tab for vacations (they refuse to take money from us because it's "their pleasure to treat their babies"). They will take our 2 year old in her pack n play with them if there isn't enough room for her with us. However, they have let us take the biggest room when our daughter still needed to nurse at night and when I'm pregnant, so I think they should defer to your family's needs this time.

Is it a bathroom issue? My family has bathroom issues so we probably wouldn't want one of two toilets off limits for 12 hours at night and during nap time. Assuming the kids and I could fit elsewhere I would pass up the en suite room. However, I would expect my family to leave the decision up to me.