If you lead retreats, you've probably thought about listing on BookRetreats. This review looks at it from the host side, not the guest side: what it really costs you, when you get paid, what the cancellation rules mean for your margin, and who it's actually worth it for.
Quick context: I help retreat hosts fill their retreats. BookRetreats doesn't pay me, and I'm not against platforms. This is just the honest deal, based on their own Terms of Service and help pages (checked October 2026).
What is BookRetreats?
BookRetreats is a marketplace for retreats, online since 2016. Guests search by type of retreat and country, compare listings, and book online. It's big: more than 4,500 active retreats according to their About page, and roughly 600,000 visits a month (Similarweb estimate), mostly from the US, the UK, India, Canada and Australia. To be listed, your retreat has to include accommodation.
Think of it like Booking.com for retreats. For a guest, it's a great experience: lots of choice, reviews, secure payment. For a host, the question is different: what does it cost you, and what do you get for it?
BookRetreats fees: the real cost is about 18%
- Listing is free. No monthly fee. You only pay when a guest books.
- Commission: 15% of the total booking.
- Plus about 3% payment processing, and a small payout fee. So in reality you pay around 18% on every booking.
- The commission applies to extras too. If a guest who found you on BookRetreats later pays you for extra nights, a private session or coaching after the retreat, those are covered by the commission as well.
You can't pass the commission on to the guest
Say your retreat costs $1,000. You might want to list it at $1,150 on BookRetreats to cover their cut. That's not allowed: a host asked on their help pages and the answer was no. Your price has to be the same everywhere, including on your own website. So the guest pays $1,000, and the roughly $180 comes out of your pocket.
Paying more to rank higher
The standard commission is 15%, but you can choose to pay 20, 25 or 30% to get a boost in their search results. It's one ranking factor among others (reviews, photos, response time and a complete listing count too), not a guaranteed top spot. But it means some of the retreats above you are there because they pay more.
12 guests × $1,000 = $12,000. At 18%, that's $2,160 to the platform. With a 25% boost, $3,360. That's two to three spots of every retreat going to the platform.
When do you get paid?
Not when the guest books. The money is held until the guest arrives. You confirm their arrival, then payouts go out on the 1st or the 15th of the month, so typically 2 to 4 weeks after arrival, in US dollars by default.
That matters because your costs come first. The venue deposit is often due months before the retreat, and food, teachers and transport are paid before or during. If most of your guests come through the platform, you need that cash ready yourself.
BookRetreats pros
- No risk to start. Free listing, you only pay when it works.
- A big audience you don't have yet. People are already on the site looking for a retreat, from many countries.
- Trust for new hosts. A known site, secure payment, reviews (their Trustpilot rating is strong) and a free cancellation window make it easier for a guest to book someone they've never heard of.
- Payments handled for you. Card payments, currencies (euros, dollars, Canadian dollars…) and disputes go through them.
- Admin emails and guest support. They send the booking confirmation and details, and they answer guest questions.
- Ranking isn't only about money. Good reviews, good photos and fast replies help you rank too.
BookRetreats cons
1. They don't market you
They put your listing on their site, and that's it. No posts on your Instagram, no emails to your list, no videos, no stories. Your photos, texts, replies and your own promotion are still 100% your job, and you still pay around 18%. One venue owner in Mallorca described an organiser who had 22 guests over three weeks: 18 came from her own community, 4 from BookRetreats, and that "covered the commission cost, but only barely" (source).
2. You compete on price
A guest scrolls a page of retreats that look alike: same jungle, same yoga mat, same smiling group. The easiest thing to compare is the price, so the cheapest often wins. To compete, you lower your price. That lowers your margin, and it makes you look (and feel) cheap. As the same venue owner put it, platform guests "often treat the listing like a hotel booking".
It's even harder when you're new. Your listing says "0 reviews" next to one with "4.9 stars, 212 reviews" at the same price. Nobody picks you, so the only lever left is your price, and you lower it before you've had a chance to show what you're worth.
3. Same price everywhere
Their terms say you can't list your retreat cheaper anywhere else. So you can't reward your loyal people with a better price when they book with you directly.
4. Their rules win, and platforms can disappear
Their terms let them change fees and rules, override your cancellation policy, or close an account. And platforms do close: Tripaneer, the company behind BookYogaRetreats (a different company from BookRetreats), went bankrupt on 30 September 2026, and hosts were told it can't pay them for bookings that haven't happened yet. Here's what that means for hosts.
5. Your reviews stay with them
Reviews don't leave with you, and they get a licence to use your photos and texts. Guests remember "I booked on BookRetreats", not your name.
The BookRetreats cancellation policy (what guests can do)
Every guest gets 72 hours after booking to cancel for a full refund, no questions asked. After that, your policy applies:
| Policy | Deposit back to the guest | Rest of the price |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 100% up to the day before | Paid on arrival |
| Flexible | 100% at 30+ days · 50% at 15–29 days · 0% in the last 14 days | Paid on arrival |
| Moderate | 100% at 60+ days · 50% at 30–59 days · 0% in the last 29 days | Due 30 days before |
| Custom | Your rules, if BookRetreats approves | — |
Now put yourself in the guest's shoes. Two retreats, same price, same jungle. One says "free cancellation", the other "no refund in the last 29 days". Which one do you book? BookRetreats itself tells guests that 82% of the experiences on the site offer free or flexible cancellation. If you want to compete on that page, you'll probably have to do the same.
The scenario that hurts: four friends book your 12-spot retreat on a Free policy. The night before, one of them gets sick and the four cancel together. They get their deposit back and never pay the rest. You've lost a third of your retreat ($4,000 at $1,000 each), the venue and food are already paid, and nobody books a retreat the night before.
And there's a human side. On a platform, the guest booked a listing, not a person. Cancelling on a stranger feels like cancelling a hotel. Someone who knows you, who has followed you for a year, does everything to come.
Is BookRetreats worth it?
For your first retreats, yes, it can be. If you don't have an audience yet and you need your first guests and your first reviews, 18% of a booking you'd never have had is still a booking. Just keep cash aside for the venue and food, because the money arrives weeks later.
If you want to grow, it's not enough. You need what a marketplace can't give you:
- your own website, where past guests and their friends find you, not 4,500 other retreats;
- a page for each retreat that tells your story and the transformation, not a listing next to the cheapest one;
- your own programs, formats and returning-guest offers, without their price rule.
Stop racing to be the cheapest. On a marketplace you compete on price. On your own site, people book you.
I'm not affiliated with BookRetreats. Fees and rules come from their Terms of Service and help pages, checked October 2026. They can change.
