Planning it yourself
Most families plan their own trips, most of them do it well, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The question is not whether you can. It is what the work costs, who in your house ends up paying that cost, and whether this particular trip is one where being wrong is expensive.
What the hours actually are
The most-quoted figure comes from a Priceline survey run with The Harris Poll in January 2024, across 3,024 US adults: the equivalent of two full working days, or 16 hours, to plan and book a trip.
Three honest caveats, because a number used to sell something should be shown with its edges. It measures planning and booking together, not research alone. It covers all US adults and any trip, not families specifically, and a family trip with small children is not the average trip. And it is a vendor's survey, released alongside that vendor's own planning tools, which is a reason to hold it loosely.
For what it is worth, an independent travel planner publishes an estimate of 15 to 30 hours for the trips she takes on, which brackets the Priceline figure from a completely different direction.
The cost that is not measured in hours
In most households the planning is not shared. One person becomes the designated planner, holds forty browser tabs, remembers which museum is shut on Mondays, and carries the quiet knowledge that if a day goes wrong it will be their fault. The hours are the visible cost. That is the real one.
It is also why "just use a free tool" answers the wrong question. The tools are fine. The load is not a tooling problem.
When you should absolutely do it yourself
We would rather you kept your money than bought this for the wrong trip:
- You enjoy it. Plenty of people do, and it is part of the holiday for them. Handing it over would take something away.
- You already know the place. Returning somewhere familiar needs no research pass.
- The trip is flexible. No small children, no fixed nap, no group moving at three speeds. If a closed door costs you twenty minutes rather than a morning, checking has little to buy you.
- You have the time and you want it. Everything we do is described on the four checks page, in enough detail to follow yourself. That page is free and it is deliberately complete.
When it stops being worth it
The pattern in every guide we have built is the same: unfamiliar destination, small children or three generations, a fixed set of dates, and one shot at it. That is where a wrong opening time costs a morning that cannot be rerun, and where the research is hardest because the questions are specific to your people.
| Doing it yourself | A researched guide | |
|---|---|---|
| Money | Nothing | $99 to $299, once |
| Time | Around 16 hours to plan and book, per the survey above | Five minutes on a questionnaire |
| Who carries it | One person, usually the same one | Us |
| Local closures | Findable, if you read the local language | Checked, in the local language |
| Timings | Estimated from a map | Timed from your door, car park included |
| If it goes wrong | It was your fault | Seven days to ask for your money back |
A fair way to decide
Work out what the trip is costing in total, including flights and accommodation. If a guide is a rounding error against that number and the trip is one you cannot repeat, the maths is easy. If it is a meaningful fraction of the total, plan it yourself and use the checks, honestly.
The destination research is free and is the same work written down for a city instead of for a family.
Sources
| Claim | Source | Dated |
|---|---|---|
| 16 hours to plan and book a trip, 3,024 US adults | Priceline with The Harris Poll | Surveyed 24 to 26 January 2024 |
| 15 to 30 hours, independent planner estimate | The Emerald Palate | Checked 12 August 2026 |
If this is one of the trips worth handing over
Guides are $99, $179 or $299 depending on how many places you are staying. See the three tiers.