@ Michigan Inn & Lodge — Hotel in Bear Creek Township

We stayed here last night (2 more to go!!) and I thought it was an awesome experience. We arrived about 6pm on Friday evening. And when we walked into the lobby we were greeted by two friendly young ladies.

Check In Taylor got is checked in and explained the cafe and movies. I did explain that we had a Twitter Discount...and without any problems...ta'da...discount. I am not sure what people in other reviews were talking about...no issues at check in. My boyfriend was hungry from our trip and promptly went in the cafe.

Cafe' - So there has been alot of discussion on this cafe online. So I figured I would clear up any confusion and give as much info as I could. Attached to the lobby is a small cafeteria style cafe. The mimics other hotels' breakfast areas. Think Holiday Inn Express...just more food. Almost Everything is portioned off already in little to go containers. Food Choices:

Frozen Dinners, Frozen Burritos, Hot pockets, Frozen Pizzas Hot dogs, Boiled eggs Potato salad, Cole slaw, Macaroni salad & Cottage Cheese Cereal (there were like 4 cold kinds) + Oatmeal packs All sorts of breads, biscuits, muffins, rolls, tortillas Waffle machine with syrups and such Soup - They have 6 crockpot style kettles and last night they had Raviolis in Sauce, Meatballs (like sweet and sour :-) ) Chili, Chicken Soup, Bean and Ham Soup (Edited: In the morning they had things like scrambled eggs, sausage, gravy, baked apples etc in the kettles) Pickles, Cheese slices and string cheese sticks Salsa, Nacho cheese cups, Cream Cheese Fruit Cups and Veggie Cups (not raw) Jello, Pudding, Pudding Parfaits, Yogurt Ice Cream, Popsicles, Cookies, Doughnuts, Little Debbies, Coffee, Juices, Milk, Cappuccino and then tons of packets of condiments.

So alot of food and I probably forgot some. It was neat. It wasn't gourmet. But we ate dinner there and were happy. Cause who can argue with free??

The cafe has like 7 tables for 4. So I am sure it could get crowded...it wasn't when we were there.

The room: We are in the lodge so its a different building than the cafe and lobby. They have a few carport spots and we got one :-) The room had two queen beds, microwave, fridge, tv, blu ray, safe. It was clean and warm :-). Coming from -5 degrees outside to a warm room was nice. Some points of interest: They don't have mini shampoo bottles and such, its installed as a dispenser in the shower. Kinda neat. The room is a bit small...but we have two huge snow boards and stuff...so maybe its all our crap :-) The blu ray and movie service is nice. We rented a $0.99 movie and ate popcorn in our room. And you can do netflix and stuff on the blu ray. I don't know about TV's but my BF said it was better than he expected. Its a big flat screen Sanyo mounted on the wall and a Sony Blu Ray. My ONLY gripe at all...and this is so small...the bed spread was a bit itchy. One reviewer mentioned it...and I agree. However they gave us all kinds of pillows. Firm, Soft, medium and the mattress was fine.

So far we are really happy. Boyfriend soundly asleep as I write this, but his only gripe so far is he ate too much last night in the cafe and he has to watch it today. Lol.

For the price point....we were absolutely thrilled, shocked...

Based on our experiece staying here, I tend to believe the bad reviews and question the good reviews. I think its possible that some of the good reviews had housekeeping personnel that actually cleaned their room. We would have given a 3 star rating but instead of management owning up to the problems that we encountered they just made lame excuses. Our complaints...1) the sink had no cold water. The cold water was shut off and the handle just twisted around loosely. On the bright side, the hot water worked perfectly. Unfortunately it was scalding HOT. Front desk said theyd pass it on to the maintenance dept. Please, they already know theres a problem cause the water is shut off. Passed the buck. 2) We had two beds, one bed was made correctly but the other one wasnt. They made one bed by putting the top sheet on top of the comforter and tucking it in nice and tight. Funny thing is, they said that's how they make the beds is with the top sheet on top of the comforter. Really? Even though the other 99.99999999999999999999% of the world goes fitted sheet, top sheet then comforter? You still made the other bed wrong according to your practices then lol,Excuse. 3) There was no room service. When we came back to the room we found the beds still unmade, the wet towels still on the floor and no clean replacement towels. Front desk said they dont do daily room service and if you want new towels you have to ask for them. This is the first time in my 30 years of hotel/motel staying that I've ever heard of no daily room service. Well if thats the case, why do they have Do Not Disturb signs hanging on the door handles? Also, they have envelopes in the rooms so you can leave a tip for housekeeping. If they're not gonna provide daily housekeeping why would anyone leave a tip? After reading the other reviews its obvious management doesnt care or take any pride in this hotel at all in my opinion. Theres a reason why we were able to book this room last minute at an awesome low low price. I do have to give credit where credit is due (no pun intended), after asking for a credit they gave us 25% back off the room rate. We are very appreciative of that. Nonetheless, with the buck passing, lying, excuses and bad reviews it makes me wonder about the cleanliness...

Here is what Michigan Inn & Lodge does not have: a fitness room, a pool, a hot tub, an elevator for the second floor (15 steps instead). What it does have (at least, what we experienced): inexpensive nightly rates (we paid $118 and that included all taxes and fees), a clean room with a nice, firm bed, good air conditioning, a good view over Little Traverse Bay, and - best of all - a cafe from which you can get all your meals at no extra cost. This is a real bonus. For breakfast they had scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, corned beef hash, and cereal (four kinds). There is a variety of muffins, bread, chips, snack bars, yogurt flavors, fruit cups, cheese, etc. There is a machine with four juices (apple, orange, cranberry, and lemonade). There is a machine with fruit punch. There is a coffee machine and an assortment of creamers, some flavored. There is also the ubiquitous golden waffle machine. For lunch and supper they serve soup. I had excellent chili and also an enchilada soup. They also had a chicken and rice soup. Oyster crackers are included on the side. There is also a hot dog grilling machine (the kind with the rollers) from which you can serve yourself regular hot dogs (yes, there are buns) and corn dogs. For dessert there is a freezer filled with a variety of Blue Bunny ice cream treats. They have the giant ice cream sandwiches, chocolate and vanilla ice cream cups, strawberry shortcake bars, and others.

Our room had a king size massage bed, a nice-sized Vizio TV, and a table with one chair. The shower has dispensers with soap, body wash, and conditioner. The sink has a dispenser with soap and hand lotion. There is an iron, ironing board, and hair dryer. There is no closet, but there is a coat rack with a shelf. There are also coat hooks by the door.

There is absolutely nothing fancy about the Michigan Inn & Lodge. It's an older facility and slightly rundown in places (e.g., the stairwell). The rooms are not big. They have recently remodeled many of the rooms and they are very nice (we had one of the remodeled ones, #202). The staff is friendly and helpful. My wife and I highly recommend the Michigan...