How to plan a group trip (and not overpay your share)

Hello organiser, we see you! The Whatsapp chat has been going for a while, everyone is keen, most can make it and to take the group holiday from chat to runway, you’re taking the lead on making it happen. Great work!

But now what? Don’t worry, we’ve got you. Start by agreeing on everyone’s budget, narrow down your destination, travel and accommodation options, book the essentials, and keep track of group payments in one place. Our payment tracker tool can help you keep track of who has paid, who still needs to pay and other things you need from your group, like passport details or completed waivers.

From personal experience here are our top tips on how to plan a group trip.

How to organise a trip your whole group can actually afford

You might already know where you all want to go, or there might be various ideas thrown around in the chat but in every group there’s going to be different people with different budgets. Before you spend time planning something that won’t work, determine your budget floor. Find out what everyone is happy to spend and work to your lowest.

If someone has a higher budget, they’re not going to be put out as much by spending less as someone who has a lower budget feeling stressed all holiday because they’re spending more than they can afford to.

Deciding where to go, where to stay and what to do

Now that you know your budget, you can narrow down your search. My tip on how to plan travelling with friends is to keep options to 3 for any decision you’re trying to make. 3 Airbnbs that fit the budget, 3 destinations, 3 travel options, etc. Giving too many options takes you a lot more time to research and makes coming to an agreement harder. Sticking to 3 and under will make your life easier.

The destination with the right vibe

The fun begins! Agreeing your budget will give you a much clearer idea of where you’re going to go based on what’s affordable. The next step is to work out what everyone’s group travel ideas are. Is everyone wanting to party for a week, relax on the beach, shop or a mix?

Now you’ve got your budget and an idea of the type of holiday everyone wants, you can narrow down your destination search.

Top tip: Agree in advance that not everything needs to be done together. It can save some ruffled feathers mid holiday.

Book your flights

Once the flights are booked, it feels real. ✈️

It’s the bit you want to get done as soon as possible as prices generally only go up. This is also where you want to get your Collctiv pot going. I’ll get on to that shortly.

You and your group might all be travelling together, from the same airport, or you might be flying from different cities, so it can take a little co-ordinating. If you’re flying together, give a few options, get your group to confirm and get the flights booked. You’ll feel better once it’s done.

Choose your accommodation

Time to decide what accommodation style you’re going with? It’s been a long time since I’ve stayed in anything other than an Airbnb house or apartment. I’ve actually got a group trip coming up with some girlfriends. We do it every year after the school summer holidays (we’re all mums so it’s a bit of unwind after the chaos). Last year we went to Portugal and this year we’re getting a train from London to Whitstable for a little seaside R&R and staying in a lovely, light filled apartment.

You might be be looking for more of a resort vibe, or a hotel so you don’t have to do the obligatory cleanup of the Airbnb.

Whatever you’re going with, narrow it down to 3 then get the group to choose.

Plan your itinerary and book in advance

I have to admit, I used to be more of a “go where the wind takes me” type of traveller. I once spent 3 months in India with a rough idea of what I was going to do and nothing booked until I got there. I’m not going to lie, there were a few hurdles that threw at me.

Nowadays I like to get some things booked in, so I don’t have to scramble so much when I get there, though I always leave some times open to spontaneity. This is especially important if you’re travelling in a group. 2 people might be easy to squeeze in for a last minute booking, 5 or 10 might get trickier. It also means decisions have been made in advance and everyone knows.

So choose some activities and some restaurants and get those locked in.

The money side of group travel trips

Let’s be honest, holidays can very quickly get expensive and the last thing you want is to get stuck paying for a load in advance and then have to chase around to make sure you get paid back. Collctiv allows you to set up a pot just for your group trip, collect all the money in one place without trawling through your bank statement to check who has paid.

"Getting people to pay and making sure that everyone has paid and I'm chasing the right people. And that's where Collctive is useful, because I can see at a glance who's paid and who hasn't.” - Collctiv customer

How to budget and keep track of payments

1. Work out the upfront costs - If you’re going to be making group bookings and paying in advance, work out what the costs are going to be. Flights, accommodation, transport, deposits, activities, etc.
2. Add a budget for group spending - Sometimes it’s easier than one person to pay for things when you’re away but it can be hard to keep track of everything that’s owed while you’re on the move. So set a group spending amount and get everyone to pay it into the pot in advance.
3. Decide what needs to be paid by when - so you can get the money in time from the group. Flights might need to be paid upfront, while you might only need to pay a deposit for accommodation, then the balance later. If you’re planning in advance, you can set instalment amounts and spread the cost out for everyone.
4. Set up your group trip pot - let everyone know what needs to be paid and by when, then collect all the payments in one place so that it’s easy to keep track of.
5. Use our payment tracker tool - list everyone confirmed on your trip and any payment instalments you need so you can easily mark off who has paid and who needs chasing. You can also add check boxes for things you need like clothing sizes for wetsuits, completed waivers, passport details for check in, etc.

Are you ready to plan? Have fun! And if you’re using Collctiv to help plan your holiday, let us know how it goes. We always love hearing our user’s stories. 😃

Happy group travelling!!