Terms of Service

Version 2026-10-01 · Last updated: 1 October 2026

1. Who we are and what these terms cover

Alma Escapes is operated by Alexander Costa, 1057 Saratoga St, Boston, MA 02128, USA (“Alma Escapes”, “we”, “us”), and runs the website almaescapes.com and related services (the “Platform”). You can reach us at [email protected].

These terms apply to everyone who uses the Platform: visitors, people on our waitlist, guests who book a retreat (“Guests”) and the retreat organizers who list with us (“Hosts”). By using the Platform, joining the waitlist, creating an account or making a booking, you agree to these terms, our Privacy Policy and our Cancellation & Refund Policy. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the Platform.

Alma Escapes is currently in pre-launch. Some features described here, such as bookings and payments, may not be available yet. These terms apply to them from the moment they are.

2. Our role: a marketplace, not a retreat operator

Hosts are independent businesses and practitioners. They create their own listings and are solely responsible for running their retreats: the accommodation, food, teaching, activities, staff, safety, and everything that happens on site.

Alma Escapes does not own, operate, manage or control any retreat, venue or activity, and does not employ Hosts or their staff. When you book, you buy the retreat from the Host. The Host is the seller and is a business; each listing shows the Host’s name, and the name is shown again at checkout. Your contract for the retreat is with the Host, on the terms of the listing and our Cancellation & Refund Policy. Your payment is processed by Stripe directly into the Host’s own Stripe account, and the Host’s business name appears on your card statement. Our role is to provide the Platform, present listings, take your booking and pass it to the Host. We receive a commission from the Host, never from you.

Hosts join by invitation, we approve each listing before it is published, and we remove listings that break our rules (see section 6). We do not guarantee, and are not responsible for, the quality, safety, legality or suitability of any retreat, or the accuracy of what a Host tells us.

Default order. Listings are shown by relevance to your search, then by next available date. Once reviews are live, well-reviewed listings may rank higher. Founding Hosts get launch placement as described in their agreement. No Host pays for ranking.

3. Eligibility and accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract to book a retreat or create an account. A Guest who books for others confirms they are authorized to do so and that everyone in the booking accepts these terms.
• Retreats on Alma Escapes are for adults. A listing can say children or teens are welcome. If it does, they must travel with a parent or guardian who books for them, is responsible for them, and follows the Host’s rules. We don’t allow anyone under 18 to book or travel alone.
• Host accounts are by invitation only.
• Give us accurate information and keep it up to date. You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for activity under your account. Tell us straight away at [email protected] if you think your account has been used without permission.

4. Prices and payment

• No added fees. The price shown on a listing is the total amount you pay for that retreat, plus any local tourist tax the listing mentions (see below). We don’t add booking fees, service fees or other charges at checkout. Prices are shown in US dollars unless a listing says otherwise. Any currency conversion shown elsewhere on the Platform is an estimate for your convenience only. Your bank may charge foreign transaction fees.
• Best Price Guarantee. If you find the same retreat for less elsewhere, we refund the difference from our own commission. The conditions are in our Best Price Guarantee.
• Full payment. The full price is charged when you book. For request-to-book listings, you are charged only if the Host accepts your request.
• What the price includes. Each listing states what is included. Anything not listed as included (for example flights, transfers, visas, travel insurance, optional treatments or personal expenses) is not included.
• Substances are never part of a booking. Payments made through Alma Escapes are for the retreat only, such as accommodation, meals, teaching and activities. They never include, and may never be used to pay for, any drug, psychoactive or controlled substance, or any “plant medicine”. Alma Escapes is not a party to the provision of any such substance.
• Payment processing. When bookings open, payments will be processed by Stripe, Inc. on behalf of the Host. Your card or other payment details go directly to Stripe; we never see or store your full card number. By paying, you also agree to the terms of the payment method you use.
• When a booking is confirmed. A booking is confirmed only when payment has been successfully received and verified. Until then it is pending, and we may cancel a pending booking.
• Taxes and local charges. The listed price includes the taxes the Host charges for the retreat. Some places also charge a small local tourist tax per person per night, collected on arrival. If that applies, the listing says so, with the amount if known, before you pay. Nothing else is added at checkout.
• Errors. If a listing shows an obviously wrong price, we may cancel the booking and refund you in full before the retreat.
• Payment disputes. If a charge looks wrong, email us first at [email protected]. We can usually fix it faster than a bank dispute. If you do open a dispute with your bank, we may share your booking record and our emails with Stripe, your bank and the Host so they can answer it. Your rights under our Cancellation & Refund Policy stay the same, and we won’t treat a genuine dispute as misconduct. Please don’t open a dispute for a charge that our policy has already refunded.

