How to Plan a Group Trip

With dates, destination, budget and headcount confirmed, you can search with purpose. The goal is a shortlist of three to five places that meet all the agreed criteria. Cottages, houses, hotels, B&Bs, glamping, whatever fits the trip and the group size.

Pull together a shortlist (get the group to contribute) and give people a week to weigh in. Again, the Flock app has a shortlisting feature that lets everyone contribute and up or down vote suggestions. Alternatively, a Google Sheet can help you steer clear of the WhatsApp chaos.

It’s helpful to have a shortlist of places you’ve considered in one place for people to refer back to (ideally with price per person and any other relevant context in view).

The full mechanics of narrowing a shortlist and getting a decision are covered in our guide to picking somewhere everyone agrees on.

Once the group has chosen, book it. Finding a great spot for a big group is no mean feat, and if you have one that works, the priority has to be to take it off the market. Often, all this requires is a deposit. If that’s the case, it often makes sense for the organiser to pay and collect the funds from everyone afterwards. If the full amount is due, then you might be taking too great a risk to pay on everyone’s behalf. Speak to the accommodation provider and see if they can hold the place, or the rooms, until you can rally together the funds required. Unfortunately, very few providers facilitate group payment splitting, and in the end it’s often the organiser who has to stump up the cash to secure a booking.

If that’s the situation, send a reimbursement request out to the group. Include the exact amount per person, a deadline, and a payment link or bank details. There’s really no need to feel awkward. You’ve done everyone else a favour securing the booking.

For more of our thinking on group payments see our guide on splitting costs without becoming the bank, including copy-pasteable message templates for the deposit ask, the chase, and what to do when someone doesn’t pay.

With accommodation booked and deposits or full balances collected, the remaining pieces are often individual rather than group decisions. This is where the organiser’s job shifts from driving group consensus to making sure everyone has what they need.

A quick message to the group covering the practical loose ends. Not a panic (hopefully), just a confirmation pass.

Confirm the final headcount. Chase anyone whose transport isn’t sorted. Share the accommodation address and check-in details. If there’s a group meal booked for the first night, confirm the reservation and headcount with the restaurant. If people are arriving at different times, make sure everyone knows the plan for keys or check-in.

This is also a good moment to settle any outstanding money. If deposits have been collected but the balance is still owed, chase it now rather than on the day.

Hen trips follow the same sequence as any group trip, but with a few extra layers.

By week 2: agree the activity package or theme with the maid of honour. Hen trips tend to have more structured activities than other group trips, so locking these early matters.

By week 4: send dress-code or theme information to the group. If there’s a colour scheme, fancy dress element, or anything people need to buy or prepare, four weeks is the minimum lead time.

By week 6: confirm dietary requirements across the whole group. Your hen weekend will involve group meals, afternoon tea, cocktail making, or cooking classes where dietary info is needed in advance.

By week 8 (if applicable): lock any surprises for the bride with the maid of honour. If there’s a surprise activity, a speech, gifts, or a memory book, coordinate with the other hens separately from the main group chat.

On costs: often the bride doesn’t pay for herself. Her share is split among the hens. Activity, accommodation and food costs are split equally among the group; decorations and anything specific to the bride are usually split among the hens.

Activities tend to dominate. Go-karting, clay pigeon shooting, golf days, or a brewery tour often matter more than the accommodation itself. Book these in week 2 alongside the shortlist, because group activity slots fill up fast at weekends.

Accommodation is more flexible. Stag groups are typically less particular about where they sleep. A house with enough beds and proximity to the activities or town centre is usually enough. This makes the shortlist stage faster.

The “surprise” element is rarer, but if the best man is planning something, coordinate it separately and early. Last-minute surprises involving twelve people rarely go smoothly.

On costs: the groom traditionally doesn’t pay for himself, though this varies more than with hen dos. Agree it with the group before anyone books anything rather than assuming.

For both hen and stag trips, see our guide on splitting costs for the full breakdown of how to handle the money.

No single tool covers the whole process. Here’s what tends to work at each stage.

Dates and destination consensus: a group chat poll, or the Flock app if you want structured responses rather than a flood of “I can do any weekend except the 14th.”

Shortlisting accommodation: your preferred booking platform, filtered by dates and budget. Share a numbered list or use Flock’s shortlist feature to add context to each option and let the group upvote and downvote.

Deposits and cost-splitting: Monzo or bank transfer for the deposit. Splitwise for tracking shared costs during the trip if you’re not using a kitty.

Dietary collection: a Google Form, a shared note, or a quick round-robin in the group chat. Ask once, early, and record the answers somewhere the organiser can find them later.

Pre-trip logistics: the group chat. This is the one thing WhatsApp actually does well.