Planning a Trip with a Large Group
Traveling with a large group can be fun and more interesting. Every member adds a distinct flavour to the trip, never allowing boredom to set in. Besides, group flight bookings and hotel reservations can prove to be cheaper due to bulk discounts. However, planning a trip to the satisfaction of each member can prove to be a challenge and will require some planning. Here are some tips to help you with this.
Planning a Group Trip
Coordinating among all the group members can be tedious and getting everyone’s buy-ins extremely time consuming. You can share a Google spreadsheet among all members and have people mark their approvals or opinions there.
- Research: There is no alternative to thorough research when planning a group trip. From transportation and accommodation to meal preferences and sightseeing plans, every detail needs to be researched. The best thing to do is to divide responsibilities among group members and ask each member to research one aspect of the holiday. The information can then be shared across a common platform and opinions sought.
- Money Matters: When traveling in a group, money matters can be sensitive and lead to conflicts. Begin with trying to get a consensus on the total budget. Following this, make a broad split of the budget among accommodation, meals and group flight bookings.
- Advance Bookings: Once you have the arrival and departure dates finalized, don’t want for the last minute to make your flight bookings. Have enough time to take advantage of early bird offers. This should be at least three months in advance.
- Firming up the Itinerary: The itinerary planning will involve multiple inputs. Once the inclusions have been firmed up, make sure to prepare a copy of it along with relevant details like date, time, mode of transport and special instructions and share it with every group member. Ask them to take printouts and preserve a copy for future references.
- Opt for Travel Insurance: Take time to shop for the best travel insurance deal and buy one with the consent of the entire group. Make sure to share the details across the common platform so that every member is aware of the nature of insurance opted for.
Make sure everyone has all their necessary documents in place before the commencement of the trip. Be it tickets for group flight bookings, copies of hotel accommodation or a copy of insurance, every member needs to preserve his own and carry it along.