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Introduction: The Person Behind Every “Perfect” Trip
Every great group vacation usually has one person quietly making it happen. While everyone else is debating restaurants, choosing outfits, or simply waiting for the itinerary to appear in the group chat, someone is checking flight schedules, comparing hotels, tracking payments, building spreadsheets, researching activities, watching cancellation policies, and preparing backup plans for problems nobody else has even considered.
That invisible job can turn a relaxing holiday into a second job.
New research commissioned by travel booking platform Klook highlights just how demanding and underappreciated travel planning can become. The company surveyed 2,725 travellers across 10 countries and found that planning a single trip can consume more than 10 hours for a large majority of respondents. Even more revealing, many people who hand planning responsibilities to someone else still find themselves monitoring the process anxiously from the sidelines.
Now, Klook wants to give those unofficial travel managers a break.
Through its “Thank You Travel Planners” campaign, the company is searching globally for five people who have spent countless hours organising trips for friends and family. The reward is deliberately designed around the one thing these planners rarely get: a vacation where they do absolutely none of the planning.
The winners will receive a seven-day hosted trip to Switzerland in December 2026, with flights, premium accommodation and curated activities arranged by Klook. Each winner can also bring a plus-one.
It is a simple idea, but it taps into a surprisingly familiar problem: sometimes the person who makes the holiday enjoyable for everyone else is the person who gets the least opportunity to enjoy it themselves.
Travel Planning Is More Than Booking a Flight
At first glance, organising a holiday can sound easy. Pick a destination, book flights, find somewhere to sleep and decide what to do when you arrive.
In reality, group travel can involve dozens of moving parts.
Someone has to find dates that work for multiple people. Someone has to compare flight times and prices. Someone has to decide whether the hotel is actually convenient rather than merely attractive in photographs. Someone has to determine how everyone will get from the airport to the accommodation.
Then come the questions.
Where should everyone eat? Which attractions require advance reservations? What happens if a flight is delayed? Does everyone have the necessary travel documents? Who has paid? Who still owes money? Is the planned activity suitable for everyone in the group?
The person coordinating all of this can easily become the unofficial project manager of the holiday.
The Ten-Hour Travel Planning Problem
According to
That statistic changes the way we should think about travel planning.
Ten hours is not a quick administrative task. It is more than a full working day. And that figure represents planning alone rather than the actual time spent travelling, communicating with the group, making changes or dealing with unexpected problems.
For complicated international holidays, the real commitment can be considerably greater.
A planner may spend several evenings researching options, several weekends discussing possibilities and countless small moments checking prices or availability.
The Group Chat Has Become the Modern Travel Office
Modern travel planning rarely happens in one place.
It happens across messaging apps, booking platforms, email inboxes, spreadsheets, shared documents and dozens of browser tabs.
One person might send a hotel suggestion. Another changes their preferred dates. Someone else suddenly announces that they cannot afford the original option. Then a flight price changes.
The planner has to keep track of everything.
This is why travel planning can become mentally exhausting even when the actual tasks appear simple. The difficulty is not necessarily one complicated decision. It is the constant stream of small decisions that must remain connected.
The Most Interesting Statistic: People Still Worry After Giving Up Control
One of
The survey found that 42% of respondents continue quietly monitoring the planning process even after somebody else has taken responsibility.
In other words, handing over the spreadsheet does not necessarily mean handing over the stress.
These people may appear relaxed on the surface, but they are still checking whether flights have been booked, wondering whether the hotel is suitable and watching for signs that something might go wrong.
It says something important about travel planning: the role can become psychological as well as practical.
Why Travel Planners Struggle to Switch Off
A travel planner often becomes the person everyone expects to have the answer.
If somebody asks, “What time are we leaving tomorrow?”, they know.
If someone asks, “Did we book that restaurant?”, they know.
If someone asks, “How are we getting from the airport?”, they know.
Eventually, responsibility creates a strange form of ownership. Even when another person takes over, the original planner may feel compelled to keep checking.
The holiday has not even started, yet they are already working.
The Invisible Labour of a “Fun” Holiday
One reason travel planning is often underappreciated is that successful planning makes itself invisible.
When everything goes perfectly, nobody notices the work behind it.
The group arrives on time. The hotel is comfortable. The restaurant reservation is confirmed. The attraction tickets are ready. Everyone knows where to go.
The holiday feels effortless.
But that effortlessness is often the result of someone else doing a tremendous amount of work beforehand.
This is the paradox of good planning: the better it is, the less visible it becomes.
