A booking platform rents you a spot in a list of hundreds of retreats. Going independent means your own page, your own people, and someone in your corner. Both can fill a retreat. They don't leave you with the same thing afterwards.
Side by side
| Booking platform | Independent, with me | |
|---|---|---|
| Your page | A listing in their template, next to hundreds of others | A landing page made for each retreat, and only for it |
| Who guests compare you with | Every retreat on the same search page. Many sort by price | No one. They're on your page, with you |
| Your guests' contacts | Hidden until they book, and the relationship stays on the platform | Yours. They stay close to you after the retreat |
| When you have a question | A help centre or a support ticket | You message me on WhatsApp, and I answer |
| Your audience | Theirs. You start from zero each time | We build it together with the Abundant Method, and it grows with each retreat |
| Your prices | Often the same price everywhere (no lower price on your own site) | You decide |
| Your reviews | Stay on their website | On your page, your Google profile, your videos |
| Visibility | Others can pay a higher commission to rank above you | Not shared with anyone |
| If things change | Rules and fees can change, and platforms can close | Your page, your list and your reviews stay yours |
| Cost | A commission on every booking, forever (about 14–18%, more to rank higher) | A setup and a share of the bookings we bring. Details on a call |
Platform fees from their own terms and help pages, checked in October 2026: BookRetreats 15% commission + 3% payment processing, 20–30% for more visibility; Retreat Guru "generally a 14% commission". See the BookRetreats review.
What a platform does well
Let's be fair. A platform has real strengths, especially at the start:
- Traffic from day one. People who already want a retreat are browsing there.
- Nothing to pay upfront. You pay only when someone books.
- Trust for a new host. A known site can reassure a guest who has never heard of you.
If your retreat is a few weeks away and you have no list yet, a listing can help you get some of those places filled.
Where it hurts
The price of that traffic is that you are one retreat among hundreds. Guests remember the platform, not your name. You can't reward the people who already love you with a better price on your own site. And the next retreat starts from zero again, with the same commission. When BookYogaRetreats' parent company went bankrupt in October 2026, hosts who depended on it were left waiting for money from bookings already made.
What's different when you work with me
A landing page made for each retreat
Not a listing in someone else's template. Each retreat gets its own page, made for that retreat and the people it's for. Nothing else on it competes for their attention.
I answer on WhatsApp
No ticket, no help centre. When you have a question, a doubt, or a guest asking something you're not sure about, you message me and I answer. You're not on your own with it.
We build your audience together
You don't do it alone, and you don't rent it from anyone. We build your own audience together, with what I call the Abundant Method. It belongs to you, and it grows with every retreat, so each one fills faster than the last. How it works for you depends on your retreat and your date: that's what we look at together on a call.
Which one is right for you?
- you run one retreat, once, as a test
- it starts in a few weeks and you have no list at all
- you're happy to compete on price
- you want retreats to be a real part of your living
- you want guests who book you, not the cheapest option
- you want each retreat to be easier to fill than the last
Can you do both?
Yes, at first. The goal is that each retreat depends on the platform a little less, until it's a bonus, not the plan.
Full transparency: this is my business, so I'm not neutral. No platform pays me, and I've tried to give platforms their fair due above.