Google Sheets Review

5 4

Review of Google Sheets powered by the Slant community.

Not sexy by any means, but spreadsheets are no-fuss and allow for the flexibility of including all the nitty gritty details of trip-planning, budget calculations, and tweaking things on the fly.

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Pros

Pro
Scalable, customized organization

Infinite row/columns and all the separate tabs to play with. Trips can be organized with as many attributes and calculations as you see fit.

Pro
Good for budgeting

Since it is a spreadsheet, very easy to calculate budget, and any secondary calculations as well (e.g. cost/day, cost/location, etc.)

Pro
Easy to share

Google Sheets are always accessible on the cloud, and easy to control permissions to share with relevant parties.

Pro
Easy to export

Physically (printing) and otherwise (converting to excel, attaching to emails).

Pro
Cross-platform

Can be accessed from any device via the browser, or Google's iOS and Android apps.

Cons

Con
Not optimized for travel

Unlike travel-specific websites, Sheets won't be able to tell if one link is a flight, and another is a hotel reservation, nor will it be able to know which cells correspond to what leg of the trip.

Con
Zero foundation

While there are sample layouts (see Travel planner), it's likely that each person's trip planning needs will be unique enough that it's better to start from scratch. Of course, once you use Sheets for one trip, it'll be easier and faster to set it up for future trips.