5 April 2026 · 5 min read · Voyaway team
How to split trip expenses fairly (and avoid the awkward ask)
Equal vs custom splits, multi-currency conversion, and why settlement should be a one-tap experience.
Splitting expenses on a group trip is the simplest hard thing in software. Two rules to follow:
- Always store the original currency. Don't normalize at write time — exchange rates change. Voyaway stores what was actually charged, then converts at display time using ECB rates.
- Settle to the minimum number of transfers. The "everyone pays everyone" model is wasteful — a 4-person trip with 12 expenses doesn't need 12 transfers. A greedy debt graph collapses it down to at most n-1 settlements.
Voyaway does both, plus deep-links to PayPal, Revolut and Tikkie so you don't have to type IBANs.