The hardest part of a group trip isn't the booking. It's that six people want six different holidays and only one of them will say so out loud.
Here's a method that works, whether or not you use any software for it.
1. Find out what people actually want — privately
The single biggest mistake is asking the group chat "what does everyone want to do?" You'll get "I'm easy!" from four people and one detailed paragraph from the person who was always going to plan it anyway.
Ask people individually, and ask better questions:
- What's the one thing you'd be disappointed to miss?
- What's your honest daily budget for food?
- How do you feel about early mornings?
- Anything you physically can't or won't do?
You'll learn more in six short private answers than in a month of group chat. People are far more honest when they're not performing agreement for everyone else.
2. Separate the non-negotiables from the nice-to-haves
Out of those answers you'll usually find each person has exactly one or two things they genuinely care about, and are relaxed about the rest. That's the whole trip, right there.
Six people × one must-have = six anchors. Build around those and you've already got a plan nobody resents.
3. Decide who decides — before you need to
Groups stall because nobody knows who has the final say. Agree up front: one person (or two) drafts the plan, everyone gets a window to object, then it's decided. "Benevolent dictator with a comment period" beats consensus every time, because consensus in a group chat means the trip is designed by whoever is most persistent.
4. Let the day fork
This is the one most people never consider, and it fixes more tension than anything else: you don't all have to do everything together.
If half the group wants a museum and half wants a hike, that's not a conflict to resolve — it's an afternoon to split. Everyone does the thing they want, and you meet for dinner with something to talk about. Groups that plan a couple of these in advance report far less friction than groups that white-knuckle togetherness for eight days.
5. Sort money out before you go
Decide the mechanism, not the amounts: who fronts what, whether you're splitting evenly or by what each person actually consumed, and when you settle up. The argument on day six is never really about €40 — it's about the fact that nobody agreed on the rules.
6. Write it where everyone can see it
Not a chat thread. Chats scroll and links die. One shared plan everyone can open on their phone, in one place, with the dates, the bookings and the addresses.
Where we come in
This is the whole reason tripcoord exists. You invite the group, everyone fills in a two-minute preferences form (step 1, privately — the important bit), and the itinerary gets built around what people actually said. When the group's answers genuinely diverge, the day splits into two tracks and rejoins for dinner. Votes, expenses and packing all live on the same trip.
You can start free — one full itinerary build, no card.
And if you take nothing else from this: ask people privately first. That step alone will improve your next group trip more than any app will.