Klook Turns the Problem Into a Reward
Klook’s new campaign is built around reversing that dynamic.
Instead of asking travel planners to organise another holiday, the company wants them to experience one where somebody else handles everything.
The campaign, called “Thank You Travel Planners,” is searching for five deserving planners who have reached the point of being ready to hand over the responsibility.
The reward is a seven-day hosted trip to Switzerland in December 2026.
Switzerland Becomes the Ultimate Planning-Free Holiday
The selected winners will receive round-trip flights, premium accommodation and curated activities.
The important part is not simply the destination.
It is the promise that the trip will already be organised.
For people accustomed to comparing hotel options, checking transportation connections and building detailed itineraries, the luxury may not be a five-star room or a spectacular view.
It may simply be waking up without having to ask, “What are we doing today?”
Five Winners, One Very Different Kind of Vacation
Klook plans to select five travel planners from its global search.
Each winner will also be able to bring a plus-one, giving them an opportunity to share the experience with someone close to them.
The campaign effectively transforms the travel planner from organiser into passenger.
For once, somebody else gets to worry about the details.
Who Can Enter?
Applicants must be at least 21 years old and hold a valid passport.
They must also be legally permitted to enter Switzerland and satisfy all applicable immigration or visa requirements.
There is another condition that reflects the campaign’s promotional nature: participants must be comfortable sharing their journey on camera as part of Klook’s campaign.
That means the opportunity is not simply a private holiday giveaway. Winners will also participate in the storytelling surrounding the campaign.
How to Enter the “Thank You Travel Planners” Contest
People can nominate themselves or nominate another travel planner.
Applicants need to submit a summary of no more than 300 words describing a trip they organised and the challenges they overcame.
That could mean anything from coordinating a large family holiday to rescuing a complicated friends’ getaway after plans started falling apart.
The strongest stories are likely to be those that demonstrate just how much invisible work went into creating a memorable trip.
The Deadline Is August 31, 2026
The deadline for submissions is August 31, 2026.
That leaves potential applicants with a relatively short window to think about the trip that best demonstrates their travel-planning skills.
For someone who has spent years organising holidays for friends and family, finding a compelling story may actually be easier than expected.
The difficult part may be remembering all the work that everyone else forgot.
Deep Analysis: Why Travel Planning Has Become an Invisible Second Job
The Real Problem Is Decision Fatigue
Travel planning is fundamentally a decision-making exercise.
Flights have multiple departure times. Hotels have different locations. Activities have different prices. Restaurants have different availability. Transportation has different trade-offs.
One decision is manageable.
Dozens of decisions become exhausting.
The planner is effectively processing a constant stream of information while trying to satisfy several people’s preferences at the same time.
Group Travel Multiplies Complexity
Planning for one person is relatively straightforward.
Planning for four people is harder.
Planning for eight, 10 or 15 people can become an entirely different challenge.
Every additional traveller introduces another schedule, budget, preference, limitation or possibility of last-minute change.
The complexity does not grow neatly. It compounds.
The Planner Becomes a Human Search Engine
In many groups, one person gradually becomes the person everyone asks.
“Where are we staying?”
“What time is dinner?”
“Did you book the tickets?”
“How much do I owe?”
“Can we change this?”
“Is there a backup option?”
The planner effectively becomes the
That is useful, but it also creates pressure.
The Spreadsheet Is Only the Visible Part
People often associate travel planning with spreadsheets because spreadsheets are easy to see.
But the real work goes far beyond cells and columns.
There is research, communication, comparison, negotiation, verification, payment tracking and contingency planning.
The spreadsheet is merely the dashboard.
The actual planning operation is much larger.
Backup Plans Are a Hidden Responsibility
Experienced planners rarely prepare only Plan A.
They think about Plan B.
What happens if the flight is delayed?
What happens if the restaurant cancels?
What happens if the weather ruins an outdoor activity?
What happens if someone becomes sick?
What happens if transportation is unavailable?
This mental preparation is one reason planners can struggle to relax. They are trained to anticipate problems.
Being Good at Planning Can Create More Work
Ironically, competence can become a trap.
Once someone demonstrates that they can organise a successful trip, everyone remembers.
The next holiday arrives and the group naturally looks toward the same person.
The
The “Can You Just…” Effect
Travel planning often expands through tiny requests.
“Can you just check another hotel?”
“Can you just see if there is a cheaper flight?”
“Can you just change the restaurant?”
Each request sounds insignificant.
Collectively, they can add hours to the process.
