Tawas Bay Beach Resort & Conference Center — Hotel in East Tawas

I came out to lake Tawas for a wedding and chose this place due to proximity to the wedding. The online reservation system is outdated and clearly has issues in the backend. I am a software engineer, I can use a website, and somehow ended up with a booking for a king bed handicap bay side room. I didn’t check the invoice immediately as I should have. Assuming I made an error I called to ask about my stay and see if I could update anything. I was told no and rushed off the phone before I could ask about my check in time which was 7pm for some reason. I called back shortly after to check on my arrival time. The lady answers the phone and sounds annoyed even saying “how can I help you again”, in a near sarcastic tone and before I could finish explaining, I was told I had to call back day of my stay to get early arrival and was rushed off the phone both conversations being 30 seconds or less. If the front desk let me finish explaining, they could have answered my question no problem. The lady working the front desk is impatient and throughout the weekend I could summarize her as being very rude.

I arrived and signed my paperwork saying that I had the room matching my invoice and was given the keycard. I go to the room and it’s the wrong room facing the city rather than the bay. I was also charged for the bay and not the city view. I went back and checked on this. The lady at the front desk assumed I was wrong about my reservation and consistently cut me off until I pulled out my phone and showed her my reservation and asked her to double check the paperwork I just signed, it also said bay side. Same lady as the phone calls. Very rude. At this point I’m still trying to be patient as I had no other place to stay in a city I’ve never been to and said fine just adjust the cost for the worse room. She said they’re the same price, when I booked the room they definitely were not. I walked away to cool off and checked the prices on the site as I have no record of what the prices were before. Checking the site that day the prices were different. She didn’t even bother to check and was just trying to get me to go away. I go back to the front desk and still being calm show her the price difference on the site and tell her I would like to speak to a manager about my problem. Of course there’s no manager available for me on Memorial Day weekend at a beach side “resort” on a Saturday at 5pm. I was told to come back the next day when the manager would be available. I come back the next day still patient and calm ready to speak with the manager. No manager. The same lady at the desk told me I would be contacted that day since they had my number on file. I go to the wedding and leave it for later. Never contacted me. It is now time for me to checkout the next day and no one has done anything to reach out to me. I go back to the front desk to check and I was told the manager refunded me $20 as that was the difference between the rooms. $20 on $270 a night for how big this screw up is, is not acceptable. However I still just want this to be resolved, so I just check my account while standing there to see if this has occurred and I see that they refund me $20 but then charge me $20. Which essentially means they did nothing. At this point I show her the transactions and she is looking at them and says that’s not what’s happening, while I’m literally showing her the two transactions. That’s when I snapped and demanded to speak with the manager, still not yelling, not name calling, having said please and thank you through every interaction with this rude, impatient woman. She called the manager from her phone. The manager says she refunded the $20 for the early check in, which I never got. I checked in at 5 and their standard check in is 4. The manager doesn’t know what’s going on, the lady behind the desk is shoving paperwork in my face of their records which does not supersede my bank transaction records. At this point I tell them when the transactions all settle I will be appealing the weekend with my credit...

I was very disappointed by my stay at your establishment and to be honest a little scared. I arrived early and was happy that I was able to check in early. I moved my luggage to the room and upon arriving was happy to see that the room appeared clean. In light of the situation with the Covid 19 Virus Pandemic that was a huge concern for me. However, I did notice that the toilet had toilet paper in it still. It took a couple of flushes to get it to flush properly and I had brought my own Lysol wipes and wiped it down along with the rest of the bathroom, just in case. I then left to attend a family event nearby so I was not there for several hours and returned to the hotel at approximately 9:15 PM. It was still early in the evening so I decided to get a drink and something to eat before the close time of 10:00 PM. I went out to the beach bar and I was appalled by the condition of the bar. Not only was it completely full but was very dirty. I went to the bar to place an order for food and a drink but was ignored by the bartender and servers passing by me for well over 15 minutes. I finally asked a Server that was passing by if I could place an order and she told me that they were no longer serving anything. However, the bartender was still serving drinks to others standing at the bar and it was not 10:00 PM yet. I went to the other end of the bar and a few minutes after 10:00 PM was finally able to get the bartender's attention to make me a couple of drinks. I was told I could not order food however. I then left the bar area with the drinks and took them back to my room as I didn't feel comfortable in such a dirty, crowded place. I left them in the room to see about using the hot tub before it was closed at 11:00 PM. There, I noticed again how dirty the pool and hot tub area was and left without using it as well. I understand that it was late when I tried to get service but I tried to order before the cut off time only to not get what I wanted. So I was not able to use the $20 food/drink credit completely. Upon returning to my room I found that the toilet broke the first time I tried to flush it again. The exterior doors that were supposed to be closed and locked, were being held open and people were coming and going without a card key and drinking outside of them. So now, I paid nearly $200 a night for a room that I couldn't get the services promised, had a broken toilet and felt was not only unsafe but didn't follow proper safety procedures as outlined by the State of Michigan. This will not only be my first time at your establishment, but it will be my last time. I am also seriously considering contacting the proper authorities about your business practices. I will also be posting my comments on various websites to warn people about your business practices.

I understand that it has been a rough few months for your business but this is not a good way to run the hotel if you hope to stay in business. I feel I overpaid for the room and the...

My son and I stayed at the Tawas Bay Beach Resort on December 23, 2017 in order to visit my father who is in a local care facility. Since my parents moved to Oscoda in 1994, our family has had many stays at the Tawas Bay Beach Resort, even going back to when it was a Holiday Inn. The place itself has always left much to be desired, but being that it is nearly the "only game in town" our choices are limited. After each stay my family and extended family members have all agreed that the Tawas Bay Beach Resort appears to be going faster and faster downhill. The employees are pleasant enough, but the actual facility is in dire need of some refurbishing and renewal. Not only does it give you the feeling of being in a beat up place, but when you have concerns the manager is no where to be found. Our concern on our latest stay was a cockroach in our room. When we alerted the front desk after spotting it, there was instant denial. Anyone knows basic biology 101 about cockroaches. If you've seen one, there are plenty more just waiting to make their entrance. In a word, we were disgusted. The receptionist at the front desk told me that the manager would give me a call. Here it is, 34 days later, and no phone call. In the very least I expected to be compensated for the one night stay since it was highly likely that I shared my room with more than one cockroach which was not my intention, nor was it my expectation. What I do expect is for employees to not argue about whether or not a cockroach was sighted. It actually climbed into my son's Xbox, which I insisted he throw away. As you can see, in the end this one night cost was more than anticipated and the frustration of not being attended to in a professional manor has forced this narrative. What I find most odd is that in the summer when you drive by the "resort" the parking lot is packed so providing a better room than reserved is most likely not an option. From what I noticed there were three cars in the parking lot the evening and morning of our stay. Now, call me crazy, but if you're in the hospitality business and your hotel is not even close to being 5% booked, don't you think the wise thing to do would be to give patrons upgrades to their rooms? Believe me, this fact is a minor irritant compared to the creatures the roam inside the wall, floorboards, and most likely mattresses of the Tawas Bay Beach Resort. Oh, and the one star is for the employees, many of whom rely on the owner and management to do their jobs so that they can continue to support their families in one of the few places of employment in a sleepy and quaint Huron Lake town. That is who I really feel sorry for as our bartenders, when we sat at the bar and had dinner (before knowing of the bugs) continued to buy instant Michigan Lottery tickets while working, trying to win a little cash to better their lives. By the way, the dinner was the best microwaved meal, veiled as gourmet, that has ever...