Patrizia P.

It was my first time booking a yoga retreat with bookyogaretreats.com (Tripaneer). My sister and I chose a retreat in southern Turkey and paid our deposit back in February. We left for Turkey in early October (of this month). After much planning, saving and anticipation, we finally headed to Turkey from Western Canada, travelled for 24 hours, stayed overnight in an airport hotel to help us overcome jet lag, then the next day took a domestic flight from Istanbul to Bodrum. And then our dream of having a relaxing and restorative yoga retreat came to an abrupt end. The "organizer" and her partner picked us up at the airport for an extra $50USD expense to us, and then rather than taking us to what we thought was a retreat centre, we were in utter shock when they took us to their home. They had turned their living/dining room area into a yoga space. We were then shown to our sparsely decorated shared bedroom which consisted of 2 single beds that were about as comfortable as sleeping on cardboard. Their back yard faced a busy highway below and there wasn't even a comfortable chair to sit on outside or any cozy spots indoors where we could have some privacy unless we retreated to our "dorm room" with the 2 uncomfortable beds. We were in utter shock. Days before leaving Canada for Turkey, we were told by the organizer that actually, we were going to be the only participants attending. Although I thought it was very odd at the time and wondered how they could proceed with the retreat anyways with only my sister and I attending, our bags were packed, flights booked, time off work already planned, we headed to Turkey. The landing page for this so-called retreat had shown the organizer outdoors in a green space with a building in the background teaching yoga to 8 people in downward facing dog position. The reality couldn't have been further from the truth. My sister, aged 61 and I (aged 58) tried to hide our shock and disappointment and after having a pathetic "welcome dinner," we retreated to our room and neither of us could sleep a wink all night on those uncomfortable beds. We were in tears, disappointed, shocked and knew that we could not stay. We spent the whole night trying to find a hotel room or AirBNB in the area and touch typing a long email to Bookyogaretreats.com explaining the situation and asking for our deposit back. We left in the morning and continued communicating with Bookyogaretreats.com over the next few days documenting everything that we had experienced. Initially bookyogaretreats.com sounded very empathetic and responsive. We trusted that based on all the information that we had provided and our fact-based responses to the organizer's counter-comments that they would proceed with integrity and give us our deposit back, given the $1,000s of dollars we had already shelled out for our trip and our dream for a restorative yoga retreat basically disappearing. To our complete and utter shock, they responded by saying that the $438 deposit we had paid was still unrefundable. I am writing my story so that all followers on bookyogaretreats.com understand that this company really does not vet any yoga retreat organizer that lists on their website. I made the biggest mistake thinking that retreat organizers need to go through a process with bookyogaretreats.com to list their retreats and that bookyogaretreats.com provides some protection to consumers. But I have since discovered that that is not the case at all. Anyone can list a retreat they slap together on this website. Bookyogaretreats.com just wants to take their cut. I trusted this company and I've been so let down and bled financially. My warning to all of you is to do your due diligence when signing up for a retreat from bookyogaretreats.com. Contact the organizer and ask numerous questions and find out exactly what the space looks like. Viewing the company's Instagram account that shows stunning pictures of people at yoga retreats surrounded by natural beauty and in beautiful yoga spaces just filled me with heartbreak all over again. That was what my sister and I had longed for: a restful, peaceful and restorative yoga retreat, not an vastly overpriced stay in someone's home doing 2 yoga classes per day with no retreat space to relax in. All it felt like what that we were just cash registers for them, 2 North Americans that could be duped into forking over lots of cash while they underdelivered a retreat for us. It all made sense after that fateful evening when we'd arrived at their home, why they waited until the last minute to tell us that we were going to be the only participants and why they kept postponing sending me the retreat address (for my luggage tag) until the last minute when I was so busy preparing for my trip that I never thought to put the address in Google maps. Bookyogaretreats.com would not accept any responsibility here and even after sending so much factual information about what we found, the discrepancy between the retreat listing and the reality, they sided with the organizer leaving the consumer assuming all risk. This is unethical and shocking behaviour from a company that promotes yoga. Yoga is not just about postures but about consciousness, ethics and right behaviour. Be forewarned here and do your due diligence before paying any deposit to this company, as they don't have your back.