Included with every stay

Sheets, pillows, blankets, and towels in every room and cabin. Coffee, hot tea, and hot cocoa around the clock in the Lodge, with a small fridge and microwave for guests. The grounds, the Lake Carlos beach and waterfront, trails, saunas in the Lodge lower level, fire features, pickleball, and broomball in winter.

Meals

Served in the Lodge dining room, typically breakfast at 8 AM, lunch at noon, and supper at 5:30 PM. Times are flexible. Tell us about allergies and dietary needs ahead of time. Bag lunches are available for groups on the go.

Arriving and leaving

Check-in is usually 3 PM and check-out 1 PM. No smoking in any building. No pets of any size on the property. Group payments come as a single check from your organization.

Every cabin and room

Photos, videos, capacities, and a side-by-side comparison of every cabin and room are on our housing options page.

What your rate includes

Up to two hours of staff time before your retreat: preparing your contract, planning housing and meals, and answering questions. When your group arrives, a 15-minute walkthrough of the sound and projection system in the Chapel.

Help as you need it

Beyond the walkthrough, staff help during your retreat, whether tech support or anything else, is $50 an hour or $25 per call, whichever is greater, billed after your retreat. Tell us beforehand if you expect to need it.

A retreat host for your whole stay

If you would rather have one person to call the whole time you are here, reserve a retreat host: a staff member assigned to your group and on call for your entire stay. $300 for a weekend, $500 for a Monday to Friday stay. Choose it in the estimator and it is added to your estimate.

Please plan with us in mind

Mount Carmel has a very small year-round staff and no full-time retreat coordinator. We do our best to be hospitable to every group, and everyone here is stretched thin doing it. Groups that arrive with a leader who knows the plan, a housing list, and their own tech person have the smoothest retreats.

Season

May through mid-June and mid-August through October are our peak season and carry the highest lodging and facility rates. April, November, and January through March are standard; November through March is our high-availability season, with the most open dates on the calendar. December has our lowest lodging and facility rates.

From mid-June through mid-August the campus is in use for Family Camp and Mount Carmel's other summer ministries, and outside groups generally cannot be hosted. The first half of June and the second half of August are the closest open weeks, and they are priced as peak season. Anyone who would like to be here during the summer is welcome at Family Camp or one of the events on our calendar.

Weekends and weekdays

Friday and Saturday nights cost more than Sunday through Thursday nights. A midweek retreat is one of the simplest ways to bring the cost down.

Group size and meals

Meal prices per person step down as your group grows. The highest a group pays is $10 for breakfast, $15 for lunch, and $20 for supper (groups of 15 to 24). Groups of 25 to 49, 50 to 99, and 100 or more each pay less, and the table in the Meals section shows your group's tier. Youth 4 to 13 eat at 60% of the adult price, and children 3 and under eat free.

Groups of fewer than about 15 are welcome to take meals, and we price each meal to cover what it costs us to serve it: kitchen staff at $30 an hour, kitchen utilities, and food. That makes meals for a small group noticeably more per person, so the estimate spells it out. Small groups often choose cabins with kitchens and cook for themselves.

Ministry rate, Proclaimer rate, and standard rate

Churches and Christian ministries receive our ministry rate. Congregations that are Proclaimers of Mount Carmel, members who support the ministry with an annual gift, receive a further 20% off lodging and meeting space; meals stay at the ministry rate so they never fall below what the kitchen costs us. Family reunions and other organizations pay our standard rate, which runs 15% higher across lodging, meals, and meeting space.

How your group rooms

Cleaning and utilities are per cabin, so how a group rooms changes what it costs us to host. Filling every twin, bunk, and queen bed in a cabin before opening the next one takes $8 per person per night off lodging; pull-out beds and futons do not count, and nobody is asked to sleep on one. Sharing bedrooms at two or three per bedroom is our standard rate. Private bedrooms cost the shared rate for couples and $20 more per night for anyone rooming alone.

Families and reunions can instead take whole cabins at a per-cabin rate, however many people share each one. Lodge rooms are quoted below the cabin rate by the office.

Personal cabin rentals

An individual, couple, or family can rent a single cabin or lodge room without meals or meeting space. Choose "Personal retreat or cabin rental" above. Prices are per cabin and favor a full two-night weekend or a five-night weekday stay; a single night costs more per night. Rates are higher in peak season, when cabins are in demand from groups and our own programs, and a $30 cleaning fee applies to each guest 14 and up. To book, email Shae@mountcarmelministries.com.