The problem, and what Kinora does about it.
Nobody commits to a date
"When are you free?" in a group chat produces silence, because it hands everyone a research task. Three weeks later the cheap flights are gone.
Date polls
Put three to five specific weekends out. Everyone marks what works, what could work, and what cannot — and the answer stays put instead of scrolling away.
One person does everything
The jobs are invisible, so nobody volunteers, so the organiser does them. By week three they are the trip's unpaid project manager.
A task list with names on it
Every job shows who owns it, or shows plainly that nobody does yet. Unassigned tasks are conspicuous, which is what actually generates volunteers.
Money stays unspoken until it is awkward
Someone fronts the house, three weeks pass, and nobody wants to be the one who asks. Reconstructing who paid for what afterwards is where friendships get tested.
A shared budget everyone can see
Record shared costs as they happen — what, who paid, who it covers. The running total is visible to the whole group, so nobody has to chase and nobody has to ask.
The plan lives in six places
A chat, two DMs, a spreadsheet, three confirmation emails and someone's memory. Every question — what time do we land, whose name is the booking under — costs someone a search.
One page for the whole trip
Dates, where you are staying, who is coming, travel, the itinerary, what is booked and what it costs — on one page. Questions answer themselves.
The photos scatter and vanish
Everyone takes them; almost nobody sends them. A year later the trip exists as a vague memory and a few compressed images buried in a chat.
A shared album attached to the trip
Set up before you go, so adding a photo is a five-second action during the trip rather than a chore afterwards. Full resolution, private to the group.
Half the group will not install anything
Asking a whole friend group to download an app and make an account is how plans die. The people who do not are usually the ones whose availability you needed.
Open from a link, in a browser
Anyone can see the plan from the invite link with no account and no download. Signing up unlocks voting, claiming tasks, RSVPing and adding photos.
From idea to done.
1Start with whatever you know
A name and nothing else is enough. "Lisbon in the spring", a rough month, or just "trip" — Kinora fills the gaps as the group weighs in. You do not need the answers up front.
2Share one link
Drop it in the chat you already have. Everyone can see the plan immediately; the people who want to vote, claim a job or RSVP sign up from there.
3Let the group decide the open parts
The date poll closes the date. The task list fills itself with names. Costs get recorded as they land. The plan converges instead of stalling.
4Keep the after
The album is already there when the trip ends, so the photos go into it on the last evening instead of never. That is what makes the second trip happen.
Straight answers.
Is Kinora free?
Yes, while the beta runs. Everything in the planning product — date polls, the task list, the shared budget, the itinerary, invitations and the photo album — is included. Beta testers will get notice before anything about that changes.
Do my friends need to download an app?
No. Kinora is web-first and runs in the browser on phones, tablets and desktops. Anyone can open the plan from the invite link with no account; signing up is what unlocks voting, claiming tasks, RSVPing and adding photos. There is no native iOS or Android app.
How is this different from a group chat and a spreadsheet?
A chat is very good at raising an idea and very bad at closing one — decisions scroll away and the same questions get asked repeatedly. A spreadsheet holds the decisions but nobody opens it. Kinora is the page that stays current, that the group can actually edit, and that is one link away from the chat you already use.
How does splitting costs work?
Shared costs are recorded as they happen — what it was, who paid, and who it covers — so the running total is visible to everyone and nobody has to reconstruct it afterwards. Optional extras can be split among only the people who did them.
What size of group is it for?
Anything from four friends going away for a weekend to a twenty-person family reunion. The date poll and task list matter more as the group gets bigger, because that is when a chat stops being able to hold a decision at all.
Read the guides first.
How to plan a group trip with friends
A step-by-step guide to planning a group trip: locking a date, setting a real budget, splitting the jobs, and getting everyone to actually book.
How to pick a date everyone can make
Finding a date for a group is a coordination problem, not a scheduling one. Here is a method that closes it in days instead of weeks.
How to split costs on a group trip
Who pays for what, how to divide rooms of different sizes, and how to settle up without anyone having to chase. A practical guide to group trip money.
One page instead of six threads.
Kinora is free while the beta runs. Start with a name and nothing else — the group fills in the rest.