Grand Beach Resort Hotel — Hotel in East Bay Township

The headline here is that after a long day of travel, we checked in around 10:30pm to find our room (a room that cost us $466 per night) swarming with gnats (see the attached photos). We called the front desk, asking to change rooms, and they basically told us: "too bad." They said that we couldn't change rooms, and then they just put the blame on housekeeping. "Somebody must have left the door open," was their explanation. ||I told them that I wasn't confused about how the bugs got in, but I was confused about how they could possibly sign off on leaving a room swarming with bugs for their guests.||They told us that they could try to send somebody to kill the bugs, but that it would take a long time, and we'd need to have a lot of patience. We didn't want chemicals sprayed in our room, and the front desk was so rude on the phone that at that point, we started scrambling to try to find a room in another hotel, but everything was booked. ||So, I got to work and just started killing as many bugs as I could, smashing them with Kleenex. A few minutes later, we got a generic "welcome" text from the front desk. We texted back about the bugs. Their only response was that it was "sad."||It took me a little over an hour to kill most of the bugs that were swarming on the ceiling. We eventually collapsed onto the bed and tried to fall asleep. Throughout the night, we could feel bugs crawling on us. The next morning, we woke up to a bunch of gnats in our bed and on our pillows.||It should also be noted that when we arrived, we weren't met with a smile or a warm greeting. It's like the front desk representative was annoyed by our presence. We got our key and walked by 3 other staff members--2 behind the desk, and one on the other side, who were just hanging out. When I passed them, I smiled and said "hello," only to be met with a scowl.||Not a great sign. I looked at my wife and said, "Well, it's not the Four Seasons." We laughed about it, but when we entered our room... That's when we saw the thousands of bugs swarming all over the ceiling. (I wish I took more photos, but we were both a little too rattled to think about that.)||The next day, we actually got a call from an offsite manager. We told her what had happened, and that's when we received our first apology. (To her credit, it was a welcome change of tone from what we had experienced so far.) She told us that she'd send a cleaning crew up (this hotel only sends housekeeping to your room once every 3 days, and she acted as if sending a cleaning crew was a big favor to us.)||She also told us that she'd take $100 off the nightly rate (a promise that wasn't kept).||When we returned to our room, it was thankfully in much better shape. The hundreds of dead bugs around the sliding glass door were vacuumed up. This is really how the room should have looked when we first checked in. ||When we checked out, our experience was insult to injury. The front desk told us that they had taken $60 off our bill. I asked to speak to a manager. A young man emerged from a back room, and couldn't have been more surly and combative. It's like he was looking for a fight. He did explain that it was actually $100 taken off our bill--the front desk person didn't explain that the $60 credit included $40 in incidental charges.||I said that we were told that it was going to be $100 off the nightly rate. He shrugged. Then I said that if this were my hotel, I'd (at the very least) comp the first night's stay, since it was such a nightmare. He told me that it was our fault for deciding to stay in the room, instead of changing to a different room. I said we obviously tried to change rooms, but at that point, I decided to drop it and just leave this awful place.||This is the worst hotel I've ever stayed in. $50 per night would have felt like a ripoff. $466 per night was a slap in the face.||I'd avoid this place...

This lodging is well-situated and clean, and fine for a brief stay, but I really wouldn’t call it a “resort” and wouldn’t recommend it for extended stays. This is more “motel” or “inn” than a “resort hotel.”

Some features: a small convenience store near front desk, a small arcade room with a change machine, and coin laundry machines ($2 each to wash or dry, detergents available for purchase). Coffee is available 24/7 in the lobby via 2 keurig machines.

Pros: (1) Their best feature is the private beach and access to the lake, and all of the water sports there (extra fee for equipment rental - kayaks, motor boats, jet skis - as this is outsourced to external vendors). (2) They’re fantastic about providing clean beach towels any time you request them, whether you use them for the pool or the beach. This might be their second best feature. (3) Their staff members were generally polite, but aloof. They had no problems letting us use the pool or have beach access while waiting for our room.

