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Suitcase Divas: Travel Agent Tips, Tricks & Travel Tales
Join co-hosts Denise and Cheryl as they chat about the journey of life and how travel plays an intricate role in navigating its twists and turns. Whether it's sharing travel tips, swapping stories over a glass of wine or mimosa, or welcoming special guests, there's always something new to explore! Grab your suitcase, pour a drink, and let’s dive into the adventure of life together—because travel makes everything better!
Suitcase Divas: Travel Agent Tips, Tricks & Travel Tales
Group Travel & The Money Talk – Who Pays for What?
Traveling with friends and family is all fun and games—until the bill arrives! 🤑 Who gets the master suite, and who’s stuck on the sleeper sofa? Should the big eaters and cocktail lovers pay the same as the light snackers? And what about those must-do activities—do you split them evenly or let everyone do their own thing?
In this episode, we’re tackling the sometimes awkward (but totally necessary) conversation about who pays for what on group trips. We’ll break down the best ways to divide accommodation costs, split meal tabs without drama, and balance group adventures with solo time—all while keeping the travel vibes stress-free. 🌍✨
Join us as we share real-life travel money mishaps, expert tips on keeping things fair, and must-know tools to make expense tracking a breeze. Whether you’re the planner of the group or just along for the ride, this episode will help you keep your friendships and your budget intact!
📢 Have a group travel money horror story? Email us or drop us a voicemail—we just might share it in a future episode!
#GroupTravel #TravelMoneyMatters #SuitcaseDivas #WhoPaysForWhat #TravelWithFriends
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Hey guys, so welcome to Suitcase Divas. Today we are going to be talking about group travel and how you split the cost for that. Talking about group travel and how you split the cost for that. So traveling with friends and family is amazing until it's time to split the bill, and I think that we're going to talk a little bit more about how to go into doing it more fairly. So in this episode, we're diving into the nitty gritty of group travel, from dividing accommodations fairly, uh, to planning activities that are kind of balancing the group versus solo time, and, um, we'll help you to navigate the tricky world of the shared expenses, hopefully without trying to avoid the drama. Right, that's what our goal is today.
Speaker 2:Cause you can't. We've we've been on these trips and if you don't have conversations before, it can lead to drama and who's doing what. So and we've talked about this before this type of this is. This topic has come up in multiple conversations about how do you split it up, where do you split it up and what are you splitting up?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that I think what the biggest takeaway here is going to be is communication is key. It's always going into it with an under clear understanding of of who's paying for what and who's sleeping where and how you're structuring that breakdown so what are your expectations as a traveler?
Speaker 2:as someone who's spending the money Like if I'm forking over money I have a certain expectation of how I've spent that money. So it's very interesting when we were doing research for this, the different things that we found. Yeah, with our own experiences as well.
Speaker 1:So let's talk accommodations, sleeping arrangements. Okay. So equal splitting versus tiered splitting. Does the person that's sleeping on the sleeper sofa in the living room split the same amount or pay the same amount as the friends or couple that is in the master suite with a big private bathroom in the shower? What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:I think that's probably the first question most people talk about, and when I say I'm going to say argue about. But what's what I found in these chats and discussing with other people is so many people don't really want to have the conversations of who's getting the twin bed or who's for the bunk beds, or the children's bunk beds.
Speaker 1:I'm not paying the same for a bunk bed. I know that I'm probably going to be cracked out in by the second night and I mean I need at at this point in my life. Ms D is not sleeping on a bunk bed. I'm just telling you that.
Speaker 2:I will say there I like how you said at your point in your life right now, because there are plenty of times where I've gone on group trips, especially with kids, like, if I've gone with other moms, our kids, I'm like I'll take the sleeper sofa or I'll take the twin, or we've even taken air mattresses and I'm like, yeah, I'm bringing a good air mattress, I'll I'll sleep on that and the the price has been split evenly. However, now I want a bed. I really it depends on the length of the trip, but I really want a bed.
Speaker 1:And, and I always had no problem. What if we were doing it with? Each family got a room. We had no problem If there was only one bed and our kids would sleep on the sleeper sofa. I mean that?
