Retreat Insider

As BLOG moderator and manager of All About Retreats’ website, I have been in more frequent intimate and fact finding conversations with our Members and a record number of potential Members this month. What I have been hearing is info that all of our Members and potential members can benefit from as new marketing budgets are being developed.

Without a doubt, there are more church affiliate retreat and conference centers on All About Retreats than ever. A close second are the camp-style venues. The managers and staff at these places are telling us that their bookings are good and that more groups are contacting (and booking!) them because of their low cost relative to the larger meeting hospitality market. Some of these venues are modest in their amenities and accommodations, others are slightly more refined and upscale.

GOOD NEWS

If you are marketing or managing a church affiliated non-profit retreat … All About Retreats is a GREAT place for you to list your facilities. Here’s why:

• All About Retreats is getting a record number of telephone calls from church groups seeking venues within a 2 hour drive of their church. They have about $80 to $100 per person per day to spend for their retreat .. FOOD and LODGING and MEETING FACILITIES.
• We are seeing a bit of a trend developing which we are loosely convinced is a direct result of these profoundly uncertain times, which apparently motivates people to go back TO CHURCH … and deepen their faith by participating in a weekend church retreat.
• Church retreat groups seem to be a really solid ongoing business opportunity IF your center is priced attractively for their modest budgets.
• Our Member grapevine discloses that camp-style venues are seeing solid business from youth and church groups, while their more upscale counterparts have seen a decline in business, particularly corporate groups, who are slicing and dicing off-site meeting budgets.

What to do?

We invite fresh ideas and stories from those of you who own, manage or market residential retreat and conference centers. So, post a comment, sharing your solutions and problems with others in the meeting hospitality bizz!

We also encourage those of you among our email community who are sitting on the fence about listing on All About Retreats to contact us for a sensible rate and get on board! There is plenty of business to go around!