The numbers, before the vision

Break-even arithmetic, deposit structure and the questions your accountant will ask. Written for the person carrying the financial risk.

Ask for a written proposal

Why this page exists

Hosting a retreat is two jobs

The first is the one you already do: teaching, coaching, holding a room. The second is a small business launch with real financial exposure, and nobody trained you for it.

Almost everything written for retreat leaders is about the first job. This page is about the second, and it is deliberately unglamorous. We are a venue, so we are not neutral. But the arithmetic below is the arithmetic we would want to see if we were the one signing.

Last reviewed 2026-09-03.

Three numbers, before the mood board

Get these wrong and no amount of good facilitation fixes the year.

Your fixed cost

With a whole-camp venue this is one number, not a per-person rate that moves. It covers the camp, all meals, the staff and the activities for the dates you hold. Add your own flights, any assistant you bring and your marketing budget. That sum does not change whether eight people come or twenty.

Your per-guest price

Work backward from your audience, not upward from cost. What do the people on your list already pay for a premium week with a leader they trust? Price for that, then check whether the venue supports it. A venue nobody can compare on a booking site supports the top of a range; an undifferentiated villa compresses to the bottom.

Your minimum viable group

Fixed cost divided by price. If the answer is a number you have filled before, you have a business. If it is a number you have never reached, change the price, the venue or the plan, and do it before you announce anything.

What a whole-camp rate does to your margin

Round numbers, not our quotation. Your figures will differ; the shape will not.

Assume a total fixed cost of 40,000 dollars for the whole camp and everything in it, and a ticket price of 4,500 dollars per guest. Break-even lands at 9 guests.

Guests	Your revenue	Venue cost per guest	Your margin
8	36,000	5,000	-4,000
10	45,000	4,000	+5,000
12	54,000	3,333	+14,000
14	63,000	2,857	+23,000
16	72,000	2,500	+32,000
18	81,000	2,222	+41,000
20	90,000	2,000	+50,000

The column that matters is the last one. Because the venue cost does not move, every guest past break-even is almost entirely margin. That is the whole argument for a whole-camp rate, and it is the opposite of a per-person rate, where each additional guest brings its own cost with it.

It also means a late cancellation does not raise what anyone else pays. With per-person pricing, a group that shrinks either eats the organiser's margin or forces an awkward conversation with people who have already paid.

What this table cannot tell you is your ticket price. That comes from your audience, not from us. If you have never sold above a certain number, the honest move is to build the first retreat around that number rather than around the one you hope for.

What you get from us

Before you announce anything

A written proposal with every line itemised, so you can build your own budget on top of it
A fixed total for the dates you hold, which does not move if your final numbers change within the camp capacity
Our insurance and operating documentation, for your own paperwork
A hold on the dates while you sell, with the terms stated in writing before you announce
A single point of contact who answers within 24 hours
Honest capacity advice, including when we think your group size is wrong for the format

The reason all of this comes before you announce is that your own terms sit on top of ours. You cannot write a cancellation policy for your participants until you know the one you are working inside.

Questions for your own advisers

We are a camp. We are not your accountant and not your lawyer, and a venue that answers these for you is doing you no favours.

For your accountant

Is a retreat you run abroad treated as a business expense, a trip, or something in between under your own filing position?
Does the country you are travelling to affect the deductibility of a business meeting or convention held there?
How should payments to a foreign venue be recorded, and which vendor form applies to a non-US company?
If you take deposits months in advance, when is that money income?

For your lawyer or insurer

Do you need a seller of travel registration in your state, or in the states your participants live in?
Does your existing professional liability cover an activity you lead outside your own country?
What does your participant agreement need to say about a venue with no mobile signal and a hospital several hours away?
Who is the contracting party for the venue, you personally or your company?

Rules on deductibility, travel-seller registration and vendor reporting differ by country and by state, and they change. Nothing on this page is tax or legal advice. What we can give your adviser is a fully itemised written proposal, which is the document they will ask you for.

Asked by every first-time host

How many guests do I need to break even on a retreat abroad? +

Divide your total fixed cost by your per-person price. With a whole-camp venue the fixed cost is a single number, so the arithmetic is unusually clean. In a worked example with round numbers, a fixed cost of 40,000 dollars and a price of 4,500 dollars per person breaks even at 9 guests, and every guest after that is margin. Your own numbers will differ, but the method does not.

Why does whole-camp pricing favour the organiser? +

Because the venue cost stops moving. With a per-person rate, adding guests adds cost and your margin per head stays roughly flat. With a whole-camp rate, adding a guest within capacity adds revenue and no cost at all, so your margin rises steeply after break-even. It also means a late cancellation does not increase what anyone else pays.

What deposit is normal for a retreat venue? +

In our case a deposit holds the dates and the balance is due before arrival, with the exact split and timing written into the proposal before you announce anything to your list. The reason we put it in writing first is that your own cancellation terms have to sit on top of ours, and you cannot write yours until you know ours.

What happens if I do not fill the retreat? +

Talk to us early rather than late. A group that lands under its target is a normal event and there are usually options: adjusting the format, moving to different dates, or in some cases reducing the scope. What removes those options is silence until four weeks out.

Do you hold dates while I sell? +

Yes, with the terms agreed in writing first. A hold with no written terms is worth nothing to either of us, and a retreat leader who announces dates on a verbal understanding is carrying a risk they have not priced.

Can you tell me whether my retreat is tax deductible? +

No, and be wary of any venue that offers to. Deductibility depends on your entity, your filing position, the nature of the trip and where it takes place, and the rules differ by country and change. What we can do is give you a fully itemised written proposal, which is what your accountant will actually ask you for.

What group size actually works? +

The camp takes up to twenty guests. For most retreat formats, facilitators tell us the group stops behaving like one group somewhere above sixteen. If your economics need eighteen and your format needs twelve, that tension is worth resolving before you announce, not after.

Ask for the itemised proposal first

Send us your dates, your group size and the shape of the programme. You will get a written proposal with every line broken out, which is what you need before you can price a ticket or answer your accountant.

Request a proposal