Crystal Lake Resort — Hotel in Benzonia Township

My family and I stayed here 2 times over the past 3 years. The first time was one of our best experiences in a hotel-- the second time was one of our worst. I'll describe both for clarity. Make your decision.

Best: We stayed at a cabin behind the Crystal Lake Resort. It has a beautiful view of the small private beach (see attached photo) and it's in a nice, fairly quiet part of town. When we weren't exploring, we enjoyed the private beach or just relaxing in the cabin. Staff was very friendly and informative. We knew we'd love to return someday.

Worst: Three years later, we called and asked to reserve a cabin. The cabins were unavailable so we booked a room in the resort instead. Upon arrival, we discovered our room was NOT located in Crystal Lake Resort-- it was located above Cold Creek Inn, a nearby restaurant. We were told to check in at the restaurant. Cold Creek has no front desk. Restaurant staff is in charge of check in, but they were all busy with dinner orders so it took a while. We were only given 1 key and told to ask for another one later. The room was much smaller than anticipated, with no closet and no desk. Most of the floor space was taken up by 2 double beds (see attached photo.) Because the restaurant is not open in the morning, we couldn't walk downstairs and ask for a second key the following day. (The housekeeper later told us there is only 1 key. The housekeeper was great and I have nothing but appreciation for her hard work.) We were reimbursed some money because of the room switch, but the final cost was still higher than I would expect for a small room above a busy restaurant with no front desk.

To summarize: If you can book a cabin at Crystal Lake Resort, go for it. If they offer you a room instead, make certain you know where your room is located. If it's above the restaurant, I'd only recommend it if you're vacationing alone and do not need...

My husband reserved a room during the triathlon this weekend (9/14/24) He called yesterday to confirm his reservation and was told he was all set to check in today. When he arrived he was told that they had sold his room to someone else and there was nothing they could do. They claimed someone called and told them to release it. This is not true. Thankfully he was able to get a room somewhere else after calling around everywhere. Mind you he drove 5 hours to get there, and was told he had no room. The front desk staff was unhelpful and showed no remorse or offered any way to fix the problem. He never requested the room to be sold. The place he was able to book successfully said that this is a common occurrence with this establishment so I would be cautious when booking. I can't comment on the rooms or location since he had nowhere to stay. However we will never book with them again.

He had confirmation of reservation and payment from Expedia and his email, he offered to provide it and was told it was too late it had...

I don't write negative reviews (see my many excellent reviews on TripAdvisor) but in this case it's warranted. Owner was harsh and inhumane when we called her directly from the airport to tell her that we had to cancel our stay because Delta cancelled our flight due to mechanical failure with our plane. The delay would result in our missing my husband's 40th reunion picnic the following day which was the primary reason for our travel. Owner basically said "tough luck for you, I'm charging you for your full stay regardless". We were aghast and said we understood her charging us for one or two nights but not the full stay when we couldn't come due to this airline issue (and offered to send her the proof of this). We signed no contracts with her nor was there anything on her website that reflecting deposits and non-refundable deposits. She had no problem cashing our check we sent her in advance. We were already crushed because we had to miss the 40 year lake reunion. Zee's attitude was worse...