Speaker 2:I mean, oh, that's another thing that came up was when you're traveling with family and let's say they got a big Airbnb or a big cabin or something like that the families and there's five rooms, but there's six family members this isn't counting like their offspring so you've got like mom and dad in one room and then you've got the married siblings in the other room and then you have one single sibling dad in one room, and then you've got the married siblings in the other room and then you have one single sibling. A lot of things I read is that single sibling usually gets stuck to the sleeper sofa. While the kids might get a room, the grandkids, the younger kids might get a room, instead of putting that single adult sibling in their own room and letting the kids sleep on the sleeper sofa.
Speaker 1:I saw that a lot in the Reddit threads when I was looking at that situation I think the adult should get his own room, absolutely the adult sibling, because kids, kids can sleep anywhere in their little bodies. They get the damn sleeper sofa. The bar in the back is not my friend, but I will say oh sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, I'm just saying I would give precedent over. But I will say if we're in a room and you want two rooms out of that house and because you want your husband and wife to sleep together and then you want your kids in a separate room, you should have to pay twice as much than me fitting all my two children and in my room on a sleeper sofa. I mean, I don't want to keep calling it a sleeper sofa. It's always an air mattress, it's that kind of plug in and it's a sleeping setup and my kids were always fine and sometimes the closet would be big enough that they had their own little kind of fort type of deal. Like've done, try to make it fun or whatever. But the point is I'm not paying the same amount. If all my children are in one room and you've bedroom house, you're dividing by the bedrooms.
Speaker 2:But if you have a five bedroom house, say, with a loft, and someone is expected to sleep in that loft, are you then splitting it by person? Are you then that person just doesn't like? Then I think you have to take into consideration a different style of split.
Speaker 1:Right, and that should be a discussion you have up front before you take the trip. Because, like my friend, my bestie, tony, he always wants his own room and his own bathroom, and he is not. He makes really good money, so he doesn't have a problem with paying Like he's one person in a room, but he wants his own room and he doesn't mind splitting it per room because he wants that extra space for himself. Right, and we've always had that understanding up front.
Speaker 2:You know I agree with that. My next question, talking about accommodations, would be Splitting up the rooms, because usually there's always the master and then there's one that has like four beds in it or three beds, whatever it's got like a queen and a bunk bed or something. How do you decide who gets the master? And then also to follow up with that, does the planner slash organizer of this entire trip get first dibs on the room, like what? That's another.
Speaker 1:My friend group, the answer is no, I do not. But what we have done in the past, usually when we have a girl, our college besties, a group of six of us ladies, and so we always try to get a three bedroom. Now we do just to be mindful. In the past we've tried to be like okay, you guys got the master suite last time, so this time somebody else gets it, and we've had to draw straws too. We've even drawn straws for who rooms with who as not to have to be like I don't, I don't want a room with her. No, I don't want to room with her. You know what I mean. Like we're all friends and at the end of the day, you're just sleeping in a bed for whatever amount of time.
Speaker 1:Um my only requirement there is I'll sleep with whichever of my lovely friends I get the name of, but I do want to bet. I don't want and I don't think that the sleeper sofa person in the living room that does not have their own bathroom, that does not have their own privacy, should have to pay the same amount as somebody that has a legit bed in bathroom and shower at their disposal.
Speaker 2:You know there is a lot that goes into figuring out, um, who gets to bed, who's paying for what, which is why, honestly, most of the time, I prefer a hotel. I really would rather we block rooms in a hotel. We put that way Everybody has beds, there's a bathroom.
Speaker 1:I just I think what takes the fun out of that a little bit is, at least in an Airbnb or in a house, you have that common living room where you can watch movies or play games late night. I did like that, like when we went to the beach we had the three bedroom condo. Airbnb or in a house, you have that common living room where you can watch movies or play games late night. I did like that, like when we went to the beach we had the three bedroom condo. It was perfect because we everybody had their own bed, everybody got their own bed, um, and it was nice to have the kitchen in the living room where we played board games and cards and we had that bonding time. And I think that it takes away in a hotel, but if you're at a, it depends on what you're trying to get out of that trip.
