TL;DR:
- BookRetreats is a marketplace: free to list, a 15% commission on every booking it produces, and the guest stays BookRetreats' customer — no export, no direct email, no payment plans to speak of, no BNPL.
- SquadTrip is a booking page you own: deposits, automatic instalments, Klarna/Affirm/Afterpay, registration forms, waivers and group chat. Free for the host; guests pay one 6% processing fee and you receive your full price.
- BookRetreats solves being found. SquadTrip solves converting and collecting from the people who found you. They are different jobs.
- New host with no audience: list on BookRetreats. Host with an audience: sell from SquadTrip. Most hosts end up with both.
SquadTrip is the better choice for retreat hosts who already have an audience and need payment plans, BNPL and control of their guest list; BookRetreats is the better choice for hosts who need travellers to find them and can pay 15% of each booking for that reach. They are not competing products so much as two stages of the same business — a marketplace that brings strangers, and a booking page you own where everyone, strangers included, ultimately pays. SquadTrip charges the host nothing; a single 6% processing fee is added at checkout and paid by the guest.
This comparison sets out what each does well, the fees on a real retreat, where each falls short, and how hosts run them together.
Two Different Products
1. BookRetreats: a marketplace
BookRetreats is one of the largest retreat marketplaces. Travellers browse by destination, retreat type and date, read reviews, and book through BookRetreats' own checkout. For a host, that means:
- A listing page with your photos, description and reviews
- Traffic you did not have to generate
- A booking management dashboard inside BookRetreats
- Payment collected by the marketplace, with commission deducted
2. SquadTrip: a booking page you own
SquadTrip is a group travel booking platform built for organisers who bring their own audience — retreat hosts, coaches, wedding planners, tour leaders. You create the retreat page, set the money rules once, and share one link:
- Branded page with itinerary, packages, room types and add-ons
- Deposit at booking, instalments charged automatically with reminders
- Buy now, pay later at checkout — the guest finances, you are paid in full
- Registration form and e-signed waiver collected during checkout
- Guest dashboard, group chat, and an exportable guest list that is yours
Feature Comparison
| Feature | SquadTrip | BookRetreats |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free for host; guest pays 6% processing fee (includes Stripe's card fees) | Free to list; 15% commission per booking plus 3% processing (as of 30 Sep 2026) |
| Discovery | ✗ You bring the audience | ✓ Large audience of retreat seekers |
| Booking page | ✓ Branded, your URL | ✓ Marketplace listing, their branding |
| Checkout control | ✓ Full | ✗ BookRetreats' checkout |
| Deposit + payment plans | ✓ Automatic instalments with reminders | ⚠ Limited installment support |
| BNPL (Klarna / Affirm / Afterpay) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Registration forms | ✓ Custom fields at checkout | ⚠ Basic |
| E-signed waivers | ✓ | ✗ |
| Room types / packages / add-ons | ✓ | ⚠ |
| Guest list export & direct email | ✓ | ✗ |
| Guest dashboard | ✓ | ✗ |
| Group chat | ✓ | ✗ |
| Traveller reviews | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom branding | ✓ | ✗ |
| Built for | Hosts with an audience | Hosts who need to be found |
Choose SquadTrip if you have an audience and need payment plans, BNPL and your own guest list. Choose BookRetreats if nobody knows you yet and discovery is the bottleneck. Choose both if you want reach without paying commission on guests who were already yours.
Where BookRetreats Is Stronger
1. Reach you did not build
A first-time host with no list, no following and no past guests can get bookings from strangers on BookRetreats. SquadTrip cannot do that on its own; it converts the people you send to it. If you are that first-time host, the step-by-step guide to hosting a retreat covers everything from picking a niche to filling the spots.
2. Reviews
Traveller reviews on a marketplace listing build trust for a host without a track record. Testimonials on your own page help, but they are not third-party reviews in a format travellers recognise.
