Plan the birthday trip. Let every friend pay their own way.

Make one booking link where each friend picks a room, pays a deposit and goes on an automatic payment plan. SquadTrip charges every payment on the dates you set, sends reminders and receipts, and shows who has paid, so you stop sending Venmo or Cash App requests one friend at a time and never front the villa on your own card. How to collect money for a group trip.

Yes. You set the deposit and the payment dates once, and each friend's card is charged automatically on those dates, with no credit check. Friends in the US can also choose Klarna, Afterpay or Affirm at checkout; a 4% fee is added to their total and the trip is paid in full.

Build it into everyone's price. Add up the guest of honor's room and extras, divide by the friends paying, and add that to each spot: $1,400 split across 7 friends is $200 more per spot. Then make a 100%-off promo code that can be used once (Trip Actions, Create Promo Code) and send it to the birthday person: they book their own spot, choose Pay in Full and check out at $0 with no card, so they still have a bed in a room on your dashboard. Their share is collected with everyone else's payments.

Yes. Set up each villa room with its number of spots, and friends book a spot and pay for their own share. After booking they get a room link to invite their roommate into the open spot. You can move people between rooms, or add one yourself, from the Rooms tab.

Ask for a deposit. A yes in the group chat costs nothing; a deposit books the spot. Post a free interest form first to see who's serious, then open booking with a deposit and a short deadline. When the villa is full, open a waitlist so late friends can still raise their hand. Make a free trip interest form.

Before the villa's balance is due. Villa hosts set their own schedules, and a common one wants the balance 30 to 60 days before check-in, so end every friend's plan a week or two before that. A failed payment retries on its own and asks the friend for a new card, which is why the buffer matters.

Yes. Add each one as an add-on with its own price, such as the birthday dinner, a catamaran day, a photo shoot or an airport transfer. Friends pick the ones they want at checkout, each one is added to their total, and you see who booked what on your dashboard.

Start six to eight months out. On SquadTrip birthday trips, the typical friend books about five and a half months before the trip, and the middle half book between three and a half and eight and a half months ahead. Open booking early enough that monthly payments are small and finish before the villa balance is due.

You write the trip's refund policy, and it shows on the booking page. To refund, issue a full or partial refund from the traveler's page in your dashboard; a full refund also cancels the booking and stops future payments. Their spot opens up again, so a friend on the waitlist can take it.

SquadTrip is free to use, with no monthly fee. Friends pay one 6% fee on top of your price, card fees included, so on a $1,300 villa spot they pay $1,378 and the trip gets the full $1,300. Premium ($29 a month) is optional and adds custom brand colors, scheduled emails, up to 1,000 text messages a month and priority support. See pricing.

Payments go straight to your own Stripe account and on to your bank, with daily or weekly payouts, so deposits are there in time to book the villa. Stripe usually takes 7 to 14 days to release your first payout, so set up your account a couple of weeks before the villa deposit is due.

The payment retries automatically and the friend is asked to update their card. They also get reminders before each payment, and you get a failed-payment alert. Your dashboard shows who is paid, who is on a plan and who is behind, and friends can pay early or change their card from their own trip page.