retreat
PLANNER
CONGRATULATIONS! We are delighted you have decided to host your retreat with us here at Amansala. We have prepared a helpful retreat planning information pack to answer just about any questions you may have and make planning easy. We are looking forward to having you join us for your upcoming yoga retreat here at Amansala and wanted to share some helpful information and some FAQ’s. We would like to schedule a skype call where we can walk you through your Retreat Docs, which will allow you to add your attendees to their rooms, gather flight details, view your payments and amounts due, create your schedule and have other helpful information at your fingertips. Our aim is to provide you with the tools to make planning your retreat stress free prior to arrival as well as provide you a beautiful location with great food, rooms and service, to make your retreat a success. We look forward to creating a long lasting relationship by hosting you here at Amansala.
DATES / PAYMENTS HELPFUL INFORMATION TO ASSIST YOU IN YOUR PLANNING.
Q. How do I lock in my dates?
With your deposit of $2500, your dates are locked in. $750 of your deposit is non refundable if you need cancel your retreat with more than 3 months to your start date. After this 3 month date, there is no refund of your deposit if you need to cancel
Q. When are my payments due?
Your initial deposit of $2500 will hold your dates. This amount is deducted from the total amount due for the retreat. 6 weeks prior to your start date, your second payment of 60% of the total is due. 3 weeks prior to your start date, your final and total amount is due. If you have guests register after this point, they can be paid as they register. You can make payments along the way, for any amount.
Q. What if I need to cancel my retreat after I have sent my deposit?
If you decide to cancel your retreat with more than 12 weeks prior to your start date, all but $750 of your retreat deposit will be returned to you. If you choose to cancel with less than 12 weeks to your start date, there is no refund of your deposit. With any cancellation from your attendees with more than 21 days prior to your start date, two nights will be charged according to the occupancy type of the booking. Any cancellation with less than 21 days to your start date, there is no refund.
Q. Does Amanasala take payments from my guests?
No, we do not take any payments from your guests. Your guests will pay you and you will pay us. This way, you can add on your fees to the total amount due from your guests.
Q. Is tax included in the daily room rates?
No. Please make sure to add 13% to the total due per guest assure the proper pricing.
Q. Is gratuity included in the retreat? Who does this go to?
Is tax included in the daily room rates? No. Please make sure to add 13% to the total due per guest assure the proper pricing.
Q. Is the teacher free?
With 15 paying guests, one teacher receives full room and board in a non beachfront room along with one free tour and one free spa service. (we have limited direct beachfront) With 25 paying guests, two teachers in a shared double room and one free massage and one tour.
Q. Is gratuity included?
There is a base gratuity your teacher has collected from you which is $10 per person for your retreat and meals. For anything purchased outside of the retreat gratuity has not been included and is at your discretion. If you feel the staff merits a little extra, that is up to you at your discretion.
WHAT MY RETREAT INCLUDES: Included in your retreat are all accommodations, use of one of our studios, and meals with the exception of one off site dinner which is not included. We offer two of these classes at no charge: Salsa Class
Cooking Class
Zumba Class
Mocktail with Appetizers
Done as a group after dinner, with a professional dancer and leader. This is a fun class to unite all your guests in a different way and incorporates some local culture.
A group fitness fun dancing class done during the day.
Q. Are bikes available?
Done as a group mid-day. Your guests are welcomed into the kitchen to experience some of our signature dishes. If your guests have a particular item they would like to have demonstrated, we can specialize the class to your request.
on the roof deck of Chica.
Yes, bikes at the discounted rate of $20 per person for the duration of their stay. If they do not choose to rent a bike at the time of check in, it is $10 a day to rent our bikes.well.
PACKAGE ADD-ONS: Q. What does it mean to add a package to my retreat?
