Vietnamese travel planners named most taken-for-granted people in every friend group: survey

Travel planning may be what makes every holiday possible, but Klook's new research surveying 2,725 travellers across 10 markets shows travel planning as one of the least appreciated tasks.

Vietnam feels this more than most.

Among 10 everyday favors people do for others, from carrying heavy bags to opening doors, travel planning is ranked as the least-thanked task in Vietnam.

Non-planners believe that organizing a week-long group trip takes fewer than 10 hours.

In reality, more than seven in 10 planners insisted that they spend more than 10 hours organizing a single trip.

Specifically, 48.4 percent spend up to 20 hours and 26.4 percent spend up to and even more than 40 hours.

Planning a trip is not a single task as there are many tasks disguised as one.

The travel planner acts as the group's operations manager, customer service representative, and crisis hotline, all rolled into one.

The biggest source of stress for Vietnamese planners is managing human logistics.

Their top stressors include managing budgets (60.4 percent), coordinating schedules (50.9 percent), and getting responses from others (34 percent).

Beyond managing budgets and schedules, Vietnamese planners also shoulder the emotional labor of the trip.

As many as 67.3 percent say their top skill is choosing options that minimize group drama, prevent conflict, and keep everyone happy.

While everyone else is relaxing, the planner is still on duty.

More than half of Vietnamese planners check their phones six or more times a day during the trip to manage bookings, directions, and logistics.

While many travellers outsource decision-making with an ‘I'm happy with anything,’ it is the planner who remains accountable.

The blame does not add up: far more planners say they get blamed than non-planners admit to blaming them.

The top three complaints are ‘I could've planned this better,’ ‘That's out of my budget,’ and ‘Why didn't we do this instead?'

More than seven in 10 Vietnamese planners believe they deserve to be paid US$50 or more per hour for their efforts.

Given that most Vietnamese planners spend 10-20 hours organizing a week-long group trip, that amounts to as much as $1,000 or more in unpaid labor.

How can we pay them back?

Planners keep planning because someone has to turn ‘we should go somewhere’ into ‘remember that amazing trip?’

Some 71.7 percent of Vietnamese planners say the trip only makes it out of the group chat because of them, while 77.4 percent believe the group would not travel as well without a planner.

It is time to give Vietnam's travel planners the recognition they deserve.

After spending hours coordinating schedules, managing budgets (and egos), solving problems before anyone notices them, and taking the blame when things go wrong, it is perhaps no surprise that more than eight in 10 Vietnamese travel planners believe they deserve more recognition for everything they do.

Behind every memorable holiday is someone investing their time, energy, and mental effort so everyone else can just show up.

It is time to give travel planners the appreciation they deserve, and thank the friend or family member who makes the holiday possible.