Guest Group Bookings FAQ

A: To book your retreat, you will need to fill out our Event & Retreat Booking Request Form https://forms.gle/j6iDamW6Z87a8HLdA. Filling out this form does not confirm your retreat.

It helps give us an idea of what you’re looking for and what types of accommodations would work best for you. It also goes over information that is helpful when planning your retreat and can give you an idea of what we have to offer. The form can be found on our “Booking Information” page https://www.stillwood.ca/group-bookings

Once you’ve filled out the form, we will review your request and send you an email to let you know what we have available for the dates you’ve inquired about. Some months book up very fast; if we do not have the spaces we need to host your retreat for your inquired dates, we can discuss alternative options. After we’ve confirmed our availability and that you want to book with us, we will send you a confirmation email with your deposit amount and you will have one month to pay the deposit for your retreat, along with the Contract. Both the Contract and the Deposit equals a confirmed booking with us.

We can book new overnight retreats up to 11 months in advance. This is to allow groups with current bookings one month to re-book their retreats for the same dates the following year for annual retreats.

We can book day groups up to 6 months in advance. We can put you on a wait-list and let you know our availability once we open the dates to new bookings. A wait-list does not guarantee the requested space or other spaces will be available. Re-bookings for new dates (e.g. not the same dates the following year) will follow the process for new bookings.

A: Our minimum amount we can host for groups is 15 people. Our maximum is 400 if we have the required availability.

A: Wifi: Yes. Our network covers much of our property; however, there are some areas it doesn’t reach. The connection may be slow if a lot of guests are on the network, so you may want to download videos, slides, or other media before your arrival if possible. Wi-Fi information will be provided with your group’s key package that will be given to the group leader upon arrival. As we are in a remote location, the WIFI is not suitable for streaming or downloading. Areas with more reliable internet connectivity are: the Ugly Mug seating area, the dining hall (closed outside of meals), and Stillwood’s main office/admin building.

Cell service: Yes, There is cell coverage over most of the area, depending on your provider. The Cultus Lake area gets very busy during the months of May-September with more people than the local cell towers can handle, so cell service may be unreliable throughout the Cultus Lake area during these months.

No, Stillwood is an alcohol and drug free environment. Our operations and insurance are built around caring for minors, so the presence of alcohol or drugs onsite isn’t compatible with that responsibility. Smoking is also not permitted anywhere on the property or in the adjacent BC Parks areas. This is because of the elevated fire risk, which must be carefully managed at all times. Thank you for helping us maintain a safe environment for everyone.

 If you would like to smoke, you must leave Stillwood property to do so. This policy also applies to weddings booked at Stillwood.

A: Yes, all water at Stillwood is drinkable. We have rigorous weekly testing and confirm to all Fraser Health water guidelines.

A couple things to note regarding our water system; at times when a large amount of people are taking showers at the same time, our system can have a hard time keeping up with the demand for water, which can result in significant drops in water pressure. This does not mean our well is empty, or that our water system is not working, it just needs a bit of time to catch-up on the demand. In such cases, there unfortunately isn’t much our maintenance team can do other than give the system a few minutes to recover. 

In the drier months, such as late summer and early fall, we may have water restrictions in place that need to be followed to ensure our well doesn’t run dry during your stay. If this is the case, our guest service team will inform the group leader as well as keep them updated on the situation, and we will let them know before your arrival when possible. The group leader must inform their group of the water restrictions and updates from the guest service team.

A: Check-in: Flexible check-in is based on availability and your needs.

The group leader should be the first person to arrive at Stillwood and is the person our guest service team will give the key package to. If the group leader will not be the first person on property, they can arrange for someone else to check-in and pick up the key package instead. Only the group leader or person picking up the keys needs to check-in with the guest service team, all other guests will need to check-in with their group. Please let us know your estimated time of arrival so we can make sure your keys and buildings are ready before you arrive.

Check out: All groups must be checked out of accommodations by 10:00 am, meaning all luggage and other personal items must be out by this time so our team can start cleaning the accommodations for the next group. Luggage can be stored in your vehicles or your meeting space until your departure. You must check out of your meeting spaces by 2:00 pm, which includes putting away tables and chairs in your meeting space. Later meeting space checkouts can be requested and are an extra hourly charge for the time spent in the meeting space past 2 pm depending on availability.

