Retreat listing site fees: what BookRetreats, Retreat Guru and direct selling cost hosts

Retreat listing site fees are commissions, not listing charges: checked on 27 October 2026, Retreat Guru publishes a 14% marketplace booking fee and BookRetreats a commission tier the host picks (15% in its own example, or 20%, 25% or 30% for more visibility) plus 3% processing on payments it handles. On a $3,000 booking that is $420 to $927.

At a glance (fees checked on each platform’s own host pages, 27 October 2026):

• Retreat Guru: free to list; “generally a 14% commission” on registrations that originate on retreat.guru.
• BookRetreats: free to list; commission set by the visibility rate you select (15% in its worked example, with 20%, 25% and 30% tiers that boost ranking), charged on the full package including later extras, plus a 3% payment processing fee on payments it processes.
• BookYogaRetreats: its operator, Tripaneer B.V., was declared bankrupt (faillissement) by the Rechtbank Amsterdam on 30 September 2026, according to the Dutch Central Insolvency Register.

Rules of thumb for retreat hosts:

• Each 5-point step up BookRetreats’ tiers costs $150 more commission on a $3,000 booking, plus $4.50 processing if the deposit matches the commission.
• You cannot load the commission onto the marketplace price: BookRetreats’ Best Price Guarantee requires its price to match or beat your direct price.
• Retreat Guru charges its fee when a guest found your program on retreat.guru before booking with you, so a “direct” booking can still carry 14%.
• If winning one guest yourself costs more than $420 in ads and follow-up time, Retreat Guru’s 14% is the cheaper route on a $3,000 booking (break-even table below).

What do retreat listing sites charge hosts per booking?

Retreat listing sites charge hosts between 14% and 30% of each booking in commission, against under 2% for a domestic card payment taken on your own website. Percentage rows work in any currency; fixed-fee rows use Australian rates (A$).

Assumptions, stated plainly: the BookRetreats rows assume you set the deposit equal to the commission, which BookRetreats itself suggests to Tripaneer refugees (“Set the deposit at our commission level”, BookRetreats blog, updated 6 October 2026). Marketplace rows exclude your own card fees on the balance. Eventbrite’s US page lists 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket plus 2.9% processing per order instead.

Frequently asked questions about retreat listing site fees

Retreat listing site fees raise five recurring questions from hosts, answered here from each platform’s own help pages as read on 27 October 2026.

Is it free to list a retreat on BookRetreats?

Yes. BookRetreats says adding a retreat is 100% free and that it is paid only when a guest books and pays through its system, through a commission on the full package plus a 3% processing fee on the payments it processes (BookRetreats help centre).

Does Retreat Guru charge a fee if the guest books directly with me?

It can. Retreat Guru applies its booking fee, generally 14%, when a registration is made on retreat.guru or when the guest found your program on retreat.guru before booking with you, tracked by cookie (Retreat Guru marketplace billing).

Can I raise my marketplace price to cover the commission?

Not on BookRetreats. Its Best Price Guarantee requires the site’s price to be the same as or lower than booking direct, and it says the commission should be priced into your marketing budget instead (BookRetreats help centre).

Does a higher BookRetreats commission put my retreat at the top?

Not on its own. BookRetreats says a 20%, 25% or 30% commission is one ranking signal among reviews, photos, pricing and reply speed, and that the boost builds over weeks and months. On a $3,000 booking, moving from 15% to 30% costs $450 more per guest.

Is BookYogaRetreats still taking retreat listings?

Its future is unconfirmed. The operator, Tripaneer B.V., was declared bankrupt (faillissement) by the Rechtbank Amsterdam on 30 September 2026, case F.13/26/306, and a court-appointed curator now manages it (Central Insolvency Register). BookRetreats reports that the curator has said it is not yet possible to tell whether the platform will keep operating. Hosts listed there should save their listing material.

How does the BookRetreats commission work?

BookRetreats charges hosts a commission on the full retreat price at the visibility rate they select, plus a 3% processing fee on payments it processes. Its fee help article says listing is “100% free” and works an example: a $1,000 retreat at a 15% rate with a $200 deposit costs $150 commission plus $6 processing, so the host receives $44 of the deposit and collects the remaining $800 directly.

Three details move the real cost above the headline rate:

• Extras are commissionable. The commission covers “the total package, including extras that are booked at any point after the initial booking”, such as additional nights, meals, private classes and 1:1 coaching.
• Higher tiers buy ranking, not placement. BookRetreats’ ranking article says choosing 20%, 25% or 30% is “one of the signals” its algorithm uses, alongside reviews, photos, pricing, reply speed (ideally within 1 hour) and calendar accuracy.
• No price loading. Hosts agree that the site’s price is the same as or lower than booking direct, and BookRetreats says commission “should be priced into your marketing budget”.