Adding a package is a great way to make your retreat more robust and make planning easier for both you and us. We have several to choose from that include biking to the Mayan ruins, snorkeling in a fresh water swimming hole, a cenote, or taking a drive into Mayan country to tour the ruins of Coba to mention a few. We also have fantastic massage therapist, a Mayan clay ritual and a traditional Mayan sweat lodge as some of the available optional add ons as well. See below for more details of add on packages:
Package A • $95 per person
Pre Book One massage per person, and get our Mayan Clay Treatment for just $10, per person (normally $85 massage and $65 clay) • $55 savings
Package B • $100 per person
Temazcal,(A Mayan sweat lodge) & Mayan Clay Treatment
•
$50 savings
Package C • $140 per person
Select from one of the following tours: Snorkling at Grande Cenote or Bike ride to the Tulum Ruins & massage and Mayan Clay Treatment Free (normally $55 tour, $85 massage, $65 clay) • $65 savings
Package D • $170 per person
Mayan Clay Treatment Free if Pre Booking Temezcal(Mayan sweat lodge) and massage and get our Mayan Clay Treatment free • $65 savings
Package E • $170 per person
ONE of the following tours: Coba Ruins or a Mayan Hike to a Cenote & a massage and get our Mayan Clay Treatment free (normally $85 tour, $85 massage, $65 clay) • $65 savings
Q. Should my guests have travel insurance?
Being we have a no refund with less than 21 days notice, we would offer it to your guests. We also recommend putting it clearly on your marketing material what the cancellation policy is. Our policy relates to the amount due to us for our charge, if you want to offer your portion to be refunded with more of a window that is up to you. We recommend giving your guests the option of travel insurance to cover any last minute cancellations. You can contact Virginia please contact her directly at virginia@travelinsurancereview.net :
MARKETING YOUR RETREAT:
Q. Does Amansala assist in promoting my retreat? We provide you with hi resolution images which you can use to make fliers and promotional materials as well as a ready made postcard that can be customized to include your particular details, which are helpful in marketing your retreat. We will put your retreat name on our website but do not link to your website from ours.
Q. How much should I mark up my retreat? Generally a retreat leader will add on between $70 and $100 per person to the cost. So for example, if someone is in a double occupancy room at $185 a night plus 12% tax and $10 daily gratuity that would be a total of X, plus $80 as an example of a mark up, so for a 6 night retreat the teacher would make $480 per person, so with 20 people that would be a profit of $9600 usd
Ideas for marketing: 1. Postcards around town cafes, health food restaurants 2. Facebook 3. Email blast 4. Flyers 5. Combine forces with another teacher to cross promote
INFORMATION ON ROOMS: Q. Are all room created equal?
All of our rooms are made with love however the location of the rooms varies. They are spacious, with comfortable beds, linens, private baths, and spacious closets. However the location varies. Rooms are listed on your rooming list of your docs, from what would be considered our more deluxe to more standard, within the room type. We have made notes in the tabs of each room to help you make the right decision in placing guests. For example you may want to say room are assigned in the order that signs ups are received, or if you have certain retreat attendees or anyone you want to have a better room than someone else, that you refer to the room list.
Q. How many rooms do you have in total?
There are 26 rooms in total at Grande and 23 at Chica. We will allocate a variety of room types for you based on your estimated numbers of sign ups that will range from economy privates to large shared rooms and privates.
Grande
Grande
Chica
Chica
Q. How many rooms and what type of rooms will I have to sell to my guests?
We will allocate a certain number of rooms in varying room types for you ranging from our economy privates to shared rooms, to beachfront to triples. We can not only allocate beachfront rooms. All of our rooms with the exception of the small economy privates have a view of some sort of the sea, however many guests fixate on the beachfront. It is important you use the lingo of ocean view rather than beachfront to avoid any disappointment from your guests. • You will be able to see exactly how many rooms and what room types we have allocated for you, on your rooming list of your retreat documents Should you find you are needing more of a particular room type ie: you are finding many people want the most budget accommodations and have filled your triple rooms, you can request another one or if you find everyone seems to want to share and want to add more shared rooms we will do our best accommodate your request. • Please be advised that we have limited direct beachfront rooms even though almost every single room offers at least a partial view of the sea and are are located within our village like setting making the beach in close proximity no matter what category of room. It is best to market ocean view rooms rather than beachfront to avoid any disappointment from guests.
Q. What if I do not meet my expected number of guests? If you do not think you will have as many guests as you anticipated, please let us know right away and we will release some rooms, so that we can sell them on our side. 6 weeks prior to your start date, all unoccupied rooms will be released. If you still have interest after this date, contact us and we can look into holding a few rooms a little longer and you can still take bookings but need to check with us first to make sure we still have the rooms.
