Weekends away for a group

What fits, with guide prices

Camping, the bunkhouse weekend and the golf break need one night. The spa day needs none, which makes it the consolation prize for groups whose weekends never line up.

Committing months ahead

Take the National Trust's holiday cottage terms as an example. They ask for 33% of the price at booking and the balance about eight weeks before the stay. Cancel after that and the charge starts at half the price and reaches all of it in the last eight days, less any nights the Trust manages to resell.

Will everyone know their diary before the balance date? If the answer is no, decide now who carries the cost if someone has to drop out. The usual rule is that the bed is yours and so is the bill, unless you find someone to take it.

The lead booker is the one the contract is with. Collect the deposits before paying, and the balance a week before it falls due. The guide to a group trip on a budget goes further on the money side.

Check the house will have you

• Maximum occupancy is a rule. The same terms let the Trust ask a party to leave, with no refund, if more people turn up than the cottage is listed for. No airbeds for extras.
• Say what kind of group you are. They also want any group booking, big groups of family or friends included, approved at the time of booking. Ask then.
• Ask about a damage or housekeeping deposit. If there is one, decide who fronts it.
• Get the bed list. "Sleeps twelve" can include a sofa bed and a bunk room. Find out which before deciding who sleeps where.
• Check arrival times. If two of you are driving up late on Friday, ask how late you can arrive and how you get the key.

Sharing rooms fairly

The bedrooms in a big house are rarely equal. Choose a method before booking.

• Even split, rooms by lot. Everyone pays the same and luck decides who gets the en suite.
• Priced rooms. The best room pays more, the bunk room less. It takes ten minutes with the floor plan.
• By head. A couple in one double pays two shares. This is the usual answer to the argument about couples and rooms.

Then deal with the part-timers. Someone who can only arrive on Saturday morning still has a bed kept for both nights, so the simple rule is a full share. Charge less only if everyone agreed it beforehand, because the others make up the difference. Children are the other question: decide whether they pay a half share or none. The page on family calendars is useful if the weekend involves several households.

The food shop goes in a kitty. Fuel is shared by the people in each car.

Camping, bunkhouses and golf

Vennado suggests camping from May to September and the hill weekend from April to October. For camping, ask whether your pitches will be next to each other, and read the site's rules for groups. The Camping and Caravanning Club's rules for its temporary sites and meets keep each unit within its own pitch and six metres from the next, so a group does not get to make one big huddle.

Some hostels and bunkhouses can be hired whole, which gives a walking group its own kitchen and no strangers in the dorm. Ask for sole use when you enquire.

The stay-and-play golf break is two rounds, one night and dinner. The tee time advice on the golf page applies twice.

Before you pay

• The balance date and the cancellation terms.
• The maximum occupancy and the bed list.
• Whether the owner or agency accepts your kind of group.
• Arrival and departure times, and late key collection.
• Parking for the number of cars you are bringing.
• Hot tub rules and any extra charge, for a lodge.
• How far it is to a shop and a pub.

When the weekend is found and voted on, lock it in so everyone can add it to their calendar.

If someone in the group is on shifts

The rota for a weekend three months off may not exist when the deposit is due. Ask whoever is on shifts to request the weekend before that rota is written, and check the date it comes out against the balance date. The page on planning a social life around shifts has more on finding two clear nights.