Speaker 2:That was our girl's trip retreat where we were doing at the beach, which you do have a lot more downtime. I and you're not going out and about as much.
Speaker 1:I totally get that I think that depends on you know what you're looking to get out of the trip too. You know, Yep, and it's hard for us to justify not getting the discount at the Marriott's, but we have the Marriott villas and stuff too, so we're kind of extra yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think that might be some of it too is like if I'm going to be paying this much for a room and an Airbnb that I one would have to potentially clean up, which I did not, that I messy, I do clean up, but I like the, I like the perks of a hotel.
Speaker 1:I don't go down and get breakfast coffee.
Speaker 2:I don't have to do anything now with the girls trip or with a group trip where we're all trying to hang out and it's more of a social where we're really chilling at the loc, at the lodging, as opposed to spending a lot of time out and about, and our plans are to like cook meals or eat, and I totally get the value in that. And that kind of leads us into the next conversation. The next thing you have to consider on group trips is food. Are you, if you're at an Airbnb? Are you and you're cooking? How are you splitting groceries? Are you if you're at an Airbnb and you're cooking? How are you splitting groceries? If you do go out to dinner and you have a large group, how are you splitting that?
Speaker 2:bill Are you splitting it evenly? Are you doing single checks? But here's the kicker with that Some places don't. Once you have like I think it's eight or more, some are six or more they don't let you split the check and then they already charge gratuity on top of that.
Speaker 1:So how?
Speaker 2:are we splitting the checks? What do we do with the drinkers versus the non-drinkers? Like that goes into, and also, like you and I've had this discussion, we don't we pick, we split an entree.
Speaker 1:We can split an appetizer and be fully, completely full Cause we're just snacking, we're drinking some vino. So this is a. This has definitely been a point of contention when I've gone on two trips because, because of that same thing, some of my friends are really foodies and they want to get an appetizer and they want to get the meals, and then they want to get dessert, and then they want to. You know what I mean. Like that's a lot of layers of food that I don't want anything to do with. Like you know what I mean. Like I don't eat a lot of food and I'm not really a foodie. So I for me, when it was the six of us and they've all had appetizers and the main dishes and the desserts and stuff like that, and I've had like a salad in my glass of wine. It's like the friends episode. She's like oh, yes.
Speaker 1:She's like I'll have a side salad on whatever they're having and thank you. And she's like and what else she's like? You can just put it right here, but she's just like. She's like I don't think you guys understand that we don't make as much money as you or we're not as invested in food as you. We're not as invested in food as you. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like if all you're interested in is having a dessert and a glass of wine, whereas person the other person has an appetizer and a meal and a dessert, that person that just had a piece of pie and a glass of wine definitely shouldn't be splitting equally with what everybody else at the table got, you know. So I I've had to bring that up in my friend group and my friend group has been amazing about it and they they're like we totally agree, cause we see that you eat like a bird and we're over here noshing on our lasagna and we're still going to get the cheesecake. So you know, they do realize that we have very different eating habits. Um, so my friend group has been great about it, but I do know that it's a point of contention within a lot of other group parties. Have you had it come up where you are with a group.
Speaker 2:Not particularly where it was such a habit. But honestly, I don't go out a ton where we're in such large groups that I can't get a split bill or I can't go up and pay at the bar or something like that I can. I can't say, hey, can I have my bill on the side, or something like that. But what makes it awkward for me is if we're at a group setting and the server comes up to ask split check and we hadn't had that conversation, I don't want to answer it that I hesitate to answer. Well, I don't.
Speaker 1:I've. I can't want to answer it, that I hesitate to answer.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't, I've, I can't speak for the whole group. I don't feel comfortable. I'm fine with a group check and I said, if I'm with a group of people I know and I'm comfortable with, because I and which is usually how it is I'm assuming we're all on the same page and I trust my friends for us to settle up, and it's and often it's like okay, I grabbed dinner tonight, you grab it tomorrow, kind of thing If we're out and about. But that can bite you in the ass too, because you have a big dinner one night and I don't I'm with you. I don't like to eat unless I'm going somewhere where food is. Like when we went to Hawaii, I ate everywhere I could because I was experienced. I'm not a foodie, but I like food. I don't know enough about food. I don't have the fancy palate, but if you put something in front of me that looks or smells or I'm in a new area, I want to try something new.