Later accommodation checkouts will incur an additional night’s fee on your final invoice.

A: Yes, you can have a campfire any time of the year, so long as there is no fire ban and the fire is in a designated fire pit. Do not start a fire outside a designated fire pit or when there is a fire ban. We will inform you if there is a fire ban before your arrival if possible and will keep you informed of any updates to the fire ban. Stillwood does not set the fire bans, we are required to follow the fire prohibitions set for our region by the B.C. Wildfire Service. Fire bans are common in the months of July - September due to the dry weather and may occur outside of these months as well.

You are welcome to bring your own fire wood and supplies, or we can provide you with fire wood, an hatcket, and roasting sticks for a fee. If you requested a fire kit but are no longer able to use it due to a fire ban, we will remove it from your final invoice. You may bring up your own propane fire pit and propane in place of a wood fire. Stillwood is unable to provide propane or propane fire pits. Guests are responsible for starting and putting out their own fires and cannot leave the fires unattended. 

Fire pits can be reserved at no extra cost, but a reservation is not required to use a fire pit. If you have not reserved a fire pit but would like to use one, any unreserved fire pit is first-come, first-serve. You can contact guest services to ask if a fire pit is available.

A: We have three parking lots on our property and can fit quite a few cars in the available parking spaces, so finding a parking spot is not often an issue, but there are times where we have very large groups or multiple groups at a time where parking can be more difficult to find, so carpooling is recommended.

Our largest parking lot is in front of the dining hall, while the other two are by the entrance to Stillwood, one next to the Chapel and the other next to our main office/administrative building. Parking spaces are marked on our camp maps. Stillwood is a large facility, so be prepared to get your steps in. For any guests with limited mobility, please contact guest services,and we can discuss alternate parking options.

Parking is not permitted on roadways, on pedestrian paths, on grass, on the basketball court next to the dorms, or next to buildings except for the few parking spaces next to the Balsam, Cedar, and Hickory lodges. You may park your vehicle near your accommodation temporarily to unload or pack up, but the vehicle cannot block roadways or be on pedestrian paths and must be moved to one of the above-mentioned parking lots afterwards. If our staff notice vehicles parked in areas where parking is not permitted, you will be asked to move the vehicles.

A: No, we do not set up meeting spaces. We host groups of many different sizes and needs; there is no one-size-fits-all set-up for meeting spaces. The ideal set-up for one group may not be a suitable set-up for another group, so your group will need to set-up your meeting space(s) yourselves.

We also require groups to put away any chairs and tables they set-up before they leave depending on what space you have. Maple Room and Chapel spaces have chairs that are preset up, that must be put back up before you depart.

A: We do our best to accommodate dietary restrictions by providing some alternative options on a table separate from the main buffet lines, however if you do not inform us of your dietary restrictions before your arrival, we cannot guarantee they will be met. Participants can inform us by giving their dietary restrictions and food allergy information to their group leader/event planner.So our kitchen can plan and make sure we have the options we need to accommodate your dietary restrictions, please let us know a month in advance, or at least two weeks before your retreat, especially if you have allergies that are more complicated to accommodate, such as onions or soy, as well as whether your allergies are anaphylactic. We are unable to accommodate dietary preferences.

We can accommodate the following options:

• Gluten free

• Dairy Free

• Vegan/vegetarian

A: Yes, if your group meets the following requirements:

1. Your group size is 50 people or less

2. If your booking is in November - February.

3. If you follow all Fraser Health regulations and the person cooking has a current Food Safe certification. You will need to let us know who your Food Safe cook is.

4. The kitchen being used must be the kitchen in our Gym building, which requires booking out the full building ($566/day).

For groups that cannot meet the requirements, you may provide one meal yourselves. However, you must abide by our policies, which can be found here: https://www.stillwood.ca/booking-manual-meals All other meals must be provided by Stillwood.

Our accommodations and meeting spaces do not come equipped for preparing meals and we are unable to rent out our main kitchen. We are unable to rent out the full gym building for kitchen use for the months of March - October as we get bookings for different parts of the gym building, such as the games rooms, indoor climbing tower (Stillwood-supervised activity), and the gymnasium, most days of the year.