How to price a retreat so it actually pays you

The short answer

Price your retreat from the bottom up. Add every cost, a 10% buffer, and what you want to take home. Allow for card fees, then divide by the number of tickets you expect to sell.

Average ticket price = (costs + buffer + take-home goal) ÷ 0.97 ÷ tickets you expect to sell

The 0.97 accounts for card fees of about 3%. The result is an average, so your ticket tiers can sit above and below it as long as they balance out.

It's tempting to start the other way around, with what similar retreats charge. That's worth a look at the end. Start there, though, and you're borrowing someone else's costs and someone else's idea of a fair wage.

Step 1: Count every cost

Split your costs into two groups. Fixed costs stay the same however many people come, like the venue, facilitator fees, insurance and marketing. Per-guest costs rise with each person, like meals, beds, supplies and welcome gifts.

Count everyone who eats and sleeps on site in the per-guest costs, including people who don't buy a ticket. That includes assistants and co-facilitators. Count yourself too.

Then add a 10% buffer for the costs you can't predict. For the full list of what to include, our retreat budget checklist walks through every line hosts tend to miss.

Step 2: Decide what you want to take home

Your take-home is what's left after every bill is paid. Pick the number before you set a price. A price chosen without one has nothing in it for you.

The simplest way to choose it is to count your hours. Include planning, marketing, emails with guests, travel, the retreat itself and the cleanup after. Then decide what an hour of your time is worth. For example, 50 hours at $60 an hour makes a $3,000 goal.

If that number feels hard to write down, read why paying yourself is part of hosting well. Then write it down anyway.

Step 3: Price for the tickets you expect to sell

Divide by the number of tickets you're confident you can sell. That's often fewer than the beds you have. If you price as though every bed will fill and two stay empty, the gap comes straight out of your take-home.

If you've hosted before, start from what you actually sold last time. If this is your first retreat, plan a little below capacity. Every guest beyond your plan then becomes extra take-home, and a slow month of sign-ups won't sink you.

Keep an eye on sign-ups against that number. If you're running behind a month out, you want to know before your next big payment is due.

The example below shows what that choice is worth in dollars.

A worked example

Here's a weekend writing retreat at a rented farmhouse, Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. The house sleeps 15, which leaves 14 beds for guests, and the host plans on selling 12 tickets. These numbers are an illustration, made up to show the math.

Total costs are $2,750 + $1,885 = $4,635. The 10% buffer adds $463.50, for $5,098.50.

The host expects to put in about 50 hours and wants $60 an hour, so the take-home goal is $3,000.

Now the formula: ($5,098.50 + $3,000) ÷ 0.97 = $8,348.97 in ticket sales. Divided by 12 guests, that's $695.75. The average ticket needs to be about $696.

For comparison, break-even alone is $5,098.50 ÷ 0.97 ÷ 12 = about $438 a ticket. At that price every bill gets paid and the host earns nothing for 50 hours of work.

Now say the host priced for all 14 guest beds instead. With 15 people to feed, costs plus buffer rise to $5,417.50, and the same goal works out to about $620 a ticket. If only 12 guests sign up at $620, sales come to $7,440. After card fees and costs, the host takes home $2,118.30. That's about $880 short of the goal, all because two beds stayed empty.

Ticket tiers that still average out

Your average doesn't have to be your only price. Tiers let early sign-ups pay less and bring cash in sooner, as long as the mix still reaches your number.

In the example, the host could sell 4 early-bird tickets at $625 and 8 standard tickets at $735. That's $2,500 + $5,880 = $8,380, an average of $698.33, just over the $696 target. After card fees and costs, the host takes home $3,030.10.

Two things to watch:

• Cap the early-bird tickets. If all 12 sell at $625, sales come to $7,500 and the take-home drops to $2,176.50. Set a limit by number or by date, and keep to it.
• Make every tier cover its own guest. Each ticket should at least pay for the person holding it. Here that's the $145 per-person cost plus buffer and card fee, about $164. A friends-and-family ticket below that loses money on every seat.

Plan your deposits

Deposits affect when money arrives, which matters because the venue usually wants its money long before guests pay in full. Set the deposit high enough to cover the payments you can't get back before balances come due.

In the example, say the farmhouse wants half its rent upfront. That's $850. Twelve deposits of $100 bring in $1,200, which covers it with room to spare. Then set the balance due date a few weeks before your next big payment, so the cash is there when the bill is.

When the price feels too high

Sometimes the math hands you a number that makes your stomach drop. Before you cut your own pay, try the other levers. Each one lowers the price for a real reason.

• Start with your biggest cost. A weekday rate or a cheaper venue usually moves the price more than anything else. In the example, $150 less per night saves about $28 on every ticket.
• Count your comped seats. Every person who eats and sleeps for free raises everyone else's ticket. In the example, each one adds about $14 a ticket.
• Add a higher tier. A private room or an upgrade lets guests who want more carry more of the cost.
• Offer add-ons. Optional massages or one-on-one sessions bring in money without raising the base price.
• Plan for one more guest, but only if you're confident you can sell the seat. In the example, planning for 13 instead of 12 brings the average down to about $655.
• Check the market last. Look at similar retreats near you. If yours costs more, say why in your listing, like a smaller group or more included.

If the price is still out of reach, you can lower your take-home goal. Do it last, and do it on purpose, with the new number written down.

See the math on a full retreat

The sample retreat runs this same math over three days. Change the take-home goal or a ticket price and watch the average move. It's free to explore, and you don't need an account.

If you'd rather start with a quick check, the free calculator will tell you whether a price you have in mind covers your costs.