Glossary
Retreat business glossary
The words you meet when pricing a retreat and taking payments, in one sentence each, with a link to the full explanation.
22 terms
- Break-even
- The number of guests whose payments, after tax, fees and per-guest costs, exactly cover a retreat's fixed costs. Every guest beyond it is profit. Read more
- Card processing fee
- What a payment provider such as Stripe or PayPal charges per payment, usually a percentage plus a small fixed amount per charge. Read more
- Cohort
- One run of a program with its own dates and group of participants, such as the March and October intakes of a teacher training. Read more
- Commission
- The percentage of a booking a marketplace keeps for bringing you the guest. Retreat marketplaces typically charge around 14–15% of the total price. Read more
- Contribution per guest
- What one guest leaves you after VAT, the payment fees you absorb and per-guest costs: the amount that goes towards fixed costs and profit. Read more
- Deposit
- The first payment that reserves a guest's place. Often 20–30% of the price or a fixed amount, and frequently non-refundable. Read more
- Dunning
- The process of recovering a failed payment: notifying the guest, retrying the charge on set days and, if it stays unpaid, releasing the booking. Read more
- Early-bird price
- A discounted price for bookings made before a set date, used to bring bookings and deposits forward. Read more
- Final-payment cutoff
- The date, a set number of days before arrival, by which the full price must be paid. Installments are scheduled to finish before it. Read more
- Fixed costs
- Costs that stay the same whatever the number of guests: venue hire, teacher fees, marketing, insurance. Read more
- Form C
- India's report of a foreign guest's stay, filed with the FRRO by whoever provides the accommodation. Read more
- Grace period
- How long a guest has to pay a missed installment before their booking is released under the organizer's terms. Read more
- Group quote
- One price for a block of rooms and extras for a group, usually with a volume discount, that each attendee then books into. Read more
- Installment
- One of the scheduled payments of the balance after the deposit, usually monthly and charged automatically to a saved card. Read more
- Occupancy pricing
- Prices that rise automatically as a retreat fills, for example 10% more once 75% of beds are taken. Read more
- Fee pass-through
- Adding card or platform fees to the guest's total so the organizer receives the full listed price. Read more
- Per-guest costs
- Costs that grow with every booking: meals, per-person room rates, transfers, materials. Read more
- Platform fee
- A percentage charged by booking software on each payment. MyRetreatDesk charges 1.5% on Starter and Venue and 0% on Pro. Read more
- Room block
- Rooms taken off public sale and held for a group until a release date. Read more
- Split payment
- A group booking in which each attendee pays their own share instead of one person paying for everyone. Read more
- Waitlist
- A queue of people who want a sold-out place. When a bed frees up, the next person is offered it for a limited time. Read more
- Waiver
- A participant agreement recording that a guest understands the activities, has disclosed health issues and accepts ordinary risks. Read more
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