A Week in Cyprus, Two Couples, One Tally
We don't usually write about our own holidays, but we thought we'd share our experience using Tallykins. A week in Cyprus, two couples, bed, breakfast and evening meal included — and every extra the four of us picked up along the way, tracked start to finish on the app we built.
No spreadsheets. No group chat full of "paid!" messages nobody could verify. No awkward maths at the airport on the way home. Here's exactly how we used it.
🐾 The short version: each of us joined the event individually a few weeks before flying out, then we grouped ourselves as two couples using Tallykins Grouping so the running total — and the final settlement — read as "couple owes couple" rather than four names each owing each other odd amounts. One of us ran it as organiser with an Organiser Pass; the other three just joined with a code.
Setting up before we'd even packed
Sitting in a pub garden a few weeks before our trip, I set up the event and shared the link. The others joined on their own phone with the simple six-digit code — no email, no password, no signup. I'd already linked my Google account after getting the Organiser Pass, which is what unlocks real-time syncing across everyone's phones rather than just one.
Oh yes, we also used Grouping to pair ourselves up as two couples rather than four separate people. That's a quick thing the organiser can do at any time — everyone still tracks their own spending individually, exactly as before. Grouping just changes how the running settlement options are shown, which made the totals far easier to read through the week; nobody had to work out where their own household stood among four names.
The first thing we added was the taxi to and from Gatwick airport, which one of the group had paid for upfront. Straight onto Tallykins, split evenly, done before we'd even checked in for the flight.
How it actually felt, day to day
This is the part that changes how a holiday feels rather than how the maths works. Because all four of us had the event live on our own phones all week, nobody had to remember to tell anyone anything. Whoever got to the bar first stuck the round on Tallykins there and then, rather than the usual worry about whose turn it was. It became the phrase of the week — "I'll stick it on Tallykins" — and it quietly removed a layer of friction we didn't realise we normally put up with on group trips.
Most rounds and extras just went through as an even four-way split. Once or twice we excluded someone from a round — drinks for three while one of us chilled on the sunbed with a book, say — which mattered more than we expected. Forcing an even split on something that genuinely wasn't shared is exactly the kind of thing that could cause quiet resentment on a longer trip, so being able to tap someone out of a specific expense while leaving them in everything else was worth having, even if we only used it a couple of times.
💡 Board covered breakfast and dinner — we still logged the extras. Bed, breakfast and evening meal were part of the package, but several lunches out weren't, and neither was one big dinner we booked ourselves one evening — rounds, extras, and a shared dessert included. All of it went on Tallykins alongside the airport taxis at both ends in Cyprus and the odd group tip along the way.
Checking the hotel bill at checkout
This was the part we didn't expect to be useful. At the end of the stay, sitting on the sunbeds catching the final rays of the sun, we ran the Tallykins summary against the hotel's own room bills as a tick-back. The hotel had charged us correctly — but going through both side by side, we spotted that we'd missed logging a couple of rounds on Tallykins ourselves. Added them back in, the numbers matched, done. Having a running record to check against turned checkout from "trust the printout" into something we could actually verify — and an Organiser Pass is what makes that PDF export possible in the first place.
Settling up as two couples, not four individuals
We didn't need TallyCash, the shared cash-kitty feature, for this trip — everyone was happy to pay bills or charge to their room directly rather than pool a fund. What made the actual settle-up painless was Grouping: because we'd grouped ourselves as two couples, the final tally didn't show four people owing each other odd amounts in different directions — it showed one clean balance between the two couples. One transfer, done, no napkin maths, no "wait, didn't you already pay me back for the taxi." Zero stress, which is exactly what you want on the last morning of a holiday. And, no messing around with exchange rates, Tallykins sorted that out for us.
🐾 Curious how Grouping actually works? We've covered the mechanics in detail — dragging one friend's mascot onto another, naming the group, and settling it as one — in our guide to splitting costs as two couples on a weekend away.
The bit worth remembering
None of this required anyone but the organiser to sign in for anything. The other three just had the event on their phones and used it for free. That's really the whole point of building it this way — the friction that normally comes with group money on holiday mostly disappeared, and the one place a running record would have mattered most — checking the final hotel bill — is exactly where it paid for itself.
Worth agreeing how you'll split costs before you even book — much easier than untangling it once everyone's away. For a trip this size, one of us ran it as organiser on an Organiser Pass (from £3.99 for 30 days, or £19.99 for the year, no auto-renewal); everyone else joined for free.
Planning your own group holiday? 🐾
Download Tallykins for free to start tracking on your own phone — upgrade to an Organiser Pass to sync with the whole group via a simple 6-digit code.
