I’ve coordinated several group trips over the years. And no matter if it’s just four friends or a massive group, it’s a challenge to keep everyone on the same page.
My most ambitious project was a 100+ person gathering at Walt Disney World. Before social media, we planned events using an online message board and tried to keep track of a week’s worth of themepark visits, meals, tours and rides. At the end of the planning, we printed out schedules to give out to everyone. In hindsight, it was a ton of work and I’m amazed we could pull it off.
There are now endless websites and apps available to help organize travel plans but most of them are only to keep track of the trip once you’ve booked everything. If you ask me, that’s the easy part.
Before getting to the point where you’re booking hotels and events, you need to get everyone to think as a group. That’s where JetBlue’s new group travel planning app, Troupe, comes to save the day.
Troupe is supported by JetBlue Travel Products, a subsidiary of the airline. LinkedIn says, ” JetBlue Travel Products (JTP) is reinventing how customers buy and experience travel, building on JetBlue’s award-winning customer service and culture. JTP’s goal is to enhance and disrupt the travel experience as a “one-stop shop” for all travel needs.”
The Troupe app was developed independently for several years and only in 2021 JetBlue Travel Products came into the fold. I guess this is why there’s no JetBlue branding on the website or in the app.
Seeing the email from JetBlue, I thought this would be some way for them to sell more of their travel packages from JetBlue Vacations. However, there’s not much selling in the app that I could find.
Instead, it’s a place for groups to brainstorm trips.
If you’ve done this recently, you’ll undoubtedly end up with a bunch of emails, group text messages, and Facebook Messenger links and it takes forever to find that message from 3 weeks ago where someone found a great tour guide but lost the name.
In addition to keeping the conversation in one place, Troupe allows group members to vote on different parts of the trip, like dates, destinations, places to stay, things to do, and other parts of the trip.
I paged through the app for a while and it looks well-designed and easy to use. As we’ve been using the group chat/Facebook/Google Sheets method to plan trips until now, I might be willing to try Troupe for our next group event.
Cover Image by Nel Botha from Pixabay
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