Q. What if only one person signs up for a triple or double? All rooms must be filled to their capacity. If there is only one person in a double, they would need to move to a single room. If there is only 2 in a triple, they would need to move to a double. You will be responsible for the difference in cost of the room types.
Q. What if my guests would like to stay extra nights, outside of the retreat, either arrive earlier or stay later? If you have interested guests, please have them inquire directly to the hotel and we will do our best to accommodate them.
INFORMATION ON TRANSPORTATION: Q. Is transportation included in the cost of the retreat? No, but we will be arranging your incoming and outgoing transfers with a reliable car service. Transportation costs are based on one way and the number of guests in the vehicle. Incoming transport must be paid in cash at the time of arrival and varies based on number of people in each car. We group all arrivals once we receive the arrival information using the handy links we have created in your set of documents, to make the most economical option for all. It is important to note that you must advise your guests that if rates are based per person and someone is delayed or miss their flight which results in them having less people in their vehicle, it can also affect the price. 1 person traveling alone in a private car = $135 2 people = $70 each 3 people = $60 each
4 people = $50 each 5 people = $45 each 6 += $40 each
Q. What airport do we fly into? Cancun International Airport
Q. How do my guests get back and forth to the airport? We can arrange transportation for you from the Cancun International airport with a reliable and comfortable service that we have been using for many years. It takes about 90 mins to reach us from the airport. There is an additional charge of $20 each to be picked up from the Cancun hotel zone. Pick ups from Playa del Carmen are subject to the same rates listed above. As your guests exit the airport, one of our trusted drivers will be waiting, holding an Amansala sign. Inside your retreat organizing documents there is a flight details tab. Here is where you will place all of your guests flight information. We will arrange and group based on arrival times, and send to our drivers.
Q. Should we tip the driver to and from the airport, or, is it included? Gratuity for the drivers is not included in the cost of transportation and is at your discretion. Our drivers have been working with us for 10 years and are wonderful.
Q. What should I do if my flight is delayed or cancelled. Who do I contact? We do not use the phone lines here due to poor reception by the beach. Please send an email to, amansalaretreats@yahoo. com, and amansalaresorts@yahoo.com. We have employees monitoring these emails and will assure the drivers are aware of any flight changes that we are notified about. Please note, our drivers are monitoring your flights, and will know if your flight details have changed. Inside your retreat organizing documents, we have an easy to use link that you send to your guests for them to enter their own flight details. This frees up your need to collect this information from your guests, and lists it in an easy to access format
INFORMATION ON FOOD & BEVERAGE: Q. Is food and beverages available between meals? Yes we have a full restaurant and bar open all day from 7 am to 10pm. In between meals, your guests can order of our menu for an additional cost.
Q. What type of food do you serve? We serve lots of fresh fruit and veggies, and local fish and chicken. Our meal plan is based on the philosophy of “from the earth to your plate�, so avoid preservatives and processed foods. Amansala meals are fresh, plentiful and delicious and can be customized to fit your groups needs, accommodating vegetarian and gluten free, as well.
Q. Is their coffee, juices and smoothies available. How much are they? In the morning, brewed coffee and tea is served, at no cost. Every meal is served with a delicious fresh juice or flavored water of the day. Smoothies, juices and other drinks along with espresso margaritas, wine, beer, can be ordered at anytime, and placed on your guests bill, and taken care of at the time of check out.
Q. What does off-site dinner mean? We have found that guests enjoy having one night on their own to explore the local restaurants. If you would like to include all dinners for your group, there is a fee of $20 per person for this dinner and can be added to the total due for your retreat. If you choose not to add dinner this night, and your guests would like to dine with us on their own, there is a fee of $25 per person that the guest can add to the check out.
SCHEDULE OF RETREAT: Q. How does scheduling, and studio time work? Do I determine my own, or does Amansala? In your retreat organizing documents, there is a schedule tab, where you can write your requested times for meals and use of the studio, as well as any extra activities you may add on such as tours or the Mayan clay treatment. We can work with you to review the schedule and offer any suggestions based on our experience prior to your retreat and are always available to assist you in planning if asked. We often are hosting more than one group at a time however we have three beautiful studios and rarely have an issue. Here is are examples of schedules.