Speaker 1:And you like seafood, so that would be the perfect place in Hawaii.
Speaker 2:Well, just anywhere I go that's different from outside of what I would normally get. I'm absolutely going to try it but I'm not going to eat heavy like that. I don't eat heavy when I travel. I have this. I'm one of those people that have this huge phobia of getting some type of stomach issue on a vacation, so I'm very cautious about what I eat.
Speaker 1:I'm not a huge branch or outer. You know this. You're not, and I am.
Speaker 2:So there are times where, like I'll eat, well I'll, we'll go out. I would rather go out one night and then just splurge on dinner and figure out, like, try all the things of the area that we're in, and then the rest of the time I'm fine having smaller meals throughout the day, or snacks or packing as we go. I don't like sit down dinners a lot.
Speaker 2:I want to once in a while I don't want to sit in a restaurant all night and shoot the shit. I really want to kind of go do something or listen to music or whatever. So my biggest thing is when I want to know what our plan is going in. Are we splitting the check or are we settling up later? That's really just. My thing is, I will go along with it until it becomes a problem within that friend group where it's somewhat, if we're splitting the check evenly and it's becoming known, oh well, this person's constantly ordering most expensive item on the meal and I'm ordering over here my go-to chicken quesadilla.
Speaker 2:If it's a place I really like, you know and I go too often, kind of thing, whatever it is. Yeah, I hear you. Ultimately, like you said again in this convert, in this, in this part, you've got to have a conversation, make a plan now buying groceries If you're staying at Airbnb, yeah, I've done this with family, um, when I've traveled with family, we have talked about, okay, you have dinner this night or you're in charge of the meals that day, lunch and dinner, um, but that just means you have to bring stuff for everybody to make a sandwich or make something for lunch. You don't have to cook that, but you do have to figure, you have to plan this day's meals period.
Speaker 2:And they kind of alternate. Everybody had a day.
Speaker 1:We've done that before in the big family beach trips and stuff, and we all have a night. We're responsible for cooking if we're not going out to dinner that night and and that works out, that's. That wasn't a big group. There was like 25 of us in this, that spring break group, so it just made more sense for everybody to kind of take on a night of dinner.
Speaker 2:But you know, what stresses me out is when we try to make a menu. When we were planning the beach trip in October and everybody wanted to plan the menu menu like we're having this this night for dinner, we're having this this night for dinner, so we got to bring this seasoning, we got to bring this and that let's try to bring X, y, z from home so we don't have to buy a grocery store, right, we bring the bare necessities, like we will bring our bread, maybe some, and actually now that the kids are older, we don't travel with them as often. We rarely pack anything except for what we already have in our house that we might want, and then we just grocery shop when we're there. I don't want to have to at this point that stressed me out.
Speaker 2:I was like guys, I really don't care what we eat, because, if it comes down to it, I will eat some ramen and a sandwich. If we're sitting out at the hotel or at the Airbnb drinking and playing games, I'm good, Give me some chips and salsa. I don't want to have to work that hard to go on vacation.
Speaker 1:Yeah absolutely, I'm totally on board with you there and I think that, as long as you're having discussions about what the expectations are going into the trip um, because there's been there's been some people that are like I'm not cooking for a group of 25 on that night. I'll have it catered in and I'll pay for it or whatever, but I don't want to cook, and then that's your choice too.
Speaker 2:No worries.
Speaker 1:I would rather you know I don't mind, I don't mind doing the cooking for one night. That's not a big deal, but, um. But when you are going out to restaurants and trying to figure all that all out, um, we came across an amazing app, um, when we were just doing our um research. And what is that app? Called Cheryl.