The planner becomes responsible not only for organising the trip but also for responding to continuous changes from everyone involved.
Money Makes Group Planning Even Harder
Travel is closely connected to budgets.
One person wants luxury.
Another wants to save money.
Someone prefers convenience.
Someone else would rather spend more time travelling if it reduces the price.
The planner frequently has to find a compromise that satisfies everyone.
Then comes the uncomfortable part: collecting money.
The person who organised the holiday can end up acting as a travel agent, accountant and customer-service representative simultaneously.
Appreciation Usually Arrives Too Late
People tend to appreciate travel planners most when something goes wrong.
If the trip succeeds, everyone simply enjoys themselves.
If something fails, everyone suddenly discovers how important the planner was.
That creates an unusual imbalance.
The best planners prevent problems that nobody ever knows existed.
Technology Has Not Eliminated the Problem
Travel technology was supposed to make planning easier.
In many ways, it has.
Travellers can compare prices, book accommodation instantly, access maps, reserve activities and store tickets digitally.
But technology has also created more choices.
Instead of deciding between three hotels, travellers may compare hundreds.
Instead of choosing from a handful of activities, they may scroll through endless recommendations.
More information does not automatically mean less work.
Artificial Intelligence Could Change Travel Planning
AI is increasingly capable of comparing options, building itineraries, summarising destinations and adapting plans.
That could eventually reduce some of the repetitive work currently handled by human planners.
However, AI cannot completely eliminate the human side of group travel.
People still have different personalities, budgets and expectations.
The difficult question is often not “What is the best hotel?”
It is “What hotel will everyone agree to?”
The Human Negotiation Problem
A travel planner is not simply searching for optimal choices.
They are negotiating between humans.
One friend wants nightlife.
Another wants relaxation.
One wants museums.
Another wants beaches.
One wants an expensive restaurant.
Another wants street food.
The planner must turn conflicting preferences into one coherent experience.
That is a social skill, not merely a technical one.
Why
Klook’s campaign works because it connects a commercial message to a relatable emotional experience.
The company is not simply saying that its platform can help people book travel.
It is highlighting the frustration surrounding travel administration.
Then it offers the perfect demonstration of its promise: someone else will handle the planning.
The campaign therefore turns a pain point into a reward.
The Switzerland Choice Adds Emotional Weight
Switzerland is also an effective destination for the campaign.
The country carries strong associations with scenery, mountains, trains, lakes, luxury and memorable experiences.
That makes it visually attractive for a travel campaign while also reinforcing the idea of a premium escape.
The destination becomes part of the reward, but the deeper prize remains freedom from responsibility.
The Real Luxury Is Mental Space
Modern travellers often associate luxury with better rooms, premium flights and expensive experiences.
For an exhausted travel planner, luxury may mean something else.
It may mean not opening a spreadsheet.
It may mean not checking a booking confirmation.
It may mean not asking whether everyone has arrived.
It may mean sitting at breakfast while someone else already knows what happens next.
That is a very different definition of luxury.
The Campaign Also Reflects a Bigger Travel Trend
Travellers increasingly want convenience.
The modern tourism industry is moving toward experiences that reduce friction between booking and enjoying.
People do not necessarily want more tools.
They want fewer tasks.
This distinction is becoming increasingly important as consumers become overwhelmed by the number of decisions involved in planning a trip.
Convenience Is Becoming Part of the Experience
A holiday does not begin when the plane lands.
For many people, it begins when the planning starts.
If that process is stressful, part of the emotional value of the vacation can disappear before departure.
Making planning easier therefore has genuine experiential value.
The Best Holiday May Be the One You Don’t Organise
There is something almost poetic about the concept behind Klook’s campaign.
The people who spend their time creating holidays for others rarely get to experience what it feels like to surrender control.
The campaign gives them precisely that opportunity.
They do not need to choose the hotel.
They do not need to coordinate the schedule.
They do not need to build the itinerary.
They simply need to show up.
Travel Planning Deserves More Recognition
Even outside promotional campaigns, there is a simple lesson here.
If one person consistently organises the
Say thank you.
Offer to take over occasionally.
Share the workload.
And if someone has already done the planning, avoid treating every new idea as another task they need to execute.
A little appreciation can go a long way.
The Future of Group Travel Could Be More Collaborative
The solution does not necessarily require one person to stop planning entirely.
Groups can divide responsibilities.
One person handles accommodation.
Another manages transportation.
Someone else researches activities.
Another person tracks payments.
This approach turns planning from an individual burden into a shared project.
