Work top to bottom. The first two sections are the ones that decide whether the trip happens at all — do not start booking until the date is locked and the budget has been said out loud.
1Lock the date
- Offer 3–5 specific weekends, not an open question
- Let people answer works / could work / cannot
- Set a deadline and say what happens at it ("I book the winner Sunday")
- Decide with whoever answered — do not wait for the last two
- Tell anyone who cannot make it, directly and kindly
2Say the budget out loud
- Name a bracket per person ("about £250–350 all in")
- State what is in (travel, house, group bookings) and out (food, drinks)
- Agree how rooms are priced before anyone sees them
- Decide who fronts the deposit and when everyone pays them back
- Agree what happens if someone drops out after booking
3Pick the destination
- Fits the locked date (flights and availability checked)
- Fits the budget bracket
- Travel time is reasonable for the trip length
- One person confirms the accommodation and books it
4Split the jobs — a name on every line
- Accommodation booking
- Travel / flights / train
- Airport or station transfers
- One or two fixed activities
- Food for the first night
- Shared supplies (cooler, speaker, games)
- Collecting the money
- The playlist
5Keep one page for the whole trip
- Confirmed dates
- Address and check-in window
- Who is coming, who is undecided
- Everyone's arrival times and transport
- What is booked and what is not
- Running cost and who has paid
6The week before
- Send one message with every logistical detail (not a link to them)
- Chase outstanding money now, not after
- Anything needing a booking is booked, with a named owner
- Name one person for "if something goes wrong"
- Create the shared photo album before anyone leaves
7On the last evening
- Ask everyone to drop their best photos into the album
- Settle up while everyone is together
- Take the group photo before people leave
Worth knowing
- Put a name next to every job before you do any of them yourself. Unclaimed jobs are conspicuous; "can someone help?" is not.
- The test of a well-split trip: could it survive you getting flu in week three?
- Settle money before you travel home. Afterwards the urgency evaporates.
- A trip that happens with four people beats one that never happens with eight.
Common questions.
What should you decide first when planning a group trip?
The date, before the destination. A destination is a preference and a date is a constraint; if you pick the place first and then discover the only weekend everyone can travel is one where flights there are expensive, you redo everything. Lock the weekend, then pick somewhere that fits it.
How do you share the planning so one person does not do it all?
Write every task down, including the small ones, and put a name against each — or leave it visibly unassigned. A list with three open jobs generates volunteers; a message asking "can anyone help?" does not. Ask specific people for specific jobs.
Can I copy this checklist into my own notes?
Yes — the Copy button puts it on your clipboard as plain markdown with tick boxes, so it pastes cleanly into Notes, Notion, Google Docs or the group chat. It is free and needs no account.
Is there a version that tracks itself?
Kinora keeps this list live for the whole group: each job shows who owns it, the date poll closes the date, and the budget tracks who has paid. Free while the beta runs. The checklist works on its own if you would rather not.
A checklist that fills itself in.
Kinora keeps this list live for the whole group — every job shows who owns it, the date poll closes the date, the budget tracks who has paid. Free while the beta runs.