The question we get most often from people planning a retreat business is: should I hire a yoga teacher, or should I work with facilitators who bring their own groups? We work with facilitators. Here is the full reasoning, the structure we use, and the things that can go wrong.
## Why Facilitators Rather Than Employees
A salaried yoga teacher or programme lead costs €1,200–1,800 per month in Portugal, plus social security contributions, plus the obligation to provide consistent programming whether or not you have guests. For a retreat that operates at variable occupancy and seasonal rhythms, that fixed cost structure is difficult to sustain in the early years.
A facilitator brings something more useful than skills: they bring an audience. Every established yoga teacher, somatic therapist, or breathwork facilitator who runs retreats has a mailing list, a social media following, and a community of people who will follow them to a new venue. When we partner with a facilitator for a week, we gain exposure to that community without spending a single euro on marketing. If the facilitator's guests enjoy the site and the experience, a meaningful proportion will return — sometimes with us directly, sometimes on future facilitator-led programmes.
The aligned incentive also matters. A facilitator who fills a programme earns more than one who doesn't, because their income is tied to bookings. A salaried employee has no such alignment.
## The Revenue Structure
The most common model we use is a revenue split after accommodation costs. The mechanics are:
- We set a per-person accommodation rate (currently €60–80 per person per night, including meals and all site facilities) - The facilitator sets a programme price to their guests that covers accommodation plus their fee - After accommodation costs are deducted, the remaining programme margin is split — typically 50/50 between the facilitator and us
For a 7-day programme with 10 participants at €1,400 per person: - Total revenue: €14,000 - Accommodation (€70 x 10 x 7 nights): €4,900 - Programme margin: €9,100 - Facilitator share (50%): €4,550 - Our share (50%): €4,550
In practice, the accommodation line also covers our actual costs (food, cleaning, utilities, staff time), so our €4,550 is not pure profit — but it is a meaningful contribution margin on infrastructure that exists regardless.
We also use a flat-fee variant for facilitators who prefer certainty: they rent the site for a fixed amount (currently €2,500–4,000 per week depending on season and occupancy) and keep all programme income above that. This suits facilitators with a strong existing audience and high programme prices.
## What We Provide
Our side of the partnership:
- Accommodation for all participants (cabins, glamping units, and dormitory options) - Three meals per day, sourced largely from the land and local producers - All site facilities: the pond, the yoga shala, the outdoor kitchen, the walking trails - Pre-arrival logistics support (directions, packing lists, dietary coordination) - On-site support during the programme - Basic administrative support (booking platform, invoicing assistance)
What we do not provide: the programme design, the marketing, or the participant list. Those are the facilitator's.
## What Facilitators Provide
- A complete programme with daily structure (the retreat format, the sessions, the arc of the week) - All marketing to their own community - A minimum viable participant number (we discuss this during negotiation — typically 8 people for economics to work for both parties) - Their own professional insurance and certifications
The boundary between what is ours and what is theirs is usually clear. Disputes, when they happen, are about edge cases: who handles a guest who falls ill, who covers the cost of an unexpected dietary requirement, what happens if a session overruns and disrupts the next scheduled activity. We address these in a written agreement before the programme begins.
## Selection: Values Over Credentials
We have turned down facilitators with impressive credentials whose retreats we didn't feel were consistent with what we are building. We have accepted facilitators with modest CVs whose values, approach to land, and understanding of rest aligned well with ours.
This is not idealism. It is practicality. A facilitator whose programme involves phones at dinner, who treats the land as a backdrop rather than a presence, or who burns out their participants with an over-packed schedule will generate guest feedback that reflects on the site as much as on the programme. Reputation in the retreat market travels.
Our selection conversation focuses on: how they design their programmes, what they want participants to experience by day seven, what their approach to silence and unstructured time is, and whether they have read our website and understood what we are. The last one is a surprisingly reliable filter.
## What Goes Wrong
Misaligned expectations about participant numbers. A facilitator who projected 12 participants and arrives with 6 has a different economic reality from both sides. We mitigate this with a minimum headcount clause in the agreement and an honest conversation about realistic projections.
Facilitation style mismatches with the site. We had one experience with a high-energy facilitator running what was essentially a fitness retreat in a space designed for slower, quieter work. The participants were happy. The other guests on the property that week were not.
Facilitators who treat the partnership as a venue hire rather than a collaboration. The best partnerships are genuinely mutual — the facilitator cares about the site's long-term wellbeing, refers guests back for future visits, and communicates honestly about what their groups need. The ones that feel like a transaction produce transactional results.
## Our Partner Agreement
We have a two-page agreement that covers: dates, minimum headcount, revenue split structure, liability, cancellation policy, and a clause about conduct expectations on site. It is not a comprehensive legal document. It is clear enough that both parties understand the arrangement and cannot claim otherwise.
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*If you are a facilitator interested in running a programme here, we'd welcome a conversation. Contact us through [lusitanoretreat.com](https://lusitanoretreat.com).*