Travel budget calculator template

Free build guide: Travel budget calculator for WordPress

This guide rebuilds the Travel budget calculator from this site in Gravity Forms: 8 inputs, 4 live results and no submit button. Expect about 36 minutes by hand. The template above is the same form as an import file, and the bundle adds a PDF version of this guide with a screenshot of every setting, plus the stylesheet.

You will end up with:

• Trip budget
• Per person
• Per day
• Daily spend on the ground

What you need

• Gravity Forms (any license) — Calculation fields are in core.

Everything here is core Gravity Forms. No add-ons.

1. Create the form

1. Go to Forms → New Form and name it Travel budget.
2. In Form Settings → Form Layout, set the CSS Class Name to fo-live-only. Step 3 uses it to hide the submit button.
3. Leave the form open in the editor; the fields come next.

2. Add the fields, in this order

Field IDs are assigned as you add fields. If yours come out differently, change the {Label:ID} references in the formulas to match your IDs. Settings not mentioned stay at their defaults.

1. Travellers · Number · ID 1
Number Format 9,999.99; Default Value 2; Layout: half width, on the same row as its neighbour (drag the field beside it in the editor; no CSS class needed).

2. Nights · Number · ID 2
Number Format 9,999.99; Default Value 5; Description “Days are nights plus one.”; Layout: half width, on the same row as its neighbour (drag the field beside it in the editor; no CSS class needed).

3. Flights or transport, per person · Number · ID 3
Number Format Currency; Default Value 350; Description “Round trip, including bags and the ride to the airport.”.

4. Lodging per night · Number · ID 4
Number Format Currency; Default Value 150; Description “For the whole room or rental, taxes and fees in.”.

5. Food per person per day · Number · ID 5
Number Format Currency; Default Value 60; Description “About $40 cheap, $60–80 mid-range, $120+ fine dining.”; Layout: half width, on the same row as its neighbour (drag the field beside it in the editor; no CSS class needed).

6. Activities per person per day · Number · ID 6
Number Format Currency; Default Value 40; Description “Tickets, tours, rentals.”; Layout: half width, on the same row as its neighbour (drag the field beside it in the editor; no CSS class needed).

7. Local transport per day · Number · ID 7
Number Format Currency; Default Value 20; Description “Transit passes, taxis, parking, for the group.”; Layout: half width, on the same row as its neighbour (drag the field beside it in the editor; no CSS class needed).

8. Buffer (%) · Number · ID 8
Number Format 9,999.99; Default Value 10; Description “For the things you did not plan. 10–15% is sensible.”; Layout: half width, on the same row as its neighbour (drag the field beside it in the editor; no CSS class needed).

9. Trip budget · Number · ID 9
Number Format Currency; Custom CSS Class (Appearance tab) fo-result; tick Enable Calculation, Rounding 2.

( ( {Travellers:1} * {Transport:3} + {Nights:2} * {Lodging:4} + ( {Nights:2} + 1 ) * ( {Travellers:1} * ( {Food:5} + {Activities:6} ) + {Local transport:7} ) ) * ( 1 + {Buffer:8} / 100 ) )

10. Per person · Number · ID 10
Number Format Currency; Layout: half width, on the same row as its neighbour (drag the field beside it in the editor; no CSS class needed); Custom CSS Class (Appearance tab) fo-result fo-result--sub; tick Enable Calculation, Rounding 2.

( ( {Travellers:1} * {Transport:3} + {Nights:2} * {Lodging:4} + ( {Nights:2} + 1 ) * ( {Travellers:1} * ( {Food:5} + {Activities:6} ) + {Local transport:7} ) ) * ( 1 + {Buffer:8} / 100 ) ) / {Travellers:1}

11. Per day · Number · ID 11
Number Format Currency; Layout: half width, on the same row as its neighbour (drag the field beside it in the editor; no CSS class needed); Custom CSS Class (Appearance tab) fo-result fo-result--sub; tick Enable Calculation, Rounding 2.

( ( {Travellers:1} * {Transport:3} + {Nights:2} * {Lodging:4} + ( {Nights:2} + 1 ) * ( {Travellers:1} * ( {Food:5} + {Activities:6} ) + {Local transport:7} ) ) * ( 1 + {Buffer:8} / 100 ) ) / ( {Nights:2} + 1 )

12. Daily spend on the ground · Number · ID 12
Number Format Currency; Description “Food, activities and local transport for everyone, per day; what to budget in cash or on the card each day.”; Custom CSS Class (Appearance tab) fo-result fo-result--sub; tick Enable Calculation, Rounding 2.

( {Travellers:1} * ( {Food:5} + {Activities:6} ) + {Local transport:7} )

3. Hide the submit button

The results are live, so nothing needs submitting. Add this filter to your theme’s functions.php or a code-snippets plugin; it hides the button on any form carrying the fo-live-only class:

add_filter( 'gform_submit_button', function ( $button, $form ) {
	return str_contains( (string) rgar( $form, 'cssClass' ), 'fo-live-only' ) ? '' : $button;
}, 10, 2 );

Or with CSS alone: .fo-live-only_wrapper .gform_footer { display: none; }

4. Put it on a page and make it look like this

Add the form to any page with the Gravity Forms block, or the shortcode [gravityform id="X" title="false" ajax="false"]. The form inherits your theme’s styles; the classes you set in step 2 are hooks for the look you see on this site:

• fo-result on a calculation field makes it the big teal result panel.
• fo-result fo-result--sub makes the smaller secondary figures.
• fo-segmented on a radio field turns it into a segmented switch.
• Two fields on one row is the editor’s own column layout: drag a field beside another and the row splits in half. No CSS class is needed, and the old gf_left_half Ready Classes are deprecated.

The bundle includes the two stylesheets that implement those classes, with notes on matching your brand colours. Without them the form still works; it just looks like your theme’s default Gravity Forms styling.

How the maths works is explained under “How it’s calculated” on the live Travel budget calculator.