Here’s How to Split Vacation Costs with Your Friends

Posted on: Feb 16, 2022 | | Written by:

Here’s How to Split Vacation Costs with Your Friends

Published on February 18, 2022. EST READ TIME: 4 minutes

Travelling with your friends is always fun and an experience which you cherish for lifetime. However, when the trip is over, most friend group find it difficult to split the vacation cost because there are so many shared costs on a group trip. This includes hotel bill, outdoor activities, daily food expenses, etc. In this blog, we will give you important tips on how to split vacation costs with your friends.

Tips to Split Vacation Costs with Your Friends

1. Get on the Same Page Before You Leave

It is always advisable to chat with your friends about the sharing of expenses before your trip takes off. This will avoid confusion or any sort of awkward situation during the trip when every member in the group will look at each other’s face at the time of paying the bill. You can either split everything equally or use a looser trade-off system or opt for something in between, whatever works best for everyone.

2. Opt for Services That Make Bill-Splitting Easy

Ideally, it is best to keep everyone’s costs separate, and there’d be no issues. But there will always be some you can’t help but share, like transportation and accommodations. Some companies offer bill-splitting straight through their platforms to make things easier, so no one is stuck paying for everything upfront and waiting for their friends to reimburse. For example, ride-sharing apps like Uber let you invite people from your contacts list to split costs. Also, Airbnb recently started allowing users to split a rental with up to 16 people directly through the site.

3. Download Helpful Apps

Gone are the days when you have to take out pen and paper to figure out complicated calculation for the trip expenses. We live in a digital era, where we can make use of some helpful apps to check expenses that group members have to share during the trip. You can use app like Splitwise which keeps a running total of who’s covered what, so you can settle the difference at the end. Some may even opt for Divvy app which will snap a photo of your bill and drag each item to the appropriate person (uploaded through your contacts) and it will automatically add up what each person owes, plus tax and tip.

4. Always Bring Cash

You’re likely to need cash at some point during the trip, especially if you’re travelling abroad. Despite you informing your bank or credit card company of where you’ll be, you may still run into issues, so it’s best to have the local currency on hand.

And if you’re staying local, it’s a good idea to have some cash for tipping the hotel staff or just being prepared when you come across a cash-only food outlet and you’re craving a scoop of mint chocolate chip. One friend in your group or maybe a few more can take the lead in handling cash expenses, which other members in the group can later reimburse.

5. Give the Benefit of the Doubt

Always remember, you are travelling with your friends, people you like. Assume any mistakes or miscommunications around money are just mistakes. Politely point out the error or let it balance itself out down the road. Sometimes, a minute difference isn’t worth getting into a back-and-forth. After all, you have more exciting things to focus on when you’re on vacation.

Conclusion

It is indeed wonderful travelling with your friends to the most enthralling locations around the world. However, ensure that your group plan the trip smartly and figure out trip-related expenses wisely to avoid any bad memories during the trip. It is also advisable to opt for an HDFC ERGO group travel insurance policy to secure the trip and provide coverage for loss of financial expenses related to luggage loss, flight cancellation, theft, etc.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purpose only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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