Shady Shores Cabins — Hotel in Au Sable Township

My husband and I decided (spur of the moment) to take our 3 sons (12, 4, & 3) on a mini vacation. The criteria for our vacay was: indoor plumbing, water/swimming within a short walking distance, space for these boys to get all their energy out, within a 15 min. drive to food, and it HAD to be cost efficient. #ShadyShoresCabins checked off all our wants and more! The cabin, #7, was spacious enough for our 5 person family- 2 bedrooms each with a queen bed, a couch, loveseat, and dining table with chairs in the main area, a screened in porch on the front, a bathroom with a stand-up shower and bidet, and a full kitchen featuring stove, fridge, microwave, toaster, coffee maker (thank the Lord!), and even silverware, plates, cups, etc! This mini resort is directly on #LakeHuron so we didn't need to worry about walking further than maybe 200 ft for the boys to play in the sand and waves! There is a gazebo for chilling and getting out of the sun, sand throughout most of the grounds, and the cabins are situated far enough apart that you don't have to feel like people are in your business all day. Free WiFi and smart tv's were a super bonus we hadn't even considered, but they did! There were quite a few restaurants and stores within 15 minutes of driving, but we didn't need to leave much after a grocery trip because we had everything we needed on site! The new owners came out to hang by the water and common areas often and told us about some things that are in the works to update cabins, add new features, and add to the on site amenities. They asked for our input on things we thought would be beneficial for other families with young kids and had some of our ideas already in the plans - which means we will have even MORE reason to come back again and again. Regarding the cost - they had a vacancy to fit our spontaneous, 2 night trip, it was way cheaper than a hotel, felt more personal than campsites, air bnb, or motels, the amenities offered surpassed many other cabin rentals, and we went back home with no regret on lodging expenses - so it was the perfect per-night-price. Turns out, they also have weekly rates which come out even cheaper! We had only been home a couple of minutes before the kids were asking to go back and talking about the things they miss, so I'm pretty certain we made the best choice. We definitely recommend staying at Shady Shores and hope to make...

Just a heads up to potential Shady Shores customers. We stayed there last for a few days last month and although the cabin was nice, there were no ice cube trays, no large size mugs for coffee/tea (just very small tea cups), and no hot water in the shower that we did not realize until near the end of the stay. Wondering if it was just us, I checked with another cabin renter who said they also did not have any ice trays. Also, one of the kitchen chairs collapsed while sitting in it. No real injury, but a very sore back; so be wary of their kitchen chairs during use. We had to make our own ice and did supply the cabin we were in (#5) with a couple larger size mugs, at our own expense, and left them there for other renters; however, we feel the owners should be more pro-active to such basic things - given they are constantly re-renting the same cabins - to verify all is there and working as expected before the next renter - given what we paid for the cabin and that ice trays and ceramic mugs can be obtained for very cheap. I did email these issues to the owner (Katie) who was very apologetic that our “experience was less than ideal” and said, at the time of her email (a week after I had emailed her) that the shower issue was “being repaired” (although by their web-site schedule another party had rented the same cabin right after us that very same week). Understand, it appears they are taking steps to resolve and improve on such issues and am posting this simply as a heads-up to future Shady Shores renters. But, as you can tell, we were not at all pleased with our stay for we feel we simply did get our monies worth. So, if you do happen to have ice trays, large size mugs, not mention a working hot shower in your cabin, you have us (to some degree) to thank for that. Also, the bedrooms could each use a small dresser,...

Stayed in cabin 7. There is an active mouse problem. We found mouse poop in the silverware holder and drawer, utensil holder, in the coffee and tea bins, on the counters and the kitchen sink, and even in my purse that was sitting on the side table by the couch!

The location itself is great. Cottages are cute. Beach is great. There's a "shed" with life vests , beach chairs, and other helpful things for a beach vacay. The gazebo is a lovely place to relax and has a table if you want to eat or work on a craft project or something.

There are no dressers in the bedrooms, just a closet or half closet so unless you bring hangers you have to live out of your suitcase that has to reside on the floor. There also no good place to store dry goods except on the counters and on top of the fridge. There's a mouse trap/bait in the cabinet under the sink so don't store anything there.

Bathroom is tiny and again no surface or shelf to put anything on so you'll constantly have to move your toiletries between the bathroom and bedroom or bring a bag that can hang on the hooks in there. The shower water gets on the bathroom floor easily so hang up your rug right away (there's a clothesline outside thankfully) or bring an extra one of your own.

The Internet is spottybut it is what it is up here.

Hot water runs out quickly so don't take a long shower or space out showers if you have multiple people in your cabin.

Wouldn't stay here again due to the mouse issue and poor communication...