3. Flexible-date retreats
If your retreat runs several times a year and you are happy to fill it from whatever marketplace demand exists in a given month, a listing works with no marketing effort from you.
Where SquadTrip Is Stronger
1. The guest is yours
On BookRetreats, hosts cannot export the guest list or email attendees directly — the marketplace keeps the relationship. On SquadTrip every booking, registration answer and email address is exportable, and the next retreat is one email to a list you own.
2. Payment plans that collect themselves
A $2,200 retreat with a $500 deposit and three instalments is four transactions per guest. SquadTrip charges each one to the card on file, sends the reminder first, and shows you who is behind. BookRetreats offers limited instalment support, so hosts there typically take full payment or handle instalments by hand.
3. BNPL
Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay at checkout let a guest spread the cost while you are paid in full — the feature that most often closes a guest who wants to come but cannot pay the deposit today. No retreat marketplace offers it.
4. Paperwork and communication at booking
Registration form and e-signed waiver collected during checkout; group chat attached to the booking; a guest dashboard with balance and documents. On a marketplace these live in your inbox.
5. Price
Free for the host. The 6% processing fee is added on top of your price and paid by the guest, and it already includes Stripe's card fees, so a $2,000 seat pays you $2,000. On BookRetreats a $2,000 seat pays you about $1,700, before its 3% processing fee.
Have an audience of your own? Create your retreat booking page on SquadTrip — deposits, payment plans and BNPL, free to start.
The Fees on a Real Retreat
Sixteen guests at $2,000:
| SquadTrip | BookRetreats | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue booked | $32,000 | $32,000 |
| Platform cost to host | $0 | ~$4,800 (15%) |
| What the host receives | $32,000 | ~$27,200 before processing |
| What each guest pays | $2,120 (price + 6% fee) | $2,000 |
The honest framing: on SquadTrip the guest sees the fee as a line at checkout; on BookRetreats the host pays it out of the payout. Some SquadTrip hosts fold the 6% into their price instead — the pricing page has a calculator for the exact amount — and land in the same place with no fee line. Either way, on a full retreat the gap is the difference between a marketing cost you chose to pay for discovery and one you paid on guests who were already yours.
Keep your full price on the guests you already have
Send your list, your students and your marketplace enquiries to a page you own. Deposits and instalments collect themselves.
Start planning freeWhen BookRetreats Makes Sense
- You are launching your first retreat with no email list, no following and no past guests.
- Your retreat has flexible dates and you will fill it from marketplace demand.
- You would rather pay 15% on bookings than spend time on marketing.
When SquadTrip Makes Sense
- You teach, coach or lead a community, and your guests come from your own audience.
- Your retreat costs enough that guests need a deposit, instalments or BNPL to say yes.
- You want the guest list, the waivers and the communication in one place you control.
- You plan to run the same retreat again and sell it to the same people.
Using Both Without Paying Commission Twice
- Make your SquadTrip booking page the primary place to book. Every email, post and bio link points there.
- Keep a BookRetreats listing for discovery, written for a stranger: outcomes, who it is for, what is included.
- Where BookRetreats lets travellers contact you first, answer them there: BookRetreats charges its commission on guests who found you through the marketplace, wherever they end up paying.
- Track the source of every booking in SquadTrip's dashboard. After two retreats you will know whether the listing earns its fee.
For how BookRetreats compares with Retreat Guru and the other platforms, see the best retreat booking platforms compared and retreat booking sites. For the Retreat Guru head-to-head, see SquadTrip vs Retreat Guru.
Final Thoughts
BookRetreats sells reach and charges 15% for it. SquadTrip sells a booking page you own — payment plans, BNPL, forms, waivers, chat, and a guest list you keep — and charges the host nothing. Ask where your next sixteen guests are coming from. If the answer is "people who already know me", build the page. If it is "people searching for a retreat", list. If it is both, do both, and make the page the place everyone pays.
Own your retreat bookings. Start free on SquadTrip — booking page, payment plans, Klarna, Affirm and group chat included.
