How to split trip expenses with friends, even across currencies
The short answer. Make one group for the trip and get everyone in it before you leave. Log each expense on the day, in the currency it was actually paid in. At the end, settle with the fewest possible payments, one set per currency, so nobody has to agree on an exchange rate after the fact.
What works
- Set up the group before you go. Expenses logged on the day are accurate. Expenses reconstructed from bank statements a week later never are.
- Agree how each kind of cost splits. Accommodation and car hire usually split equally. Meals split better by what people ordered. Couples can count as two shares, and someone who joined for two nights out of five can carry fewer shares.
- Keep every expense in the currency it was paid in. Converting everything to one currency means someone picks a rate, and it's never the rate each person's bank or card actually charged. Settling euros in euros and dollars in dollars is exact.
- One person paying for a lot is fine. It all nets out. What matters is that every payment is written down.
- Settle within a week of getting home. The longer a trip balance sits, the more awkward it gets to ask.
How to do it in Halv
- Create a group for the trip. Name it, and set its default currency to the one you'll spend most in. New expenses start in that currency.
- Get everyone in. Share the invite link (it works for 7 days), or add friends who aren't on Halv yet as placeholders. They carry a balance in the group and can claim their history when they join.
- Add expenses as they happen. Pick a different currency for any expense paid in one. Each currency keeps its own balance, and nothing is converted. You can add expenses with no signal; they sync when you're back online.
- Choose how each one splits. Equally, exact amounts, percentages, shares, or item by item from a scanned receipt. If two people paid for one thing, use “Multiple people paid”.
- Square up at the end. Open the group's payments: Halv lists who pays whom in as few payments as possible, with one plan per currency. Share the plan as a link with anyone who isn't on Halv.
Euros and dollars settle separately: you owe Sarah €205, and everyone pays you back for the flights in dollars. - Pay back in one tap. Revolut opens with the amount and currency filled in, or copy a friend's IBAN or BLIK number for your banking app. Then mark it as paid.
One euro payment squares you with the whole group.
Questions
What's the fairest way to split trip costs in different currencies?
Keep each expense in the currency it was paid in and settle each currency separately: whoever is owed euros gets euros back. Converting everything into one currency forces the group to pick an exchange rate, which never matches what each person's card actually charged.
How do you split a trip with friends who don't have the app?
In Halv you can add them as placeholder members. They carry a balance like everyone else, can see what they owe from a link in their browser with no account, and can claim their spot and history if they join later.
How do you split accommodation when people stayed different numbers of nights?
Split it by shares: give each person one share per night they stayed, or two shares for a couple sharing a room. Halv supports splitting by shares on any expense.
Does Halv convert currencies?
No. Every group keeps a separate balance per currency, and Halv never invents an exchange rate. A dollar expense in a euro trip stays in dollars and is settled in dollars.
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