deposit strip

Understand Group Trip Deposit and Refund Rules — Free

Paste each deposit with its refund window, and read who loses what if the group changes its mind at week three.

The proof surface

Group trips unravel when one person delays a decision past a window nobody tracked. A timeline of refund deadlines with money attached is what makes the group decide.

Inputeach deposit with the date it was paid and its refund terms

Rare devicelays the reader's own deposit terms on a timeline, so each cancellation window shows the money it costs

Output artifacta timeline strip with each refund window and the money at risk printed beneath

Cost$0 · local-first · one free run · samples labelled

Sample, not your facts: Sample: villa deposit $480 refundable to 1 Oct 2026, flight deposits $220 each non-refundable, train tickets $64, eight people, seven weeks to departure — four concrete points across four types.

Why the flat version breaks

Assuming refundable

Flight deposits and coach bookings are commonly non-refundable from the moment they are paid, and they are the largest items.

Deciding as a group on the day

Group decisions take a week; a window closing in three days cannot be met by a group chat that meets on Sundays.

One person funding the risk

Whoever paid the deposits carries the exposure unless the group agrees a buffer before the first payment.

How to work the deposit strip

List the deposits

Amount, paid date and refund terms per line, including per-person items.

Enter people and weeks

Both figures turn the terms into group exposure on a timeline.

Read the strip

Each deposit is a segment ending at its deadline, with the risk printed beneath.

Set one decision date

Give the group a single date before the earliest window closes.

What the strip replaces

Question	Before	On the strip
What is refundable	ask the group chat	each deposit with its own window
What is at risk	estimate	per-person and group amounts printed beneath
When to decide	sometime before the trip	the earliest window closing on the strip

Terms are the reader's own; the strip does not verify a supplier's policy and does not cancel anything.

Run it on the samples, right here

FIRST-LOAD

Data note: Everything runs in this browser tab on the deposit strip: your deposit terms and dates stays on this device, nothing is uploaded, and the reading is rebuilt only when you press run.

Go deeper: the companion app files the same reading as a paper ticker strip

The article demo above runs without limits. The companion app keeps a local history, exports the rows as CSV, prints the ready-to-mail packet, and holds your drafts on this device — one free run, then $ 6 one-time for the layer that keeps filing.

The strip and the per-deposit windows are free. The paid layer prints the group summary with each person's exposure.

Open the deposit terms strip companion

Boundary

This deposit strip works only on the deposit terms and travel dates you paste you paste. It does not verify a supplier's terms, does not cancel bookings, and does not advise on travel insurance. The figures describe what you supplied, not what is true in the world. Confirm anything you plan to act on with each supplier's booking team, asked in writing for the refund window before you rely on it.

What this is built on

Every figure comes from the deposit terms and travel dates you paste you paste; nothing is looked up, scraped or asserted as verified.
Method: each deposit is placed at its refund deadline against the weeks remaining, with per-person amounts multiplied by group size
Sample values are labelled samples — illustrative by design, not your data and not a quotation of any organisation's policy.

Before: the reader assumed deposits were refundable. After: they can see three of five deposits become non-refundable within thirteen days.