Group trips
Find the dates everyone can travel
Group trips die at the date stage. Flights and rentals cannot be booked until the dates are settled, and the dates cannot be settled while eight people trade half-answers about annual leave.
Create a free availability poll and share it with your group.
Poll the window, then narrow it
For trips, set a wide-but-real range — the two or three months you would genuinely travel in. People mark the days they could be away, including the ones that depend on booking leave.
Consecutive blocks jump out of the grid: if the same five people are open Thursday through Sunday in one week, that is your trip.
Book from the maybes, carefully
On trips, maybe usually means "if I request leave now". Pick the date, then tell the maybes immediately — a maybe converts into a yes far more often when there is a decision attached to it.
Who to include
Include everyone who is actually coming, not everyone who might. A poll with three tourists and five spectators produces a date nobody committed to. If someone is undecided about the trip itself, settle that first.
After the dates
Export the responses to CSV if you are tracking deposits, or print the grid for a group that likes paper. The poll link stays live, so late joiners can still add themselves before you book.
Working around flight prices and school holidays
Flight and rental prices move against you the closer you get to school holidays, so poll early — ideally as soon as the trip is agreed in principle, well before anyone has actually checked prices. If parents in the group are locked to school holiday weeks, put those weeks in the poll as their own option rather than assuming everyone else will simply defer to them; it is common for a childless subgroup to have a cheaper, less crowded week available that nobody has mentioned out loud.
What to do when the group splits into two dates
Sometimes the grid genuinely shows two viable windows with different people in each. Rather than forcing one group to lose, treat it as two smaller trips if the numbers support it, or run a short follow-up conversation with just the people split between the two dates to see which way they would rather go. Don't let a three-way tie sit unresolved for weeks — a stalled decision is what kills group trips, not a slightly awkward compromise.
Worked example
Example: a 7-person trip to Lisbon in May
Seven friends spread across three cities want a long weekend in Lisbon sometime in May, with two of them needing to request annual leave in advance.
- 1The organiser creates a poll covering every Thursday-to-Sunday block across May.
- 2The two who need to request leave mark their preferred blocks as maybe.
- 3The link is shared in the group's chat with a two-week deadline, timed before flight prices rise for half-term.
- 4The grid shows the second weekend of May with six firm yeses and one maybe.
- 5The organiser asks the maybe directly whether they can request leave for that weekend.
- 6Leave is approved within three days and the group books flights that evening.
All seven travelled on the second weekend of May, booked twelve weeks ahead of the trip while flight prices were still reasonable.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I find dates for a group trip?
- Create a poll spanning the months you would consider travelling, share the link, and look for a run of consecutive days where the same people are available. That block is your trip window.
- Can I poll several months at once?
- Yes — a poll can cover a range of up to 120 days, which is enough for a full season of options.
- Do participants need an account?
- No. Participants can open the shared link and mark their availability without creating an account. They enter a name, tap the days that work, and submit.
- How early should we poll dates before booking flights?
- As early as the trip is agreed in principle. Flight and rental prices rise as travel dates approach, especially around school holidays, so settling the dates early gives you first pick of cheaper fares.
Keep exploring
Find the day everyone can make it
Create a free availability poll and share it with your group.
Last updated 2026-08-20
