BookYogaRetreats

Do NOT book through Book Yoga Retreats - they engage in MISLEADING and DECEPTIVE conduct which is completely against what a platform about yoga should be about.

As their website enables, I changed the currency to pound sterling. I chose a retreat in England, run by a person based in England. I went back and forth negotiating with the retreat organiser and each time, she quoted me in pound sterling and sent me links to payment via Tripaneer for an amount in pound sterling.

Despite all of this, the payment was charged in Euros, meaning I was charged a 50 pound conversion fee from my credit card company. Note that the retreat organiser has no control over this - it is all the responsibility of Tripaneer.

I immediately asked Tripaneer to refund the amount and send me a new payment link so I could pay using a different credit card where I wouldn't be charged a conversion fee, but they refused time and time again. They were unable to give any reasonable explanation for why I was charged in Euros, and were completely unacommodating and uncaring.

I'd recommend using their site only to find out about retreats, then if you're interested in one research how to get into touch with the reatreat organiser directly and book through them. That way the organiser doesn't have to pay the commission to this pathetic company.

I absolutely hate this company. We are a Yoga Retreat "organizer", and have started using this website this year. They claim to offer host support and marketing in exchange for their 14% commission.
After 6 months, this company continually fails and disappoints.

-when my guests pay their deposit of 50%, this company processes the payment, minus their 14% of total price. (ie from a 1000 deposit, they take 280). The money is then deposited to our account in Euros, not our currency we request. After this THEY OFFER 0 SERVICE. I have to PayPal request the remaining balance myself, and they piss off after having taken their percentage By the time I use an alternate payment platform, I end up paying up to 26% of each booking for fees and currency conversions because BYR is inadequate.

-we were assigned an account manager, ROSARIO DABLEO, who is Phillipino and barely speaks English, doesn't practice or know yoga. When I asked for a new account manager, I was refused and told that I had no choice, even though I literally can't communicate with the person taking 14% of every booking.

-this website doesn't share my customer info with me. Even after a confirmed booking, they don't give me my customer email, phone, nothing. All I get is their name and date of arrival?!

-the website is so out of date we literally lose bookings because our guests can't complete their booking or registration due to the website

-when we offered a special deal to be featured in their Newsletter or Facebook, we were told the next available slot for promotion features was NEXT YEAR. But they still take 14% now, for what?

This company has poorly trained support staff and an old out of date website. They dont give a $#*! about the yoga students or instructors, they just want 14% of the 5 billion annual wellness industry. Dogs.

(The full force of my frustration at the end)
Initially, I had booked to attend a yoga teacher training in May in Barcelona and paid a deposit of 570 euro which is just under $1000 New Zealand dollars.
It stated on the website and in the email communication that it was fully refundable up until 1 month before. I work as a nurse in NZ and with the whole COVID situation, it became obvious early in the year that I would not be taking this holiday. So I contacted the people running the course and informed them that I will no longer be able to attend before the 1 month cut off, and they confirmed that they will be refunding me and that Booking yoga retreats are processing this request and there will be a longer waiting period due to a lot of cancellations. Understandable.
What I deeply concerned about is the integrity of this company, especially given the market is yoga retreats which have certain values attached to it.
I was sent an email about 2 months after my confirmed refund indicating that they will be giving me a voucher and when I replied with my surprise they claimed that my deposit was non-refundable and that they were doing me a favour by giving me the voucher and that I needed to check my facts. They sent me this response within 24hrs.
I replied with a timeline of events and attached the previous email correspondence for them with the facts and stated I would be making a complaint so that other people won't be subjected to the frustrations I had experienced.
That was 5 days ago now so I feel like they have had their chance to make amends and do the right thing so here is my scathing review as promised.

Extremely poor customer service, to the point where I visualise the whole office barricading their doors with hoarded toilet paper and using N95's masks as a way to hide from all the yogis wanting their money back.
Makes me wonder what else Dutch companies get away with, this one definitely is a stain on their economy. To think that such a revolutionary company as the Dutch East India Trading was seeded by them just shows that with great innovation comes its equal share of incompetence.

I would have preferred to put zero stars but you must have one!
Very quickly, the one month internship in India was canceled due to COVID 19, so far nothing unusual.
At the time of the refund request, everything becomes complicated!
The 1st installment is not reimbursed because the pandemic does not fit into the reasons for reimbursement! Ok no worries I accept it (around 400 euros offered)
The second part of the payment (and the contract provided for this one), i. E. 1223 euros, is reported in the form of vouchers to be used on the site or reimbursed from April 2021! The reason mentioned is the crisis problem! Ok, but it is not up to us little person also undergoing the crisis of paying to maintain the financial level of this big company... there is nothing human and despite the exchanges by phone and email, nothing works!

Emails:
Hello Arnaud, I'm Shweta, customer service manager at BookYogaRetreats.com, continuing for Sarah and Blaine.
We understand your frustration and we are sorry that we cannot help you, as we would have done under normal circumstances.
As you already know, the travel industry has been severely affected by the pandemic and due to the increasing number of cancellations, as a travel agency, we are also strongly affected. We can only offer the refund option as a voucher at the moment for the refundable amount of EUR 1222. 50. We will only be able to issue a monetary refund for this amount after April 15,2021 if the voucher remains unused.
If you still want me to call you, please confirm the appropriate time next Monday, and we can discuss it further. Unfortunately, there is no other solution we can provide at this time.
Thank you!

Lite välskött hotell med mycket vänlig personal, alltid hjälpsamma. Hotellet är gammal och slitet men det gör inget eftersom det är så välskött och rent. Stora fina rum (suites) med sköna sängar och härlig soffa utanför rummet att koppla av vid.
Kopplar vid en liten fin pool - solhanddukar finns. Perfekt läge bredvid yogabarn och ett underbart spa med massage samt ansiktsbehandlingar. Passa på och besök dansuppvisningen och morgonpromenaden som hotellet ordnar, mycket genuint.
En oss som är mycket värt pengarna!

Nous avons réservé un séjour de surf et yoga avec une option remboursable 1 mois avant notre arrivée.
Nous avons reçu un message nous précisant que notre lodge serait fermé à cause du covid-19 pour notre séjour. Le lodge nous a précisé que l'on pouvait annuler notre réservation sans frais un mois avant l'arrivée --> donc normalement tout est ok... Sauf que...

Nous avons donc décidé d'annuler notre séjour 2 mois avant notre arrivée.
Donc contractuellement ils sont obligés de nous rembourser nos 1250 euros... c'est la loi.
Malgré tous nos e-mails il ne veulent pas rembourser. Ils nous envoient les memes réponses automatiques. Et ils nous demandent d'être compréhensives.
Ce sont des VOLEURS
Ils proposent des contrats mais ils ne respectent pas leurs propres conditions...