| You found the perfect retreat property. The views are incredible. Thereโs a beautiful space for yoga. Dinner happens outside under the stars. You can already picture your group there.โฃ โฃ
It says it sleeps 25. Perfect.โฃ
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Exceptโฆ ๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ฎ๐ฑ?โฃ
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This is one of those things that sounds incredibly obvious until you start looking at retreat properties.โฃ
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Maybe one room has six bunk beds. Another sleeps four. Two of the bedrooms share a bathroom. And that โthird bedโ you saw listed in another room? Itโs a pullout sofa.โฃ
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Technically, the property sleeps 25. ๐๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐๐ปโ๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐น๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น.โฃ
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For most of the retreats I plan, guests tend to be in their 40s, 50s and 60s. They generally want single or double occupancy, a real bed and to know exactly what theyโre signing up for. Nobody is paying thousands of dollars for a weeklong retreat only to arrive and discover theyโre sleeping on a pullout sofa. ๐๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ด.โฃ
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And in general, people want their accommodations on vacation to feel ๐ฎ๐ ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐โ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ, ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ.โฃ
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So the question isnโt really, How many people can this property sleep?โฃ
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Itโs: How many of MY people can comfortably sleep here?โฃ
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And thatโs where things get interesting.โฃ
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Singles change everything.โฃ
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Letโs say a property has 12 beautiful rooms and advertises space for 24 guests. But eight people want single occupancy.โฃ
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Now eight of your 12 rooms are occupied by eight people.โฃ
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You need a room for the retreat leader. Maybe thereโs also a co-leader, photographer, guest teacher or facilitator who needs one. ๐ฆ๐๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐น๐, ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ-๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐๐ปโ๐ ๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐บ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฐ-๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ.โฃ
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โ๐๐ผ๐๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐โ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด, ๐๐ผ๐ผ.โฃ
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A room might technically sleep two because it has one king bed. Perfect for a couple.โฃ
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Less perfect for two people from your yoga studio who like each other very much but did not intend to spend seven nights sharing a mattress.โฃ
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๐๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐โ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ผ๐บ๐, ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐โ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐.โฃ
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๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ผ๐บ๐?โฃ
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This one is easy to overlook. A property may have 12 rooms, but are they all in the same building?โฃ
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Maybe eight are in the main house, two are in a cottage down the hill and another two are in a separate villa five minutes away. That might be completely fine. Or ๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐.โฃ
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You also want to know whether someone has to climb three flights of stairs to reach their room, whether certain rooms are right next to a busy common area and whether one guest is getting a huge suite with a balcony while another gets a tiny room facing the parking lot.โฃ
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Because if the rooms are dramatically different, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ.โฃ
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๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐ผ๐บ๐.โฃ
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A ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ผ๐บ does not necessarily mean a ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐ผ๐บ.โฃ
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Sometimes โprivate roomโ means your bedroom is yours, but youโre sharing a bathroom down the hall with two other rooms.โฃ
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Again, thereโs nothing inherently wrong with that. For the right group, bunk beds and shared bathrooms can be fantastic. They can make a retreat much more affordable.โฃ
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๐๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ด๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐โ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด.โฃ
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Nobody should arrive at a beautiful retreat in Italy and find out theyโre unexpectedly sharing a bedroom with three strangers.โฃ
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There isnโt one perfect room setup.โฃ
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Thereโs a perfect room setup for your people.โฃ
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And this is actually one of the parts of retreat planning I love. Because once the room configuration works, you can stop looking at โRoom 1, Room 2, Room 3โ on a spreadsheet and start picturing the actual people who will be there.โฃ
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๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐จ๐ข. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ.โฃ
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And eventually, you get there. The rooms are full. Everyone has arrived. Your community traveled across the world to spend this week together.โฃ
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And you get to look around and think: ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐.โฃ
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If you could take your group anywhere in the world for a retreat, where would you go?โฃ
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โก๏ธ Reply and tell me. Iโm always curious where people want to go next! ๐Thinking about hosting a retreat next fall? Itโs one of my favorite times of year and they sell extremely well. Summer travel is over, people are back in their routines and ready for a reset before the holidays. The most successful retreats have plenty of time to market and the most sought-after venues often book a year or more in advance. ๐๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฟ, ๐ป๐ผ๐โ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด. Learn more about full-service retreat planning here. | 
