Campau Lake Heaven near Grand Rapids and Lake Michigan — Hotel in Caledonia Charter Township

My family of 16 adults (2 of which were pregnant) and 9 children were excited to enjoy a relaxing lake house vacation. Our check in time was 4 PM. It was 5 PM and we have yet to receive the access code for the front door. We contact the homeowner multiple times, but he was unresponsive. Upon arrival, the front door was locked. We walked around the house to find that the basement door was open. We let ourselves in. As we walked around the premises, it was clear that the home has not been cleaned. None of the beds were made, there were towels on the bathroom floors, and the garbage cans were full. Outside of the basic cleaning that you expect from a VRBO home, the interior and exterior looked like it hasn’t been deep cleaned in months. My mother-in-law ended up spending most of her vacation cleaning the common areas and doing laundry.

We tried to look past the cleanliness of the home, but quickly noticed that the house is not safe for children. The deck railings are shaky and the deck stairs are crooked. The gate at the top of the stairs leading down to the water was broken. The stairs from the main level deck going upstairs were blocked off and that part of the deck did not look up to code. The house had 3 docks on the lake and all of them were shaky, uneven, and in multiple pieces. One dock had loose boards that if stepped on incorrectly could cause major injury. We often found ourselves having to jump from one dock to the other or climbing up/down to get from one end to another. Most of the kayak paddles were broken and each broken edge was jagged and sharp. The sand in the water right by the shore was similar to that of quick sand and you would start to sink if you went in more than 3 feet deep. There are old fishing poles sitting out with hooks hanging loose that the kids were trying to grab. Both in the main kitchen and in a box sitting under the main floor deck stairs had easily accessible knives. There was wire sticking out of the back of the couch on the main floor that the kids would run into. The spot where the carpet meets the hardwood in the main living area had nails sticking out.

Apart from the dirty and unsafe home, we were met with other miscellaneous frustrations. The house had 2 hot tubs. One hot tub was broken and the other one was fixed halfway through our vacation. The listing of the house features pictures of a beautiful pool and if you do not read through the ad several times you might be tricked into thinking that pool was a part of the property. The water on the side of the house was off and there was no hose to use to rinse off after playing in the sand. One of the row boats had a hole in it and was unable to be used. As the kayak paddles were broken we had to kayak with a singular broken paddle. An employee was at the house almost every day without notice using the washing machine in the garage. He would randomly appear in or around the house oblivious to all of the problems discussed in this review.

Near the end of the week, the homeowner had the nerve to ask for more money towards a cleaning fee.

That was the final straw.

We do not recommend this VRBO home to anybody. The state of the home matches bad reviews from several years ago. It is unfortunate that people are spending their hard earned money on a place like this filled with false promises and...

Horrible owner. Dilapidated property. Death-trap beds. Railings on the deck could fall at any moment. There is a clear lack of pride in ownership, and it will result in injury sooner or later. Owner surveillance.

We arrived at the home for our family vacation. Upon entering the property, it was clear the space had not been cleaned in weeks (visible grime build up on baseboards, cobwebs on siding, apparent overgrowth on landscaping). The bathrooms were disgusting. Toilet paper holder hanging off the wall. Water fixtures not working correctly.

There were not enough linens provided for each bed. Also, to find the linens that were provided, you had to hunt from closet to closet and put them on yourselves.

We also rented the house next door on the same property. A member of our family had to deep clean and open the windows to get the sewage smell out. The owner informed us that we would not receive any type of credit for the cleaning labor.

One of our family members, a teenager, was speaking on the phone in the front driveway after 10 o clock on a Friday night. The owner texted a member of our party informing her that we were too loud because the phone call was being picked up on the many surveillance cameras in the front. At that time, all members of our party felt we were being watched.

The bunk beds are not up to safety standards. They were clearly constructed by someone who does not understand carpentry because the only support keeping each platform above the other is the deck screws in the 2 x 4 used to build the frame. The wood platforms do NOT rest on any type of support beam. As soon as a few of those screws give in or come loose, the weight of the platform will fall. Simple instructions on building can show you the correct way for bunk bed construction. There are bunk beds in almost every room of this house.

Also, the decks on the shore of the lake are falling into the water and are not safe, especially for children. One stairway on the deck of the house is dilapidated and instead of fixing it, they put a potted tree in the way of the stairs so people don't use it. The usable stairway is about to fall over, along with the deck railing.

Finally, the owner blames us for damaging the lower-level TV, when our party rarely used the room. The tv looked as if plastic had not been pulled all the way off. We attempted to turn it on, and it would not, so we left it. The owner claims we damaged it and is forcing us to replace it.

Michigan is a beautiful state with many lake-front properties. Find a different one. We wish...

The owner does not represent his property or his responses to reviews with honesty. He reports that we canceled his reservation to cancel a concert, which is untrue and he knows that through the messages within the Airbnb application. Below is further information on the situation.

We had booked the Airbnb 2 weeks prior and after attending a concert in Grand rapids, Thursday, may 8th. We had the Airbnb booked from May 9th to May 11th. Upon arrival to the rental at the agreed upon a time of arrival at 4:00 p.m., the property was under construction, feel free to check the metadata of the photos I attached on my initial review.

When we arrived at 3:58pm and upon arrival construction personnel were not only present on the property working and cutting wood, but they were actually inside of the house as well as late as 4:22 as we watched them pack up to leave.

When we called the owner frank, he informed us that he was going to be performing work throughout the weekend and on that Saturday afternoon when we would be occupying the property. During this phone call that occurred at 3:58 p.m. the owner informed us of this, and then told us that the garage was not part of the rental, which was clearly not listed at the Airbnb list.

After working with Airbnb support with the recorded evidence that I had submitted to their level 3 escalation team, they decided that it was in their best interest to cancel the reservation due to the anxiety myself and my partner had of having construction personnel in the property while we were supposed to be occupying it past our original check-in time.

I hope that this additional information brings light to the owning practices and operational practices of this property, it is a shame that business owners like this are allowed to send rental agreements that are outside of airbnbs guidelines, and then attempt to persuade customers to come back working through their system only and not Airbnb which is not good business in...