Digital Tools Can Help, But People Still Need to Cooperate
Shared itineraries, collaborative documents, travel apps and AI assistants can reduce administrative work.
But tools cannot solve a group that refuses to make decisions.
The most sophisticated planning system in the world cannot help if everyone keeps saying, “I’m fine with anything,” while rejecting every option.
Technology can organise information.
People still have to agree.
The Emotional Lesson Behind the Numbers
Klook’s statistics are interesting because they describe something many travellers have experienced without necessarily putting a name to it.
The person who appears calm may actually be carrying the entire trip mentally.
The person who says
The person who seems obsessed with details may simply understand how quickly travel plans can collapse when nobody is paying attention.
Why 42% Is Such an Important Number
The finding that 42% continue monitoring after handing over planning responsibilities is arguably more revealing than the 10-hour statistic.
It suggests that planning can create a sense of psychological ownership.
Once someone has become responsible for making sure everything works, relinquishing that responsibility can feel uncomfortable.
The planner may not trust the process because they know exactly how many things can go wrong.
The
A perfect trip can create an illusion.
It looks effortless.
Nobody sees the late-night searches, the price comparisons, the messages, the reminders and the contingency plans.
But that invisible effort is precisely what allows everyone else to relax.
In that sense, the travel planner is often the person who sacrifices some of their own relaxation to create relaxation for everybody else.
What Undercode Say:
The Vacation Planner Is the Hidden Infrastructure
Undercode’s view is that travel planners deserve more recognition because they function as the hidden infrastructure behind many successful group trips. When infrastructure works, nobody notices it. The same principle applies to the person keeping a holiday together.
Planning Has Become Administrative Labour
Modern travel can involve so many decisions that organising a holiday increasingly resembles project management. Flights, hotels, transportation, activities, payments and schedules all have to work together.
More Choice Can Mean More Stress
Travel websites give consumers enormous choice, but choice itself creates a burden. Comparing hundreds of possibilities can take longer than making a decision from a smaller set of options.
Group Travel Is a Coordination Problem
The hardest part of organising a group trip is often not finding something good. It is finding something that enough people can agree on.
The Planner Carries
The organiser frequently becomes responsible for balancing budgets, preferences, schedules and personalities. That makes the role emotionally heavier than a simple booking task.
The Invisible Work Is the Most Important Work
Researching backup options, checking cancellation rules and confirming details may never be noticed when everything goes smoothly. Yet those tasks can prevent serious problems.
Ten Hours Is a Significant Commitment
Spending more than 10 hours organising one trip demonstrates that travel planning can consume a substantial amount of personal time. For frequent travellers, that burden can accumulate throughout the year.
The 42% Finding Reveals a Trust Problem
When people continue monitoring after giving up control, it suggests that travel planning is connected to responsibility and trust. Once someone becomes accountable for the outcome, switching off can become difficult.
Technology Needs to Reduce Friction
Travel technology should not merely provide more options. The most valuable tools should reduce the number of decisions people need to make.
AI Could Become a Powerful Travel Assistant
AI could eventually handle repetitive itinerary construction, compare alternatives and identify scheduling conflicts. That could give human planners more time to focus on decisions that actually require personal judgment.
But AI Cannot Replace Social Understanding
A machine can identify a highly rated restaurant. It cannot perfectly understand why one member of a friendship group will hate the restaurant despite its excellent reviews.
Group Planning Needs Human Judgment
The best itinerary is rarely the objectively perfect itinerary. It is the itinerary that fits the people taking the trip.
Travel Planning Is a Form of Care
When someone spends hours organising a holiday for others, they are often expressing care. They are trying to make sure everyone has a good experience.
That Care Can Become Exploitation
The problem begins when everyone assumes the same person will always do the work. What starts as generosity can eventually become an expectation.
Appreciation Should Be More Than Words
Saying “thanks” matters, but sharing the responsibility matters more. The most meaningful appreciation is taking some of the workload away.
Klook’s Campaign Understands the Emotional Opportunity
The campaign succeeds because it does not simply reward travellers. It rewards a specific kind of invisible contribution.
Switzerland Is the Symbol, Not the Whole Story
The Swiss trip is attractive, but the deeper message is freedom from administrative responsibility.
Mental Relaxation Is a Luxury
For someone who constantly organises holidays, not having to make decisions may be more valuable than premium accommodation.
The Best Part of the Prize Is Control Being Taken Away
The winners are not being rewarded with another itinerary to manage. They are being rewarded with the opportunity to become passengers.
