When someone cancels last minute, who pays their share?

When someone drops out, they pay their share of whatever the group had already committed to and can't get back, and nothing towards costs that can still be cancelled or haven't been spent yet. If they find someone to take their place, the replacement pays them and they're off the hook. That one rule covers most cases, from a cabin weekend to a restaurant booking, and it works best when the group agrees to it before anyone pays.

Committed versus avoidable

A cost is committed once the group can no longer get the money back: a non-refundable booking, tickets in someone's name, a deposit, food that has already been bought. A cost is avoidable if one person fewer actually makes it smaller, or if the booking can still be changed for free. The canceller pays their share of the first kind and none of the second.

The date that matters is the booking's cancellation deadline, not the day someone happened to pay the organiser. A quick check that you've applied the rule properly: nobody who still turns up should end up paying any part of the canceller's committed share.

Worked example: a cabin weekend for six

Six friends book a cabin from Friday to Sunday. The illustrative costs:

• Cabin: 9,600 kr, paid in full at booking, non-refundable.
• Guided kayak tour on Saturday at 10:00: 450 kr each, 2,700 kr in total, free to cancel up to 48 hours before.
• Food and drink: budgeted at 400 kr a head, bought on Thursday evening.

Maja has to cancel. What she owes depends on when she tells everyone:

On Wednesday the tour is still more than 48 hours away, so her kayak place can be dropped for free, and the shopping hasn't been done, so the others simply buy for five. Her share is just the cabin. By Friday morning the tour is inside its cancellation window and the food has been bought for six, so both are committed.

Either way, each of the other five pays 1,600 kr for the cabin, 450 kr for the tour and 400 kr for food: 2,450 kr, exactly what they'd have paid if Maja had come. That's the rule doing its job.

The food is the one place to be relaxed. Strictly, Maja's 400 kr of groceries is committed, but five people will eat most of six people's food, and plenty of groups let it go. That's a kindness the group can offer. It isn't something the person cancelling should ask for.

If someone takes their place

The replacement pays the canceller's share of the committed costs, here 1,600 kr for the cabin, either straight to Maja or to the organiser, who passes it on. Finding the replacement is mainly the canceller's job, but the group should help and shouldn't turn down a reasonable person. If the replacement can only come for one night and wants to pay less, the difference is Maja's to absorb, not the group's.

Check whether the booking can actually change hands. A cabin rarely cares who sleeps in the bunk, but flights are booked in a name and are rarely transferable, and some event tickets are personal. Those are committed from the moment they're bought.

When money comes back

Refunds follow whoever paid for the thing being refunded:

• A refund on something that was just for the canceller (their ferry ticket, minus a fee) goes to the canceller.
• A refund on the whole booking goes to everyone who paid for it, the canceller included. If the owner knocks 1,200 kr off because the sauna was broken, that's 200 kr each to all six, Maja too, because she paid a full share of the cabin.
• Whatever a replacement pays goes to the person they replaced.

Deposits change the timing

Many bookings take a deposit now and the rest later. Say the cabin had instead asked for a 30% deposit of 2,880 kr (480 kr each for six), with the remaining 6,720 kr due a month before, and the booking could be cancelled until then at the cost of the deposit.

If someone drops out before that deadline, the only committed cost is their 480 kr. The rest of the cabin is still avoidable, because the group could cancel the whole thing. If the other five decide to go ahead anyway, the remainder becomes 1,344 kr each instead of 1,120 kr. That's their choice, made with the full picture, and the person who left early doesn't owe the difference. After the deadline, the full price is committed and the cabin example above applies.

Collect everyone's deposit share before you pay it, not after. The guide for people who always pay first has a message you can reuse for that.

Illness versus a change of mind

The money rule is the same for both. What differs is how the group behaves. Someone who has had a better offer, or just doesn't fancy it any more, pays the committed share and there's nothing to discuss. Someone who is ill, or has a family emergency, still owes it in principle, but this is where groups waive the soft parts (the food, the drinks) and put real effort into finding a replacement. Nobody should have to prove to their friends that they were ill.

Travel insurance and the insurance on some payment cards can cover cancellation due to illness. Terms vary a lot, so check before assuming. If the organiser paid for everyone on their own card, any cover that comes with that card may only apply to the cardholder.

Restaurant bookings and tickets

For a group dinner the same rule applies on a smaller scale. If the restaurant charges a no-show fee per missing guest, or the set menu was ordered for a fixed number in advance, whoever didn't come pays that fee or their share of the menu. If there's no fee, they owe nothing, because the bill only covers what was eaten.

Tickets are simpler: a ticket bought for you is yours. Sell it, give it to a friend or eat the cost. The guide to splitting concert and festival costs covers who fronts the tickets and what happens when someone can't go.

Agree the rule before anyone pays

All of this is easy if it was said up front and awkward if it wasn't. Put it in the message where you announce the booking:

"Before I book: the cabin is non-refundable once paid, so if you drop out you still owe your 1,600 unless you find someone to take your bed. The kayaks are free to cancel until 48 hours before, and food only counts once it's bought. Thumbs up here if that works for you."

Then, if someone does cancel, the reply writes itself:

"Sorry you can't make it. As we said, your 1,600 for the cabin stands, but the kayak's still free to cancel, so I'll take you off that. If you find someone to take your place, they can Swish you directly."

For how to split the cabin itself, including beds of different quality and people who arrive a day late, see the guide to splitting a cabin weekend.