SAMPLE SCHEDULES Example one BRUNCH • 7:00 AM light breakfast fruit, tea and coffee or fruit, granola and yogurt • 8:00 AM-9:30 AM Practice time in the studio • 10:30 AM Full Brunch • Time for massages, Mayan Clay treatments, Tours, Hammock reading, Swimming, relax, volleyball, kayaking, bike ride, relaxing • 3:00 PM Snack • 4:30-6:00 PM Afternoon Practice • 7:30 PM Dinner
Example two. FULL BREAKFAST • • • •
7:30 AM Full breakfast 9:00-10:30 AM Practice 12:30 LUNCH Time for massages, Mayan Clay treatments, Tours, Hammock reading, Swimming, relax, volleyball, kayaking, bike ride, relaxing • 4:30-6:00 PM Afternoon Practice • 7:30 PM Dinner
Q. What is provided in the yoga shalas?
We have blocks, blankets, straps, and mats, for your use. We provide candles and mosquito coils if needed.
Q. How do you hook up to the sound system in the studios?
You can plug in any cable, like your IPod, or phone to plug into our system, to play music.
GENERAL Q & A:
Q. Do you need a passport?
Yes. Make sure to double check that your passport is not expired or expiring.
Q. Can I use US Dollars? Are there ATMS? Most restaurants and stores will take US dollars. You will not get the best exchange rate. Most places will NOT take Credit Cards. Cash is best and there are several ATM machines located in Tulum by international banks. We do not recommend using the smaller ATM’s not associated with an official bank.
Q. Is gratuity included?
A minimal gratuity of $10 per person per day, will be added to the total due for your retreat. This goes towards the waiters, the kitchen staff, the housekeepers and the front desk staff. You will find our staff to be attentive and excellent at serving your guests to give them the best possible experience.
Q. Is tax included in the daily room rates?
No. You need to add 13% to all rates for correct pricing.
Q. Is there a grocery store near?
There is a large market and pharmacy with just about everything one may need about a 15 minute bike ride from us or 5 minute taxi ride.
Q. Is a doctor who speaks English available to make house calls at the beach? There is a reliable English speaking doctor who can make house calls for a charge of $80 if anyone should require medical assistance.
Q. Are there safes in the rooms?
Every room has a computer size safe in their room which they are recommended to use for valuables. We are not responsible for valuables left outside of the safe and recommend any expensive jewelry or unnecessary items are not brought to Amansala.
Q & A: Q. Is outside alcohol and food allowed at Amansala?
We do not allow outside alcohol or food. If you have a special occasion and have a bottle please ask at the restaurant and there will be a $25 corkage fee. We ask you not to leave food in your room that is not sealed, as it can attract the local wildlife
Q. Do you have refrigerators in the rooms?
No. If you have specific food items or medicine that needs to be refrigerated, we have space available in our refrigerated in the kitchen
Q. Can I bring my hairdryer?
Q. Do you have electricity 24 hours?
Q. Do you have a gym?
Yes however being we are we are off the grid, there are times when we may lose power for a short time.
No, we run on solar power and the surge from a hair dryer can blow our systems.
We have our large workout room and yoga shalas but not a gym.
Q. Is shampoo, conditioner and soap provided in the rooms?
Yes, we provide a local honey based Mayan selection of amenities. Great gifts to bring home from our boutique.
Q. Is there laundry service?
No we do not offer this services as the local laundry mats have a manana attitude which may result in your clothes not being ready when it is time to go home.
Q. What is the weather like in Tulum, over my dates?
Please check out this web site or others to get more information regarding the weather. http://www.weather. com/weather/tenday/Tulum+Mexico+MXQR1886
Q. Should we tip the driver to and from the airport, or, is it included?
Gratuitiy for the drivers is not included in the cost of transportation and is at your discretion. Our drivers have been working with us for 10 years and are wonderful. Are
Q. Do I need a special convertor for my electronics?
Q. Do you have kayaks, or paddle boards?
No. All outlets are standard US wattage
We have kayaks and paddleboards are available to rent down the beach.
Q. Do you have computers for guests to use?
Q. Is there surfing?
We do not have a computer for guest use.
No Tulum does not have surf!