Speaker 2:Split wise. I had never heard of this, but when it's fabulous, right. So Denise and I pulled and created a mock trip just to see what it was like. I put in some expenses, she put in some expenses, so we were able to create the trip and on our dashboard it shows just that trip and so obviously, if we had more we could, it would show different trips or family groups. That's the other thing I had was family groups, but this is for trip purposes.
Speaker 2:We created the trip and I threw in some expenses and who was paying, how the split was. Are we splitting it evenly? Who paid it? And then she threw in some so that I could see what it looked like. This app told us okay, so and so, like, denise paid this, so you owe her this. And then, if I yeah, it keeps track of everything for you. And we added a third person just so we could see, because obviously two is easy to figure out. But we did add a third person just to see what it was, and it said what the split would be like, three ways. So we could even take that and say, okay, don't split this evenly. Split, give us like 20% to the third person, because they may have not ordered drinks that night and we want to take that off if it was a drinking event or whatever.
Speaker 2:So I really liked that you were able to do that, and then there was a settle button so you can hit the settle up to show. So-and-so, settled up with X, y, z.
Speaker 1:And you can even take pictures of your receipts, like now that was, I will.
Speaker 2:that was on the pro version, so the free version lets you do what I had, just what we were just talking about creating the group, adding your people, and everybody can add the expenses and how they're split, for I think it was like $40 for the year you can. Can you do it monthly or it's only?
Speaker 1:a year.
Speaker 2:You can do monthly. It was four, 94, 99, I think, a month, um. But if you were someone who travels a lot or goes out with groups or or has a family and you want to keep track, I would check into it, cause to me if I'm paying three, three or four months, it's just worth it for me to pay that one time. So I don't forget to not renew every month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I get you, if you do get the um pro version, you do get to upload your receipts, which, honestly, that right there is huge. So while you're at the restaurant you already have this group trip set up in your app. You just open the app, add the expense, scan it right there. You don't have to worry about losing it. I was just telling Denise I still have not entered in our receipts from our last divas trip from January.
Speaker 1:They're still in a Ziploc bag on.
Speaker 2:I actually think they're in my coat pocket that I wore on that trip. I don't think I've even taken them out. But this way I could easily do that. But you get unlimited expenses. What else does it have? Um, we don't need that one. Charts and graphs receipt receipts was the biggest thing. Itemization Uh, what else do you get? There's some other new features, but yes, I definitely check out split wise guys.
Speaker 1:It's it's worth checking into. Um, if you do group outings with food in in lodging in any of that good stuff. So definitely definitely check that out.
Speaker 2:All right. So we talked about like splitting rooms and splitting meals and how does that work? But what about time? We've previously talked about different types of travelers, those that just like to kind of take, take it slower. Either their morning people and they're up and going, or their night people, or whatever. Or they want a group activity, or they just want to sit back and relax. So when you're planning a group trip and you're planning your time and your activities, how are we splitting that? Are you allowing time for solo? Are you expecting everybody to do everything together?
Speaker 1:I think when you're on vacation, you should. You should be able to do what as much as you want together, and if, but if you want some downtime, like this is going to be an uh. I I keep talking about our upcoming trip to Napa, Um, but so some people want to do like a mud bath and I you would not pay me to sit inside of my bath, so, but there's other things at the spa I want to do. But if that was something that they just wanted to do and I just wanted to, like, buy a bottle of wine and overlook, you know, just sit outside and enjoy whatever with my book, I think it should be whatever you want to do. It should never be mandatory.
Speaker 1:And not to mention, the other thing was that was like $270 for this mud bath, and I think that's such a waste of money. I'd rather be buying wine, bottles of wine with that money. That's my priority. We're in Napa. I'd much rather spend my extra funds or my vacation funds on a wine tasting versus sitting in a mud bath. So I think that I think you should definitely be allowed to do both. I don't think anything should be mandatory, you know, because then it's just not. As you're not. You don't have the freedom to do what you want to do on vacation, and it's not going to be the best vacation you could have, you know.
