How to split a group trip fairly in different currencies
Your group earns in pesos, the hotel charges in dollars and dinner is in euros. Here is how to split it so nobody quietly loses money on exchange rates.
1. Pick one group currency
Every balance needs a single unit, or the math never closes. Pick the currency most of the group earns and will settle in. For a Mexican group in Madrid, that’s probably MXN, even if every expense is in EUR.
2. Log each expense in the currency you actually paid
Don’t convert in your head. Write down €84 for dinner, not “about 1,700 pesos”. The original amount is the only number everyone can check against a receipt.
3. Decide which exchange rate is fair
There are three common choices, and each is defensible. What matters is agreeing on one before the trip:
| Rate | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Rate on the day of the expense | Fair to whoever paid; matches what the money was worth then | Needs a rate per day |
| What the payer’s card actually charged | Exact for the payer, including fees | Only known days later; cards differ |
| One fixed rate for the whole trip | Easiest to explain | Can drift a lot on long trips |
For most trips, the day’s rate is the best balance of fair and practical. That’s what Parejo uses: when you log an expense in another currency, it converts at that day’s market rate and saves the rate on the expense, so the number doesn’t change later when markets move.
4. Handle card fees and cash withdrawals
- Foreign card fees: if one person’s card charges 3% and another’s charges nothing, the group shouldn’t subsidize the expensive card. Agree that fees stay with the cardholder, or that the person with the free card pays the big items.
- ATM cash: log cash expenses when they are spent, not when the cash is withdrawn. Withdrawing isn’t spending.
5. A worked example
Three friends, group currency USD. Example rate for the day: 1 USD = 20 MXN.
- Lía pays a hotel night: $300 USD
- Tomás pays dinner: 2,400 MXN → $120 USD
- Vale pays a boat tour: 1,800 MXN → $90 USD
Total: $510, so each share is $170. Balances: Lía +130 · Tomás −50 · Vale −80.
Settle: Tomás pays Lía $50, Vale pays Lía $80. Two transfers.
6. Settle in one currency, once
Settle in the group currency, at the end, with the fewest transfers. If someone wants to pay in a different currency, convert the final balance at that day’s rate. It’s one conversion instead of twenty.
The short version
- One group currency.
- Log the amount as charged.
- Use the day’s rate and freeze it on each expense.
- Card fees stay with the card.
- Settle once, with the fewest payments.
Parejo does steps 2 to 5 for you, for free, with no sign-up.
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