How to use TheClubTrip

Everything you need to organise your club trips — from creating a club to archiving completed trips.

Quick start guide

Follow these steps to run your first trip.

1

Create your club

Sign up for an account, then create your club from the "My clubs" page. Add your club name, description, logo, and website link. You'll automatically become the club admin.

2

Post a trip

From your club dashboard, click "+ New trip". You'll see a template selector where you toggle the sections you need — emergency contacts, car management, hiking extras, and custom questions — alongside a basic signup that's always included. Add your own questions with custom fields, or set a trip fee and choose your currency (USD, GBP, EUR, NZD, AUD, or CAD) to collect payments online via Stripe. Then set the trip name, dates, grade, cost, and other details.

3

Share the signup link

Each trip gets a unique signup link. Copy it from the trip management page and share it with your club members via email, Facebook, or your website.

4

Manage signups

Review who has signed up, approve or reject participants, and see medical info, emergency contacts, and vehicle availability at a glance. Enable auto-approve to skip manual review.

5

Arrange cars

See who has vehicles and seats available. Use auto-assign to fill cars automatically, or manually create car arrangements. Then email everyone their ride details with one click.

6

Send emergency details & archive

Email emergency contact details to your safety contact before the trip. After the trip, archive it to keep your club dashboard tidy.

Features in detail

Club management

  • Create clubs with name, description, and logo
  • Add your club website link
  • Manage members with Admin, Leader, and Member roles
  • Share a public club URL with anyone
  • View stats: members, active trips, archived, total signups

Trip creation

  • Set start & end dates, grade, and cost
  • Configure max participants and close date
  • Add meeting location and pickup time
  • Collect trip fees online via Stripe
  • Trip statuses: Draft, Open, Closed, Cancelled, Archived

Signup management

  • One link for members to sign up
  • Collects medical info, emergency contacts, vehicle details
  • Approve, reject, or waitlist participants
  • Auto-approve option to skip manual review
  • Guest signups (no account required)

Customisable signup forms

  • Visual template selector with toggle switches per section
  • Five sections: Basic signup, Emergency contact, Car management, Hiking extras, Custom questions
  • Each card previews the fields it collects
  • Set a club default template or override per trip
  • Add custom questions: text, dropdowns, checkboxes, and more
  • Save custom question sets as reusable club templates
  • Trip leader checklist adapts to match your form

Online payments

  • Connect your club's Stripe account in settings
  • Set a trip fee in USD, GBP, EUR, NZD, AUD, or CAD
  • Participants pay via Stripe Checkout during signup
  • Funds go directly to your club's bank account
  • 4% platform fee — no monthly charges

Car arrangements

  • See available vehicles, seats, and departure times
  • Auto-assign passengers to cars
  • Manually create and edit car arrangements
  • Add/remove passengers from cars
  • Email car details to all participants

Communications

  • Email all participants with custom messages
  • Automatic emails on approval/rejection
  • Email car arrangement details
  • Send emergency details to safety contact
  • Full communication history in the Comms tab

Trip leader checklist

  • 1. Open trip for signups
  • 2. Close signups when ready
  • 3. Review and approve participants
  • 4. Arrange cars (auto or manual)
  • 5. Email car arrangements
  • 6. Send emergency details to safety contact
  • 7. Archive trip when complete

What participants fill in

Signup fields are grouped into five sections. Leaders toggle sections on or off when creating a trip.

Basic signup Always included
  • Club membership
  • Comments
  • Participant guide
Emergency contact Optional
  • Medical conditions
  • Emergency contact name
  • Emergency contact phone
  • Emergency contact only preference
Car management Optional
  • Vehicle availability
  • Registration number
  • Vehicle details
  • Number of seats
  • Earliest departure time
Hiking extras Optional
  • Preferred grade
  • Food group interest
Custom questions Optional
  • Add your own text, textarea, dropdown, checkbox, number, or date fields
  • Mark fields as required or optional
  • Save question sets as reusable club templates

Frequently asked questions

How do participants sign up for a trip?

Share the trip signup link with your club members. They can sign up with an account or fill in their details as a guest. The form collects fields from the sections the trip leader enabled — basic signup is always included, plus optional emergency contact, car management, hiking extras, and custom questions sections.

What are the member roles?

Admin can manage the club, edit settings, manage members, create trips, and delete the club. Leader can create and manage trips. Member is a standard club member.

What trip grades are available?

Easy (E), Easy-Moderate (EM), Moderate (M), Moderate-Fit (MF), Fit (F), Fitness Essential (FE), and Instructional (I). These follow the standard NZ tramping club grading system.

What is the trip leader checklist?

A step-by-step guide on the trip management page that adapts to your signup form. It only shows relevant steps — for example, car arrangement steps are hidden if your form doesn't collect vehicle info.

How do signup form templates work?

When creating a trip, a template selector shows five sections: Basic signup (always included), Emergency contact, Car management, Hiking extras, and Custom questions. Toggle each section on or off to build the form you need — each card previews the fields it collects. With Custom questions, you can add your own text, dropdown, checkbox, number, or date fields and save them as reusable club templates. Your club has a default template, but each trip can override it. The trip leader checklist automatically adapts to only show steps relevant to the sections you selected.

What are custom questions?

Custom questions let you add your own fields to the signup form — text, textarea, dropdown, checkbox, number, or date. Mark each as required or optional. You can also save a set of custom questions as a reusable club template so you don't have to recreate them for every trip.

How do online payments work?

Connect your club's Stripe account from the club settings page. When creating a trip, set a fee amount and choose your currency (USD, GBP, EUR, NZD, AUD, or CAD). Participants are redirected to Stripe Checkout after signing up. Funds go directly to your club's connected bank account. A 4% platform fee is deducted from each payment, plus standard Stripe processing fees.

What currencies are supported?

You can collect trip fees in USD, NZD, AUD, GBP, EUR, or CAD. Choose your currency when creating a trip — it defaults to USD. The correct currency symbol is shown to participants on the signup page.

Do I need a Stripe account?

Only if you want to collect trip fees online. Stripe Connect Express makes setup quick — you'll be guided through connecting your bank account. Trips without fees work as normal with no Stripe account needed.

How does auto-assign cars work?

Click "Auto-assign" and the system will automatically create car arrangements based on available drivers and their seat capacity. Passengers are assigned to fill each car. You can manually adjust afterwards.

Can I email all trip participants?

Yes. From the trip management page, click "Email all participants" to send a custom message to everyone signed up. All sent emails are logged in the Comms tab.

What are emergency details?

Emergency contact information collected from each participant (when the emergency contact option is enabled on your signup form). You can email a summary of all participants' emergency info to your designated safety contact before the trip.

Can I edit a trip after creating it?

Yes. Trip leaders can edit all trip details (name, dates, grade, cost, meeting location, etc.) from the trip management page at any time before archiving.

Ready to get started?

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