Before heading out on vacation with a new group, here are
some questions to review in advance to ensure a successful vacation.
1. What is your ideal day on vacation? Some people love a
day at the beach. Others enjoy an action packed schedule of physical
activities. Still others love wandering a city without a plan. It’s important
to know in advance what people prefer so you can plan a vacation that offers
those elements.
2. Hotel, house or cruise?
Depending on the size of your group, renting a house can offer a great
value. Cruises and hotels offer more
privacy.
3. What is the expectation for group activities? Does everyone want to do everything
together? Is it important that everyone
have dinner together? Setting these expectations in advance lessen the chance
of someone’s feeling getting hurt when you decide not to go on a group outing.
4. How are we sharing the costs? This is an important
question for a rental house as grocery shopping becomes important. Is it one
trip to the store and everyone splits the cost? Are you going to have your own
food? Also, get a sense of how much people want to spend eating out so you can
choose restaurants accordingly.
5. How should we decide each day’s activities? For more active
vacations, it may be helpful for everyone to write down one or two “must do”
activities. This way you can plan each day to make sure to include those. If your group tends to be indecisive, put a
person in charge each day to make the decisions or agree on an itinerary in
advance.
What has your experience with group travel been?
Any successful
or not-so-successful stories?