Maple Lane Resort — Hotel in Empire Township

Quiet, quaint, CLEAN "Up North" Experience in a magnificent location. [TRAVEL TIP: to "get away from it all" in reclusive peace, be willing to leave the beaten path; for luxury, pay 2-3x the price for a Traverse City hotel instead of leaving bad reviews.] This cozy resort has plenty of room outdoors for group activities (including fire pit and playground), with quiet corners for a more private rendezvous. Spotlessly clean indoors. (Challenged by a review claiming "not a speck of dust," I ran my finger along the top of the window frame and found … not a speck of dust.) NOTE: my room was in the inn section, not the motel section. The inn rooms are larger and vintage (claw foot tubs w shower), while the motel rooms might be less roomy. While other inn rooms did have furniture, the Birch Room is minimalist (no dresser, no closet—I moved a table from bathroom to bedroom for luggage), with cane wicker chairs that might be comfy for someone tall and skinny. Updates were evident, including a GREAT mattress and thick curtains; honestly can't remember the last time I slept this well! Coffee maker and supplies in room, with other amenities (such as microwave, toaster, ironing board) in the office area. Yes, the inn has a long flight of stairs; not a problem for me, but maybe request a motel room if you have a lot of luggage. The manager replied promptly to my phone call and texts, so I can't complain about the service, but I'm old fashioned enough to still prefer seeing someone in the office, even at a homey resort. I hope to stay longer than two nights...

We booked our rooms for 2 nights in August, through homeaway, for their Chad room. It was our 12 yr anniversary. We were going to arrive late that night because of traffic so we called ahead to let them know. They said to call when we were 10 min out. We did, but they never answered. Arrived and the owners were acting very odd... which come to find out they over booked and decided to remove one of their workers from his room and bunk us in there. They obviously tried to clean, but it was full of this college students (and girl friends) stuff. It was the worst stay I've ever imagined anywhere.

Since it was so late we really had no choice but to stay. The next morning my husband tried to find the owner's to speak, but could only get ahold via phone. They completely understood why we wanted to leave and refunded us.

We then had to scramble to find a room somewhere else in traverse city. It was not at all how I expected to spend our weekend, and although we were refunded, they should have explained what happened when we called that afternoon instead of letting us drive alo the way there and then sticking us in a disgusting room.

The breakfast is basically coffee, juice, and some grocery store pastries, but when we were there a large group had basically camped out there and there was nothing left.

The location was great. Exactly why we wanted to stay there. But I would never stay there again and risk what...

My friend and I went to Sleeping Bear Dunes and needed a good resort last weekend or two weekends ago..We just wanted to get away from a city or technology for a weekend. We found a good place in Empire town to sleep in; Maple Lane Resort. One of the hosts was friendly and had no issue in communicating with us as the guests who were happened to be deaf and sign users: we used our phone to type what we said. Kept it simple. No complication. I asked her about what to do in Empire town and she immediate told me where and what to go or do.

About the resort, it looked cute in appearance and had a blue outdoor bench beside each room! How nice is it?!? The room with two queen beds looked so nice and had good sunlight. No need to turn a light on while daylight. They had cute and tone down colorful blanket that giving you a chilling beach feeling. They had tiny eco-friendly or organic type soaps & shampoo / conditioner...oh and a lotion!(they smelled great) There is a beach close to the resort. You can walk down to a beach in few or several minutes. After we checked out and gave keys back, other host was respectful and kept it simple. I asked him if it was ok to have some ices for my friend's cooler from the resort's outdoor ice machine and he said yes. We appreciated the hospitality from all the hosts of the resort ☺️👌🏼 Thank you, Maple...