5. Health, safety and your participation

Not medical advice

Retreats on Alma Escapes are wellness experiences. They are not medical, psychological or psychiatric treatment and are not a substitute for care from a qualified professional. Nothing on the Platform (including listings, descriptions, emails or messages) is medical advice, and no retreat is offered to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition.

Check with your doctor first

Many retreats include physical or intense activities, such as yoga, long periods of meditation or silence, fasting or restricted diets, juice cleanses, saunas, cold exposure, breathwork, sound or movement practices, hiking and swimming. Some of these are unsuitable for people who are pregnant, or who have heart, blood-pressure, respiratory, metabolic or eating-related conditions, epilepsy, or a history of mental-health conditions. Consult a doctor before booking if you have any health concern, and follow any screening or health questions the Host asks you directly.

Your responsibility

You know your body best. Before you book, decide whether the retreat suits you, and tell the Host anything that affects your safety or theirs: health conditions, injuries, pregnancy, medication, allergies and diet. Answer the Host’s questions honestly. Do this directly with the Host, not through us.

If you book for a group, each person is responsible for their own answers. The person who books confirms everyone has read these terms.

A Host can decline a booking, or change how you take part, only if your answers show a specific, objective safety risk that cannot reasonably be managed, never because of a disability or condition in itself. If that happens before the retreat starts, you get a full refund. If you left out something important, the Host can end your participation and section 5 of our Cancellation & Refund Policy applies. This is not a Host cancellation.

Stop any activity that feels wrong. Saying so is always welcome.

Give the Host an emergency contact when asked, and make sure that person knows you’ve shared their details. In an emergency, the Host or staff may call emergency services for you. Costs of medical care, transport or evacuation are yours, which is another reason we strongly recommend travel insurance.

Ask the Host about access needs before you book.

Risks you accept

Retreats can involve physical effort, heat or cold, uneven ground, water, unfamiliar food, long periods of stillness, and strong emotions. Even with careful hosts, injury, illness and discomfort can happen, and some risks can’t be removed.

By booking, you confirm you understand this and choose to take part, to the extent the law allows. A Host may ask you to sign their own waiver or health form too. That doesn’t replace these terms.

Respect the space

Be considerate of the Host, staff, other guests and neighbors, and follow the Host’s house rules. Don’t bring or use illegal drugs, harass anyone, or record or photograph others without their consent. If your behavior puts people at risk or seriously disrupts the retreat, the Host can ask you to leave. A Host should explain why and tell us promptly. We’ll review it and, if the Host acted unreasonably, arrange a fair refund. We can also limit or close your account.

6. What may not be listed or booked

To keep the Platform safe, legal and trustworthy, we do not allow listings, retreats or activities that:

• Involve drugs or psychoactive substances in any form, including ayahuasca, psilocybin or “magic” mushrooms, San Pedro or peyote (mescaline), ibogaine, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, LSD, MDMA, ketamine, cannabis, kambo, or any other controlled, psychoactive or toxic substance. This applies even where a substance is legal or tolerated locally, and even if it is described as a ceremony, sacrament, “plant medicine”, integration or an optional extra.
• Claim or imply that they diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any illness, addiction, trauma or medical or mental-health condition, or that they replace medical care.
• Offer medical, clinical or therapeutic procedures that require a license the Host does not hold in that location, or describe staff as doctors, therapists or medically supervised unless that is true and verifiable.
• Are illegal where they take place, or require a permit, license or insurance the Host does not have.
• Involve weapons, sexual or adult services, gambling, or hunting of protected wildlife.
• Are pyramid, multi-level marketing or “get rich” schemes, or are really a sales pitch for another product.
• Discriminate against Guests on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation. Retreats may be designed for a specific group (for example, women-only) where the law allows, and must say so clearly.
• Use fake or purchased reviews, invented credentials, misleading photos, hidden fees or prices that differ from what is charged.

We may remove any listing, cancel any affected booking (with a full refund to Guests) and suspend or close any account that breaks these rules. If you see a listing that you think breaks them, please tell us at [email protected].

7. Host responsibilities

Every Host must accept our Host Agreement, which sets out payments, payouts, refunds and liability in detail. In addition, if you list on Alma Escapes, you confirm and agree that:

• You act as a business or professional in offering retreats on Alma Escapes. You hold every license, permit, registration and insurance (including public liability insurance) that your retreat, venue, food service and activities legally require, and you will show us proof when asked.
• You and your staff and facilitators are qualified for what you offer, and any credentials you state are true.
• Your listing is accurate and complete: what is included and excluded, location, accommodation, schedule, physical demands, group size, age limits and any health requirements. You will keep it up to date.
• You will follow section 6 in full, and you will not offer or allow any drug or psychoactive substance at or in connection with a retreat booked through Alma Escapes.
• You will run your retreat safely, with appropriate emergency procedures, and you are responsible for the conduct of your staff and contractors.
• You will honor confirmed bookings and our Cancellation & Refund Policy, and you are responsible for your own taxes.
• You will handle Guest personal data only to deliver the retreat and in line with data-protection law.