Travel Brands Should Pay Attention
The campaign points toward a wider opportunity for travel companies: reducing planning complexity can be as valuable as adding new destinations.
Convenience Is Becoming a Competitive Advantage
When consumers have access to countless booking options, simplicity can become one of the strongest reasons to choose one service over another.
The Future May Belong to Curated Travel
Many travellers may increasingly prefer experiences that are already structured, especially when they are busy or travelling in groups.
But Customisation Will Still Matter
Travellers do not want identical holidays. They want personalised experiences without having to perform all the administrative work themselves.
The Ideal System Combines Both
The strongest travel platforms will likely combine automation, curation and personalisation.
Human Planners Still Matter
Even as technology improves, people will remain central to travel because trips are social experiences rather than merely logistical exercises.
The Group Chat Will Not Disappear
Technology may automate bookings, but friends and families will continue discussing destinations, budgets and plans.
What Should Change Is Who Carries the Burden
The goal should not be to eliminate the enthusiastic planner. It should be to prevent that person from becoming the group’s permanent unpaid travel manager.
Shared Responsibility Makes Better Trips
When everyone contributes, the planner gets to enjoy the trip too.
The Campaign Raises a Bigger Question
If organising travel is consistently exhausting, perhaps the travel industry should think of planning itself as part of the customer experience rather than something customers are expected to figure out alone.
The Biggest Travel Upgrade May Be Simplicity
Travellers do not always need more destinations, more recommendations or more features. Sometimes they simply need fewer things to worry about.
The Unappreciated Planner Deserves a Seat at the Table
The person who organised the trip should not be treated as staff while everyone else gets to be a guest.
A Thank-You Can Change the Dynamic
Recognising the planner can encourage healthier group habits and make future trips more collaborative.
The Swiss Giveaway Makes the Message Memorable
By giving planners a completely organised vacation, Klook has created a reward that directly addresses the problem identified by its research.
The Timing Is Also Significant
With the deadline set for August 31, 2026, the campaign is arriving at a moment when many travellers are thinking about future holidays and planning ahead.
The Story Matters as Much as the Prize
The strongest part of the campaign may ultimately be the stories submitted by planners. Those stories can reveal how much work normally disappears behind a successful vacation.
Travel Should Feel Like Travel
A holiday is supposed to provide an escape from routine. If the planning process becomes another source of administrative stress, some of that escape is lost.
The Planner Needs a Vacation Too
That may be the simplest lesson of all. The person who makes everyone else’s holiday possible deserves to experience the same freedom.
✅ Survey and Planning-Time Claim
The supplied article states that Klook surveyed 2,725 travellers across 10 countries and found that eight in 10 respondents reported spending more than 10 hours organising a single trip. These figures are presented as Klook’s research findings in the source material.
✅ Contest Details
The supplied information states that Klook is searching for five travel planners to receive a seven-day hosted Switzerland trip in December 2026, including round-trip flights, premium accommodation and curated activities, with a plus-one permitted.
✅ Entry Requirements and Deadline
The supplied article states that applicants must be at least 21, hold a valid passport, meet Switzerland’s entry requirements and submit a maximum 300-word story by August 31, 2026. Entrants must also agree to participate on camera as part of the campaign.
Prediction
(+1) Travel Planning Will Become More Automated
AI-powered travel assistants, recommendation engines and automated itinerary tools are likely to reduce the amount of repetitive research required from human planners. The biggest opportunity will be combining automation with personal preferences rather than simply generating generic itineraries.
(+1) Curated Experiences Will Become More Valuable
As travellers become overwhelmed by endless choices, professionally curated trips and simplified booking experiences are likely to become increasingly attractive. Consumers may increasingly value someone else doing the administrative work.
(+1) Recognition of Travel Planners Could Grow
Campaigns like
(-1) Group Travel Will Not Become Effortless
Even with better technology, group trips will continue to involve conflicting budgets, schedules and personalities. Automation can reduce administrative work, but it cannot completely eliminate human disagreement.
(+1) Mental Convenience Will Become a Major Travel Benefit
The next generation of travel services may compete not only on price and destinations but also on how much mental effort they remove from customers. For exhausted travellers, the promise of “you don’t have to think about it” could become one of the industry’s most powerful selling points.
(+1) The Ultimate Luxury May Be Doing Nothing
The most compelling lesson from Klook’s campaign is surprisingly simple: sometimes the person who deserves the best vacation is the one who normally spends all their time making everyone else’s vacation work.
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