The practical effect: on a $3,000 retreat with $400 of extras added later, a 15% host pays $510 in commission, not $450.

How does the Retreat Guru marketplace booking fee work?

Retreat Guru charges a marketplace booking fee of generally 14% on registrations made on retreat.guru or from guests who found the program there before booking with the host. Its marketplace billing article (last updated January 2025) says listing is free and explains how a booking qualifies:

• Attribution is by cookie. The tracking cookie fires when a person visits your centre page, event page or a teacher page on retreat.guru, or messages or books there. A guest who browses Retreat Guru and then pays on your own site can still be a marketplace booking.
• Billing is monthly and by card. Since an August 2024 update, Retreat Guru no longer deducts the fee from payouts; it sends a notice on the first business day of the month for the previous month’s registrations and charges the card around the 10th.
• Charges can be disputed. A dispute form exists, with a stated review time of 1-3 business days.

At 14%, a $3,000 registration costs $420, $30 less than BookRetreats’ 15% tier before its processing fee.

What did the Tripaneer bankruptcy change for retreat hosts?

The Tripaneer bankruptcy matters to retreat hosts because a deposit paid through a listing site is collected by that site before any of it reaches the host. The Dutch Central Insolvency Register lists Tripaneer B.V. of Amsterdam, case F.13/26/306 at the Rechtbank Amsterdam, with bankruptcy (faillissement) declared on 30 September 2026 after the end of a suspension of payments, and a court-appointed curator; the Claimsagent record shows the same file. BookRetreats, a competitor, reports that Tripaneer ran BookYogaRetreats and sister sites such as BookSurfCamps, and that the curator has said it is not yet possible to tell whether the platform will keep operating.

The lesson for hosts: keep your own copy of listing text, photos and guest contacts, and set deposits at the commission level so the platform holds only its own fee.

When is a commission cheaper than selling a retreat direct?

A retreat commission is cheaper than selling direct when your own all-in cost to win one guest is higher than the gap between the marketplace fee and a direct card fee. Call it the commission ceiling rule: take the marketplace fee and subtract only the card fees the platform saves you; that is the most you can spend on ads, tools and follow-up time per guest before direct selling stops paying. You pay your own card fees on money you collect yourself under either route, so those cancel out; on BookRetreats, its 3% replaces your own 1.65% (Stripe Australia, domestic card) on the deposit it collects.

The rule has one honest caveat: it assumes the marketplace guest is someone you could have reached yourself. A guest who would never have found you is incremental revenue, which can justify 14% to 30% even when your direct cost is low. The ceiling scales with price: at $6,000 the Retreat Guru ceiling is $840.

Your direct cost per guest is the number most hosts do not know. Our breakdown of how much it costs to market a retreat builds it from launch assets, media and follow-up hours; how to price a retreat shows a seat price that can carry a commission.

What does selling a retreat direct cost beyond card fees?

Selling a retreat direct costs the card fee plus every hour and dollar spent finding, answering and following up enquiries, which is the work a marketplace commission otherwise pays for. Card fees are the small part: Stripe Australia’s pricing page lists 1.65% + A$0.30 for domestic cards and 3.5% + A$0.30 for international cards, plus 2% if currency conversion is required, with fees including GST (Stripe notes lower pricing from 1 April 2027). Eventbrite Australia’s organiser pricing lists 5.35% + A$1.19 per paid ticket, paid by buyers by default or absorbed by the host.

The large part is acquisition. A host selling direct pays for ads or content, a sales page, fast enquiry replies, deposit handling and calls with guests deciding on a $3,000 week. Higher-priced retreats often sell on a conversation rather than a checkout, which is where the hours go. Our guide to retreat deposits and payment plans covers the cash-flow side, and why a retreat is not selling covers what to check when seats stay empty on any platform.

Where LeadsNow fits: listing sites sell seats through their own audience; LeadsNow is the option for filling your own pipeline, booking enquiry calls for retreat operators through AI calling, SMS and DM follow-up, paid on results through a revenue share, a fee per appointment, or a mix of both. The retreat marketing agency page explains how that works.

Sources

Every fee and date on this retreat listing fees page comes from the sources below, each read on 27 October 2026.

1. BookRetreats: How do fees work on BookRetreats.com?
2. BookRetreats: Boosting your retreat ranking with commission
3. BookRetreats: Can I add your commission above the price?
4. Retreat Guru: Marketplace booking fees
5. BookRetreats blog: BookYogaRetreats alternatives after the Tripaneer bankruptcy
6. Centraal Insolventieregister (rechtspraak.nl): Tripaneer B.V., F.13/26/306
7. Claimsagent: Tripaneer B.V. insolvency record
8. Stripe Australia pricing
9. Eventbrite Australia organiser pricing and Eventbrite US pricing