Best hen do planning app? What to look for

Can guests join without starting from scratch?

A personal invitation should take a guest into the right party without making the organiser rebuild the guest list. Check whether a named guest can be invited before she creates an account, and whether the invitation still works if she installs the app later.

Look for a clear difference between organisers and guests. Guests often need to add their own travel or contribute a restaurant booking; organisers need final control of the shared plan.

Does it separate group plans from personal details?

The group should see the restaurant and meeting time. An individual guest should be able to find her train, flight and private hotel booking without publishing confirmation numbers to everyone. A useful planner keeps those views distinct.

• Shared schedule for activities and confirmed bookings
• Personal plan for each guest's travel and stay
• Clear ownership and editing permissions

Can it cope with real group payments?

A simple equal split is helpful, but real plans have deposits, several payers and guests who skip an activity. Check whether a booking can become an expense, whether multiple people can contribute, and whether the split can exclude the bride or a non-attendee.

If you're travelling abroad, find out whether the original currency and exchange rate remain visible, rather than only showing an unexplained converted total.

What happens when plans change?

Try editing or cancelling a booking in the app before committing your group. A cancelled dinner with a refunded deposit should not be treated like a dinner that still happened. Check that everyone can find the latest version of the plan, even with patchy reception.

Reveli is being built around these requirements: one party, individual invitations, separate personal travel, bookings and a shared expense ledger. It is coming to iPhone and Android; compare those features with what your own group needs before choosing a tool.

A group chat, a spreadsheet or a dedicated planner?

A group chat is useful for quick questions and excitement. It becomes less useful as the permanent record of a deposit, a final restaurant address or a change to the start time. If you keep it, agree that confirmed details live in one other place and link back to that plan when something changes.

A shared spreadsheet can work well for a small group with one organiser, a simple schedule and straightforward costs. Its trade-off is maintenance: somebody has to control versions, check formulas and make it readable on a phone. A calendar helps with meeting times but usually needs a separate place for payments and booking details.

A dedicated hen do planning app earns its place when it reduces those hand-offs. It should connect the guest list, activities and costs without forcing every guest to become an administrator. For a single lunch, the simplest tool may be enough; for several days and different arrivals, test how the separate pieces work together.

Run this small test before inviting the whole group

Use fictional names and amounts first. Ask one friend to join as a guest on a different phone, rather than judging everything from the organiser’s account. The same screen can be easy for its creator and confusing for someone seeing it for the first time.

Try the following sequence from start to finish. Note where either person has to explain the interface or repeat information. Those are the points that will create questions when twelve guests start using it.

• Create a draft party, add a named guest, then have that guest join from her invitation.
• Add a tentative dinner, confirm the booking and change its time. Check that the guest sees the current version.
• Add a personal hotel stay. Verify what the organiser and another guest can actually see.
• Record one dinner paid by four people and shared by twelve; then remove a non-participant from that expense only.
• Open a previously viewed plan without reception, then reconnect. Check what is saved and whether the latest change appears.
• Try account recovery and signing in on another device before relying on the tool for the trip.

Compare access and privacy, not just the feature list

Ask which phones your guests use and check the product’s current availability. A platform listed as ‘coming soon’ is not the same as a downloadable app. If only some guests can install it, decide whether they have another usable way to receive the plan before making it the only source of information.

Check whether shared links can be revoked, whether a guest already in the party can accept an invitation without becoming a duplicate, and whether editing is restricted to the appropriate people. A booking reference, personal travel document or surprise answer should not be public merely because the main itinerary is shared.

Phone-lock and biometric features are useful, but they do not answer every privacy question. Look at what appears in notifications, what happens after sign-out and how to recover access after losing a phone. Avoid adding sensitive information to a test group until you understand who can see it.

Make a decision your guests can live with

Choose three must-have tasks for this particular celebration. A trip abroad might prioritise personal travel, multiple currencies and reliable access; a local day might prioritise invitations, booking changes and a simple final split. Check those tasks before optional extras such as games or decorative themes.

Look at the purchase model too: who pays, whether guests need to pay separately, what an unlock applies to and whether it renews. Confirm the current terms in the product rather than comparing a headline without its conditions. A clear one-off event purchase and a subscription are different commitments.

Reveli publishes this guide and is developing a planner for these situations. This is a practical selection checklist, not an independent ranking or a claim that we have tested every competitor. Reveli is coming to iPhone and Android. Until launch, use the checklist to organise your requirements and choose a tool your whole group can access.