Owners of B.C. ski lodge not legally entitled to offer accommodations, must pay refund: tribunal [Video]

A man who booked a group trip to a B.C. ski lodge last year is entitled to a $5,000 refund – because the people he paid for the accommodations were not “legally entitled” to provide them, the province’s small claims tribunal has ruled.

Graham Underhill told the Civil Resolution Tribunal that when he planned the five-day outing to Snowy Mountain Lodge – located near Blue River, in the Cariboo Mountains – he had no idea the backcountry property was at the centre of an ongoing legal battle with the B.C. government.

The tribunal heard that Underhill received an email two days before his Feb. 19, 2023, trip from someone who mentioned that the lodge had been “officially closed by the province.”

“Nothing has been conveyed to me by the owners,” Underhill replied.

Lodge on Crown land

Dana Desiree Foster and Stephen Ludwig previously operated the Snowy Mountain Lodge with permission from the province – …