Chickasaw Retreat & Conference Center — Hotel in Sulphur

You have to want this kind of place to like this place. It was originally built as a combination corporate conference center / health and wellness retreat center, by the 7th Day Adventist Church in the early 2000's. It's now owned / operated by the Chickasaw Nation and marketed as part of their "Adventure Road" travel brand, which also includes the Artesian Hotel in Sulpher and Winstar World Casino.

The location is awesome, being somewhat isolated on the southwest side of the Lake of the Arbuckles, with spectacular views from each of the 50 guest rooms. There's a good restaurant that's popular in the area, and a nice little lounge / bar. There's also a business center (nice sized room w/ a 2-3 computers and printer), a presentation room, various small meeting rooms, and even an isolated "executive meeting room" that only seats 12 people and is out away from the main building and accessed via walkway, "floating in the trees" so to speak.

Now for the "activities" side of things... Guests have full access to the (truly amazing) fitness center, which has traditional gender separate bathrooms / locker rooms, with plenty of lockers and large showers, and a steam room and sauna in each. In between the locker rooms is a small Day Spa. (*See notes below.) Thru the locker room, you come into the gym with Cybex equipment for cardio, machine weights and free weights. Above that is a short 1/16mi walking track balcony, which loops into the next room housing an indoor swimming pool and large whirlpool tub - which just leaves you itching for an outdoor pool / workout area as well.

Everything at the facility is top notch and high quality, being built as a high-end corporate retreat center, but some of it is beginning to age. On our trip, neither the steam room or sauna worked in the ladies locker room. The door between the swimming pool room and the outdoor deck area was broken and locked shut, and the Spa was closed. The staff, while very courteous, were absolutely ridiculous about keeping the workout room towels out of the swimming area, and only providing one swimming towel per guest per trip. The grounds are fairly well tended, but they are not being actively and intentionally groomed. Some of the paint is peeling, some of the outdoor lights are burned out and sticking at different angles, there's only one place in the entire center with any music playing, there's nothing "Chickasaw" about the place at all, other than the name and some pictures of current leadership.

My wife and I have visited various other Oklahoma facilities like this (Lake Murray Resort for instance) which were really "built right" originally, but no one is keeping up the "spirit" of the original designs - so the entire facility begins to feel run down and janky when all it really lacks is true attention to detail in the facility maintenance, real training in guest services / hospitality, and proper marketing / positioning that leverages the strengths of the facility itself.

For hosting 2-3 day corporate events of 100-ish attendees or customized health and wellness events, and for weddings and family reunions, the Chickasaw Retreat and Conference Center has everything you need in one absolutely beautiful location. But purely as a hotel on the Lake of the Arbuckles, it may not be that attractive. There are two large open grassy areas for various outdoor activities, such as a wedding, but there's no access to the lake itself; so no boat docks, no fishing area, no swimming area, etc. (thought limited access can be arranged in advance of your stay.) There's also no outdoor pool or other outdoor activities to speak of at the hotel - except for the new ropes course, which (again) must be reserved in advance.

So if you're just looking for a nice quiet place to spend the night in the southern Oklahoma area (with a little exercise thrown in) while you "head out" during the day for all your family fun in the area, this is an excellent...

Just Stay at the Artesian Instead! This retreat center has a beautiful view, but that's about the only good thing. Rooms were decent. Here's what their website claims- - "At the Retreat, you can experience fishing, canoeing, disc golf, pedal boating, sand volleyball and more, all with the backdrop of beautiful and serene nature." Here's the reality- The pond is so far down from the hotel, that you really must drive it. There were 2 canoes that were way not usable, with no paddles. There were no pedal boats (although we found them behind an abandoned barn in a little abandoned neighborhood on site- looked like they hadn't been used in like 10 years.) We found 2 poles for volleyball- no net, in the middle of a grassy area. They had disc golf if you're super brave. All the baskets were either very near the MANY cacti patches or near the pond. Also, RATTLESNAKE warning signs everywhere. So like I said, if you're brave! They had unmanned ropes course activities. I would hope if you booked an actual conference, they would hire some people. We came as a couple retreat. If that's what you're there for, a retreat, definitely pass. The pool heater was broken and was frigid- probably 68 or 70 degrees. The hot tub worked, but the entire top layer of tile was in severe need of repair and was gross with mold. After 1 time in it, we decided not to get back in. No food on site, so had to drive 20 minutes to get into town for each meal. After we arrived back on a Thurs night, then found out that they have a pizza place come in Thurs-Sun nights. Would have been nice to...

This place had so much good but so much bad. To start off this place is in a gorgeous location but so far from civilization. It’s in the countryside but not on the lake like the website claims. They do have hiking, the trail is well groomed and they do a very good job of warning you of rattlesnakes. The building itself is a little weird but nice inside. On the website they boast about the amenities but it was as if nothing existed. The spa was closed our whole stay. The pool and hot tub were both nice and heated. The gym was huge with a lot of equipment. The locker room and sauna were nice. But the girls steam room was broken. They also claim to have pedal boats, canoes, a ropes course, volleyball, and that it is right on the lake, when in reality we witnessed them tell someone that they do not have pedal boats and there is no lake access. They instead have a pond that is blocked off by a gate. There was a ropes course but it was closed. We never saw the pond, volleyball, or canoes they claim to have. When we arrived the ladies at the front desk were very kind and let us check in a few hours early. Our room was well cleaned and very big. It was a nice room! Our only complaint is that we were promised a couch in our room along with our 2 queen beds. There was no couch and when we asked for a roll away bed a man told us that it would be a fire hazard to have one in our very large room. We asked another employee later and turns out it wasn’t a fire hazard. It’s a nice hotel but nothing special. Not very glitz and glamorous and nothing like what they boast...