Speaker 2:I agree. I think when you're planning a group vacation or a group getaway, you should plan for your own downtime or not have the expectation that everybody's together. I think when it's a specific style of trip, whether it's like take a bridal party, for example, if you're going away for a bridal weekend, a bachelorette party.
Speaker 1:there's expectations that that is a group outing and you're there to support the bride, so you really need to go along with what she wants.
Speaker 2:But even in that, instance, before you plan those activities and I say this to the planners of the group as part of I like to be the planner of activities like that You've got to make sure the activities you're planning especially if you're expecting everybody to participate you're staying within everybody's budget. You need to know upfront what the expectations are of what people are willing to spend, cause usually, if it's some type of like wedding celebration or birthday celebration, you're covering somebody else's cost as well. So not only are you paying for your own, but you're kicking in some for whoever you're celebrating. So there needs to be it needs to be very transparent on what's going on and what the expectations are from the planner, from the person being celebrated as well as from the travelers. Like that's a lot to navigate and make sure you're being respectful of everybody. And I think even in that instance of a bachelorette party let's use that as an example you can have a plan and have five activities for the weekend and someone still be able to sit it out because they're like one.
Speaker 2:I don't like it. It's not my jam If I were to say, hey, denise, we're going to, I want to go celebrate for my birthday and I want to go back to Vegas and jump off the stratosphere. You're not going to do that.
Speaker 2:I sure am not, sweetie, I would never expect that Exactly, like we can make a combo of those things. Or if I was doing something like it was going to take a couple hours, like zip lining, you wouldn't want to go, so I'd be like, girl, you sit back here and have some drink and read your book, and then I'll tell you about it and show you the pictures when I get back. Like I think we need to be respectful of our fellow travelers just as much as we are of the person we're celebrating. When it comes to planning groups, like group trips, where that is the expectation, Right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, Like in and for this Napa trip, they want to hire a private chef one night to come in and cook and and I can appreciate that and so for that I, depending on the cost I mean I'm not spending like $300 a person but if it's kind of you know, within a reasonable budget of what I would have spent eating out at a restaurant that night, then then I'll take one for the team there, Cause they really want to do it. There's six of us, even though I'm not a foodie and I would probably pay way less.
Speaker 2:It's still part of the experience at that point. It's part of the friend group experience. You're talking that up to the experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think that that's why you have to be a little bit flexible when you're with a group and and I will say it comes with experience too Our girl group in our twenties was a bit more uh, not as understanding, I would say, maybe just because they they come from different backgrounds. You know I'm, I put myself through college. I was always working two jobs. I was always more mindful of what I was spending because I didn't have.
Speaker 1:I didn't have. My parents didn't just send me off to college and I had certain amount of money. I was given a month that that did not happen. I put myself through school and you know so. So we all have different backgrounds and dynamics, and financial situations is what it really comes down to, especially when you're young.
Speaker 2:Well, even as we get older, we're all in different phases of our life, even though we might be in the same. We all might be married with kids, but we're still at different financial stages of our life.
Speaker 1:And I think we're more understanding. You see what I'm saying. I think as adults we're more mature about it and we understand that Sally might not have as much money as Katie, but you know we can figure it out so that Sally's not uncomfortable. You know what I mean. We want to make everybody feel like they're having a good trip.
Speaker 2:So yeah, how do we? What are some good ideas or good ways to avoid all this money drama before a group trip?
Speaker 1:I think I really think it comes down to just clear communication of what you're willing to spend, understanding the expectation that everybody is allowed to participate in whatever excursions they want, and if they don't want to go, they should be able to kick it back home and read a book, versus go drop $150 on a wine tasting. You know what I mean. Like we have this gorgeous house rented with a beautiful fenced in backyard and a hot tub and all that stuff, so I'm probably not going to be going out wine tasting every single time. I probably just buy a bottle at Oxbow market and come, kick it in the hot tub and listen to my music and just chillax Cause you know that's that is kind of my happy place, that downtime and that just enjoying the environment that, to me, I look forward to. So it doesn't have to be like go, go, go, go. You know yeah.
