Are you planning a retreat? If so, Canaan wants to give you 5 tips on why you should book your retreat early! In our experience, we feel it’s best to book your date 6 months to one year out.
1) More Time to Plan – One of the most time consuming aspects of a retreat is planning. Marketing, creating a retreat schedule, finding chaperones and picking your menu are just some of the aspects of retreat planning you need to consider. Giving yourself six to twelve months will give you ample time to plan your retreat and handle any curveballs that come your way.
2) Top choice of date – When planning your retreat, keep in mind that your date may be in high demand! While the fall is always a popular time for a retreat, it’s interesting to see which weekends will be our “popular” weekends of the year. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, just some weekends are busier than others. For example, a specific weekend last year in March had only one event but this year, that same weekend is full and we’re still receiving enquiries for it. If you have a weekend in mind, be sure to book it early!
3) Consider Your Guests Schedules – Ask anyone nowadays how they’re doing and there’s a good chance they’ll respond with: “good but very busy!”. It can be hard in retreat planning to get everybody’s schedules to work together. As a retreat planner, you have to compete with a lot including: school, sports and vacations. We’ve found that it’s best to get your retreat on your guests minds and calendars as early as possible.
4) Build Excitement – As I’m sure you know, you can’t just announce a retreat and expect bookings. If you’ve followed tip #2 and you’ve booked your date early, you’ll have time to build some excitement for your event. Consider making a flyer with some pictures and descriptions of your retreat or even create a video. Another great way to spread the word is to take some of your guests on a site visit of your retreat location. We here at Canaan love to give tours of our 100 acre island! If you’ve booked months in advance, you’ll have plenty of time to answer questions from your potential retreat guests and build the excitement needed for a successful retreat!
5) Financially, It Just Makes Sense – Whether your organization is paying for the entire retreat or the guests are paying their own way, booking early makes the most financial sense. Most retreat centers will offer payment plans for their retreat guests. This means that you can pay monthly installments with the final payment due upon arrival. This avoids one lump sum either for you or your guests.
If you’d like to book a retreat or to learn more, please visit our Retreats Page!
