Collect everyone's share upfront, before you book the cabin and the lift tickets, into one place held by whoever's planning. The group sees who paid and where it goes, so the planner never fronts the mountain.

Why ski trips get expensive fast

A ski weekend is three or four costs stacked on top of each other: the cabin, the lift tickets, the gear rentals, the drive. One friend usually books the house and buys the group's passes on her card, then spends the week before the trip texting six people to send their part, some of whom "forgot their card at home."

The clean setup

1. The planner creates a table in TableCash for the trip.
2. Everyone chips in his share by card, the money lands with the planner directly, and the group sees who's in.
3. Set the goal to the trip total, cabin plus tickets plus rentals, and split it into equal shares so everyone sees his own number.
4. Book the cabin and buy the passes with money that's already collected. If someone bails, the record shows exactly what he put in, and the planner can send it back.

What about the stuff you buy on the mountain?

Most of the cost is known upfront, but a ski trip also has the running expenses you can't total in advance: the lodge lunch, the extra day pass, the grocery run for the cabin. Instead of one person fronting each one and requesting everyone back later, collect a little extra into the table at the start as a shared kitty.

Then 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, and whatever is left at the end is right there on the record to send back evenly. (Renting the cabin itself through a host? See handling road trip costs for the on-the-way expenses too.)

The planner holds the money the way she always did, the difference is that now everyone sees every dollar. The money goes to the planner; TableCash never holds it and is just the shared record.

Lock in the cabin and passes before the deadline

Ski weekends want cabin money and lift passes early to get the good rate, which is a long time for someone to go quiet. Get the commitment first. Everyone saves a card and promises their share now, and nobody is charged yet.

No card runs until enough people are in for the trip to be real, then every card charges together, so no one fronts the cabin and no one can silently drop off before the trip. While the table is filling anyone can take their promise back with no card touched, and it locks once it fills. This is how you get everyone committed before you book the mountain.