Speaker 2:I definitely think communication is key Number one. Let everybody know what everybody's expectation is. I also think this is something that people often don't think about when they're planning group trips what happens if someone has to cancel after the number and the budget has been set or even deposits are being made Because they think you have to divide it by five instead of six or whatever Then it becomes.
Speaker 2:so there needs to be a plan in place for is any of the money refundable? Or I actually read a story on reddit about someone from a group trip suing the planner of that trip because it was a planner or a friend that was planning, because it was the planner of the trip, the friend who was the organizer of the trip, not a traveling, not a professional or anything like that this was just because in every group trip there is someone who is organizing it.
Speaker 2:The level of what they do depends on that personality and that friend. But, there's usually someone who's spearheading hey, let's get this going, who's making the reservations, who's doing this and that? So this planner, the organizer of this group, got sued by the person who canceled after all the deposits and everything had been paid. It was almost, I think, at the final payment towards. So they were that close to leaving and they couldn't get the money back because everything had been paid for.
Speaker 1:I think you are responsible as somebody going on the trip. You shouldn't be able to just wash your hands of all the money you know.
Speaker 2:I mean, I guess it depends on the situation and it depends on when you cancel and how far along in the planning are we Right? And what's the reason for canceling.
Speaker 1:If it's that you got another, better offer, then I think you should have be held accountable. If your mom died or something like that, there was a death in the family where you lost.
Speaker 2:Yeah because I think, um, this particular one, I don't remember because I read a couple one lady had, um, lost her job and she had tried, and then she was just like I can't, but this one, the one that sued, what would? Oh, I, oh, I know why. It was um, a group, oh, and this is something I don't recommend, and this is why I recommend, if you are trying to put a large group together, reach out to a professional planner, a travel agent or a travel concierge or travel organizer, because they have the tools to keep the personal out of this. But these two ladies decided they they do a yearly trip and they wanted to make it a women's trip. So they advertised it in like their local chat group, whatever they were in Facebook. They had some connection, but they didn't personally know these people. They ended up, say, with 10 people going as they were going through the stages. It ended up being six and some of the things that they had scheduled, they had originally planned for, they had to scale back as people dropped off.
Speaker 2:So right before near departure time, I mean, I don't know, I don't remember how far apart it was from them leaving the lady who wanted to cancel let's call her Karen, not that I know she's been a Karen, but I'm just saying that. So, anyway, she said I thought there would be more going on this trip and you didn't do X, y and Z. You, instead of getting this house, you got this house. Well, they scaled back the house because they scaled back the people and they were transparent about this. Through all this Going, through all of this, they had made them, them, they had paid all of it. At this point, I believe, everything had been paid for pretty much, and she's like I want the money back and you can't really do that, you can't really get that, because that lady, the planner, would have been paying out of pocket because everything had been paid for at this point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um so at that point I think that's on karen unless, if so, the girl that lost her job hold on this wasn't in here.
Speaker 2:That was a different one. This one who's getting? Who is suing the two? This is why I want to be clear about um. So when you're planning a group like this, especially with people that aren't the, you don't know them super well because I wouldn't do that.
Speaker 2:First of all, she said you broke the contract. This was the keyword you this is what you originally said in your email, in your Facebook posts, whatever it was. She said this is what you said you were, we were going to do, and throughout, let's say, it took them six months to plan this. Throughout the six months, these three things change. That's why you broke this contract and I'm suing you for it because you won't give me the money. First, that wasn't a contract. Um, this lady isn't a travel agent, right?
Speaker 2:She's just she's just uh, she just like somebody out there who said let me put this group together. So I'm just forewarning people I had never heard of this. The headline on Reddit drew me in because I'm like oh, who is suing somebody from a group trip and what? What did that entail? And I don't think she can legally do that. Who knows? I mean, you can sue for anything, but whether she'll win is neither here nor there. But just to prevent that type of thing, cover yourself, guys, you want to. It's a CYA moment. Be careful about how you're wording things, be careful where you're advertising this stuff and make sure you're being super transparent and can and keeping written, keeping everything documented. That's what I'm looking for.
