Nothing brings people together like travel.
Whether you’re planning a family group vacation or would like to travel with a group of friends, it’s the stuff that dreams are made of. You and your group will be asking each other, “Why don’t we do this more often?”.
That thought often comes above as a sigh of relief, because you all probably have anxiety and apprehension about the trip in the first place.
Ask anyone who has traveled with a large group of people — it can be like herding cattle.
But once the trip comes together, you’ll know that the work was all worth it. Below we will touch on the essentials for planning travel with a group.
1. Start Planning as Early as Possible
Time is of the essence.
If the trip is going to happen, you don’t want to leave it to last-minute chance. Instead, you’ll want to put together serious plans a year out from the trip dates, at the very least.
It’s also important to plan early because you give people more time to save money. “No’s” turn to “Yes’s” when you take away reasons that someone wouldn’t want to go.
By giving everyone a year or more to save, take time off and make arrangements, you reduce the stress and let them wrap their minds around the trip.
2. Have a Price Point You Don’t Want to Exceed for the Group — But Be Open
Communicate with your group and figure out a price range that works for everyone.
By deciding on this upfront, no one feels left out, and you won’t price others out of the trip. With this in mind, be adamant about not going over the price limit. Leave room for others to splurge on upscale hotel rooms or first-class flights if they so choose, but be sure that the base-level options are always on the table.
You should also be open to more research if something doesn’t immediately look like it fits your price range. You might see one price advertised, but it could immediately become more affordable after getting a group discount, military discount, senior discount, or getting a better price from a travel agent.
Like buying a car, the asking price is just the starting point when it comes to travel.
3. Try to Save Money on Transportation
You really stand to save a lot of money depending on how you arrange your travel.
There are several ways to save money on flights — to include finding deals, figuring out which days of the week are cheapest to fly, and flying out of different airports. Likewise, renting a car and driving might save a tremendous amount of money in some situations.
Booking charter bus rentals can be an excellent way to get around with ease and save money at the same time.
Figure out what everyone would like to do regarding transportation and explore any deals to be had.
4. Set and Enforce Deadlines
The problem with planning a trip with a large group is that because you’re all friends and family, you allow more wiggle room than you would allow if you were doing business.
Because of this, you need to have deadlines laid out, and you need to enforce them.
For instance, if someone doesn’t indicate that they are in on the trip by a certain date then they’ll be dropped from the e-mail list or group chat. If someone doesn’t pay their deposit by a certain date, then they likewise won’t be added to the group trip.
Of course, there are always exceptions, but you need to weed out the people who are only dreaming about traveling instead of actually making the trip as early as possible. It’ll get rid of headaches and leave room for no excuses or hard feelings.
5. Decide on a Destination That Excites People
When you plan out where you’re going, make sure that it’s worth everyone’s time and gets them excited about going.
Be mindful to pick places that they haven’t been, or that are bucket-list destinations. When the proposed destination is exciting, that’s when you’ll have them so geeked that they’ll be doing tons of research on their own.
And that’s what you want.
It makes the trip fun and planning a breeze.
Give everyone a chance to offer input on the sites and attractions they would like to experience. From there, you can create an itinerary for the trip.
Also, technology is your friend — so use it!
While you’re planning the group travel, make sure of apps and cloud-based services that get everyone in on collaborating and putting your minds together.
You can use apps like Slack to make communication simple and to keep a record of conversations in the same place. By handling your group travel planning like this, you’ll eliminate so many obstacles and it’ll be much less of a burden.
Use These Tips If You’re Planning to Travel With a Group
See? Travel with a group doesn’t have to be such a headache.
With these five tips in mind, you’ll be in the driver’s seat when it comes to planning group travel of any type. Whether you’re planning a destination wedding or a class reunion, abide by these guidelines.
Let me be your source for all things exotic travel. Check back for more posts that’ll inform you and stoke your imagination.