Cons: (1) The rooms and furniture are dated, as are the microwaves, refrigerators and coffee makers - our coffee maker wouldn’t stay on unless you held the cord up at a certain angle, which was super annoying. (2) Our only phone in the room was broken, so we were unable to call the front desk about our rickety coffee maker, and had to walk to the front desk to make any requests or speak with anyone about anything. We tried calling the main number from our cell phones but only got an answering service. (3) They only changed our sheets once during our 4 night stay - I assume a COVID hangover. (4) Breakfast (one of 4 boxed choices you choose from) is included but hardly impressive. The only “hot” breakfast choice was the microwaveable sausage, egg and cheese biscuit. I’ve stayed at multiple motels and inns during recent road trips where they provided a hot breakfast station for waffles, hot eggs and sausages, in addition to baked goods, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt and a variety of juices and fruits. I assume this is also a COVID hangover. (5) The pool and hot tub were fine but nothing fancy. However, it smelled badly of urine along the wall adjacent to the arcade. I suspect a kid just peed there recently into the drainage grates, but the smell was very strong which made me think if something else was the problem, like a broken bathroom stall within the pool room (which wasn’t the case because the bathroom you access from the pool is outside the pool room and down the hall a bit). I informed a maintenance guy who happened to walk by but didn’t return to the pool another time to find out if it was addressed and resolved. (6) But this is the most disturbing part of our stay: housekeeping came by after our third night and changed linens but failed to securely pull the door closed (our door was sticky and didn’t close all the way easily - always had to yank it to close it), so we returned from a whole day out to find our room unlocked. Our friends’ room right next to us was worse - housekeeping propped their door open using the latch as a stopper and forgot to put the latch back in its resting state, so their door was left open even more obviously.

We walked to the front desk (see Con #2) to let them know of this and asked to speak with the manager, and the nice, young staff didn’t seem very concerned about our room’s security but also said that management is not available until the next morning. I found the absence of a manager to be a problem - there should always be a manager on site in my opinion.

I wanted to give it just one star but I’m giving two for being on the beach and cheerily providing endless beach towels. But not much else going for it. I don’t think I’ll be returning here next time I’m in...

What formerly was a beautiful and wonderful place to stay is now just another commercialized hotel along the overpriced stretch in Traverse City.

The location and beach access is convenient but that's about the only positives from our experience.

I grew up coming to this hotel every summer for years, the staff was always wonderful, accommodating and friendly. I was looking forward to returning after a very difficult few months dealing with health issues for a weekend of relaxation. Unfortunately, this hotel no longer exists to provide hospitality but more so, to do the absolute bare minimum. While charging a premium, mind you.

The rooms and property were always clean and well maintained. This is no longer the case.

The "complimentary breakfast" is actually laughable. I was aware it wouldn't be a hot continental breakfast, disappointing but fine. Breakfast is a cardboard box with the most lackluster selections are delivered to your room after you fill out a paper slip at the front desk, each day of your stay. Not only is the system inconvenient, the food provided was disgusting. Jimmy Dean frozen sandwiches you microwave in your room, microwave oatmeal cup, random bruised fruit, yogurt, and don't bother if you have any allergies or dietary restrictions.

Prior to arrival, I called a few days ahead to inquire specifically about the breakfast options since I have allergies. The staff member was initially rude upon answering the phone and became increasingly annoyed when I asked questions about allergens for the complimentary breakfast and their allergy protocol. Surely, I can't be the first person with allergens they have had as a guest. The staff member insisted they could not provide allergen information ahead of check in and insisted the front desk would have information upon arrival. Upon arrival, that was not the case. Not one staff member had the slightest awareness of any allergen information and barely made eye contact during check in.

Be prepared for additional fees and charges on your credit card, eventually they fall off and it's their prerogative but it wasn't made clear upon booking directly through their website how they do their charges and seemed excessive, especially for the quality of service and accommodations.

The room was not clean, after driving all day and dealing with the unfriendly check in, the room was disappointing. The balcony was unusable for all the spiders and cobwebs that clearly haven't been cleaned. Which is interesting since an early check in wasn't available but yet no one had clearly been in cleaning that room.

I inquired that their beach facing rooms were currently available for a lower price than we booked our parking lot view room and if we could be moved to a beach front room since we already paid more than their current booking price. I didn't want a refund, exchange of the difference, or any money back, just moved since they clearly had the rooms available. It was end of season and weather was predicted to be rainy, and it was. The staff member was again incredibly rude.

With so many places to stay in the area, don't bother...