Speaker 2:But anyway, that was just my little warning and, like hey, seek out help. There are people out there like travel professionals, yes, travel professionals that.
Speaker 2:Do that. I was shocked when I read that one, that one. I actually saved that one because I'm like, ooh, I'm going to go back and read the whole comments. I read some of the comments. I didn't get a chance to read them all, but I thought that was interesting. Um, what do you think about having a designated money person? That was one of the things suggested. In a group setting like that, I don't we've never done that.
Speaker 1:I've never done that either. That seems weird.
Speaker 2:I actually saw a TikTok the other day and maybe it's because I've been researching this and looking up stories, but it was a guy saying my wife and her friends have a shared bank account where they all put in a certain amount of money. They just drop things in here and there and they use it for trips. They use it for each other's birthdays, so if they have to buy a gift or they're going out, to dinner, as long as you have an understanding going into it.
Speaker 1:We always joke that we're going to have a compound someday right, but we've never talked about the finance part of it, which this makes me think.
Speaker 2:But this guy was like this, he thought it was genius. He says, first of all my wife. He was like my wife has a bank account with five other women. I don't remember how many there were, and then in the comments it was so it was like 50, 50, like oh, this is a sisterhood. They're amazing. They've established this, they've made each other priorities. And then there were others in here like those are more of the legal and the financial professionals, like guys, this is a nightmare, please don't do this. And it was just very interesting. That is interesting. Yeah, so I thought having that and they're like are, do you? Are there groups out? This is a good question. Hey, do you know, or are you part of groups that have a shared friend, either bank account or you or you?
Speaker 1:This is a bizarre concept. I want to know who out there, what besties, have a shared bank account out there, yeah, and, and has it ever caused any kind of drama with one friend maybe taking buying something out of the group?
Speaker 2:that not everybody approved of.
Speaker 1:Right, that's a crazy dynamic concept.
Speaker 2:But the way he was describing it was beautiful, cause he's like if they have a friend that has a milestone, they they just automatically know they can send her flowers from that account. If they have someone pass away in their family, they automatically know they can send that someone's taking care of that. I just he was like all for it. He was like I was surprised, but also me and my wife's got some good people in her life and I'm like I could see how that could go both ways Right.
Speaker 2:That's how I was feeling. I was like I don't know if. But then, like you said, we joke about creating a compound and living on it with our group of friends and we've never even thought about the financial, because, honestly, we probably all just be like either we're cooking or we're ordering in and someone's gonna take over. That's funny though, but I just thought it was interesting. I don't know anybody.
Speaker 1:I don't know any of my friend girls that have like a joint bank account um Me either. It is an interesting concept, so let us know if you guys have got that situation going on, then we want to hear about it and how's it working out.
Speaker 2:Also, let us know what you your thoughts are on planning group trips and how you split everything up. How are you splitting up the rooms and the cost of the room and who gets what room? How are you planning your activities? Are you expecting the group to participate in all or, hey, we're putting this agenda together? If you come, you come. How are you putting your group trips together? Let us know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. That is about all we have for today, just again. I think the big key takeaway is go into it with open communication. You know what I mean. The communication is key and not all friend groups may have may vacation the way others will. Maybe there's somebody that's like I don't care if it's a sleeper sofa, I sleep like a baby. I like when I hit my head, hits the pillow, I'm out, so I don't. All it's a sleeper sofa, I sleep like a baby. I like when I hit my head, hits the pillow, I'm out, so I don't. All right If you come back with that answer.
Speaker 2:let let us know what age group you're into what? What generation are you? Because I is this an age thing? Cause I am too old to settle for the air mattress. Now that my thought I am too old for the air mattress and too fluffy because and check out splitwise guys.
Speaker 1:Check out splitwise the app it's. They've got a free version and let us know if you've been using it and how you like it. Um, so yeah, the group travel can be amazing. You just have to to have clear communication of what you're getting out of the trip ahead of time, and that will cut back on the drama. So we hope that you found this episode helpful and I think that's going to do it for today. Happy traveling, guys. Bye, guys, bye.