Hosts agree to indemnify Alma Escapes against claims, losses and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from their retreats, listings or breach of these terms.

8. Travel

You are responsible for your own travel arrangements and documents, including valid passports, visas, entry and health requirements, and for checking official travel advice for your destination. We are not liable if you are refused boarding or entry. We strongly recommend travel insurance that covers cancellation, medical care and evacuation. When you book, we may show a link to a travel insurance provider. That provider, not Alma Escapes, sells and runs the policy, and you buy it directly from them. We may receive a referral fee if you do; it never changes your price. Choosing insurance is up to you, and you can buy it anywhere.

9. Reviews and content

We don’t show ratings or reviews yet. When we do:

• Only Guests who completed a booked retreat can review it, once per booking.
• Hosts can reply publicly but can’t write, edit, buy, or ask for reviews in exchange for anything, and can’t pressure or punish a Guest for a review.
• We won’t remove a review just because it is critical. We remove reviews that are fake, abusive, off-topic, expose someone’s private details, or make claims about curing or treating an illness or condition.
• Reviews describe your own experience. They are not medical advice, and Alma Escapes doesn’t promise any result.
• By posting content (such as a listing, photo or review), you confirm you have the right to it and give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display and promote it on and for the Platform.

10. Acceptable use

Don’t misuse the Platform. In particular, don’t: break the law or anyone’s rights; post false, misleading or harmful content; use the Platform to arrange bookings or payments outside it to avoid these terms; scrape, copy or resell the Platform or its content; interfere with its security or operation; or harass Hosts, Guests or our team.

Pay only through Alma Escapes. If a Host asks you to pay or deposit anywhere else, or to book “directly” for a discount, please say no and tell us at [email protected]. Our refund promises, and our help if something goes wrong, only cover bookings paid for through the Platform. We can’t recover money sent elsewhere.

11. Our content

The Platform, its design, text, logos and the Alma Escapes name belong to us or our licensors. You may use the Platform for your own personal, non-commercial purposes only.

12. Disclaimers

To the extent permitted by law, the Platform is provided “as is” and “as available”. We do not guarantee that it will be uninterrupted or error-free, and we make no promises about any retreat, Host or result you may expect from a retreat. Nothing in this section affects your right to have our own services provided with reasonable care and skill.

Neither we nor a Host are in breach of these terms if we can’t perform because of events outside our reasonable control, for example natural disaster, war, public-health orders, power or internet failure, or a failure of our hosting or payment providers. Section 4 of the Cancellation & Refund Policy explains your refund rights for retreats.

13. Limitation of liability

To the extent permitted by law, Alma Escapes is not liable for: (a) the acts, omissions, conduct or retreats of Hosts or other users, which we do not run or control; or (b) indirect or consequential losses, or loss of profits or data. Our total liability to you for any claim relating to the Platform or a booking is limited to the greater of (a) the commission we received on the booking concerned and (b) US$250.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or gross negligence, or for breach of any duty the law says cannot be limited (such as our duty to provide our own services with reasonable care and skill), and nothing affects statutory rights you have as a consumer where you live.

14. Suspension and termination

You can stop using the Platform at any time and ask us to close your account. We may suspend or close an account, or remove content, if we reasonably believe these terms have been broken, to protect users, or where required by law. Sections that by their nature should continue (such as payment obligations, disclaimers, limitation of liability and indemnities) survive termination.

15. Disputes and governing law

If you have a problem, please email us first at [email protected]; most problems are solved that way. This does not limit your right to go to court or to a consumer authority at any time. These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If we can’t settle it, claims by users in the United States go to the state or federal courts in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. If you are a consumer living outside the United States, you keep the protection of the mandatory laws of your country and may bring claims in its courts.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms, for example when we launch new features. We will post the new version here with a new “Last updated” date and, for significant changes, also tell you by email where we have a way to reach you. Changes don’t affect bookings already confirmed. If you don’t agree to a change, you can close your account before it takes effect.

17. General

If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Our failure to enforce a term is not a waiver of it. You may not transfer your rights under these terms without our consent. These terms, together with the policies they refer to, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Platform.

18. Contact

Alma Escapes, operated by Alexander Costa, 1057 Saratoga St, Boston, MA 02128, USA
[email protected]