Collect everyone's share upfront, before booking, into one place held by the person planning — with the whole group able to see who paid. Never book first and collect after.
One friend finds the house, makes the itinerary, and puts the deposit on her card. Everyone says "just send me your part later." Three weeks later she's re-sending her Venmo handle and doing math at midnight, and the trip that was supposed to be fun has a billing department.
Most of the cost is known upfront — the house, the flights, the big dinner. But trips also have the running expenses nobody can total in advance: the group Uber, the grocery run, the boat you decide on at breakfast. Instead of one friend fronting each one and requesting everyone back afterward, collect a little extra into the table at the start as a shared kitty.
Then during the trip, whoever pays for a group thing requests that amount from the table, the planner approves it, and everyone sees it come out. Nobody keeps a mental tally, nobody gets home to a surprise Venmo request, and the money that's left over at the end is right there on the record to send back evenly.
The planner holds the money the way she always did — the difference is that now everyone sees every dollar, so trust never gets tested.
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