How to split the cost of a ski trip
The cabin, the lift tickets, the gas and the groceries, and the friend who only made it for two nights. Here’s how to split a ski trip so everyone pays for the days they were there.
What a ski trip costs
- The cabin or condo. Usually the biggest cost, and usually on one person’s card, booked months ahead with a deposit.
- Lift tickets. Often bought together online, by whoever remembered first.
- Getting there. Gas, parking at the resort, sometimes a rental car with snow tires.
- Food. The big grocery run on the way up, a dinner out, the drinks after the last run.
- Rentals and lessons. Usually each person’s own. They only go in if someone paid for someone else.
When not everyone is there every day
Splitting everything evenly works until someone arrives a night late, takes a rest day, or doesn’t ski at all. Then it’s fairer to split those costs by shares: one share per night for the cabin, one share per day skied for the lift tickets.
In the card above, Zoe came a night late, so she has two shares of the cabin and everyone else three. Kai took a day off, so he has one share of the lift tickets and the others two. The groceries and the gas are split evenly. Change what the cabin cost and watch who pays whom. To work out just the cabin, with anyone’s nights, try the Airbnb by nights calculator.
Someone who doesn’t ski is simpler still: leave them out of the lift tickets, and keep them in everything else.
How to do it without a spreadsheet
- Start a ski trip potluck and drop the link in the group chat. Your friends tap it and pick their name: no app to download, no account.
- Add the deposit as soon as it’s paid, so it isn’t forgotten by the time the trip comes round.
- Everyone adds what they pay as they go, split between the people it was for: by shares for the cabin and the lifts, evenly for the rest.
- On the drive home, it shows the fewest payments to square everyone up. Pay each other however you like, and mark it settled.
A few things to agree on before you book
- Whether the cabin is split by nights or evenly no matter what. Either is fine; deciding after is what causes the argument.
- Whether a couple sharing a room pays as two people or as one room. Two people is the usual answer.
- Whether the better bedroom costs more. If it does, give whoever takes it an extra share.
Planning a different kind of trip? Splitting a group trip covers the rest.
Questions
How do you split a cabin when people stay different nights?
By nights. Give everyone one share for each night they stayed: three nights is three shares, two nights is two. Someone who stayed two of three nights then pays two thirds of what the others do. In Potluck, add the cabin, tap how it’s split, choose Shares and set each person’s number.
Does someone who doesn’t ski pay for lift tickets?
No. Leave them out of the lift tickets and keep them in the cabin, the food and the gas. Every expense is split only between the people you pick for it.
Should everyone just buy their own lift ticket?
It’s the simplest way when you can. When one person buys them all at once, add them as one expense split by the days each person skied.
We’re driving up in two cars. How do we split the gas?
Add each car’s gas as its own expense, split between the people who rode in it.
What about ski rentals and lessons?
Usually everyone pays their own and they don’t go in at all. If one person paid for a few people’s rentals, add it and split it between those people.
Do my friends need to download an app?
No. They tap the link in the group chat, pick their name and add what they paid. Nobody makes an account.
Is it free?
Yes, with no limit on how many things you add, so a week of groceries, gas stops and après doesn’t hit a cap.