Silver Sands Hotel & Resort — Hotel in Golden Township

Been going up to Silver Sands resort for over 40 years.||We stayed elsewhere for the last 5-10 years because they HATE dogs and we had a dog. Our daughter was staying at the campground and brought her French Bulldog over on the street. The owner's wife came running over on a rampage saying no dogs on premises which we knew about as they told us this when we checked in. Our 12-year old granddaughter was standing in the public street with the dog next to the cottage.||||Silver Sands maintenance guy rudely confronted our 12-year old grand daughter. She was scared of him so she promptly walked the dog down to the pontoon rentals which was were we were going. The owner's wife lied and said we took the dog on the Silver Sands Dock next to the pontoon rental which she did not. This all transpired within 1-2 minutes. The owner's wife totally over-reacted about the dog. He was not on their property but on a public street and did not go on their dock.||||The owners stressed you have to have a tag visible on your car mirror to park outside of the cabins which we did. On Friday, a brigade of big wheel trucks hauling multiple vehicles showed up outside our cottage. They took up every parking spot (we needed only two). I called the owners and they could care less. In fact, the owner made a smart ass comment "are you the new parking attendant". None of these vehicles had blue parking tickets hanging on their mirrors.||||It just seemed odd that they went nuts over a dog being on a public street outside of the cottage for 30 seconds but didn't care that a brigade of unregistered vehicles took over the parking lot and we had no where to park.||||We rented Cottage I which claims it sleeps 10.||||1. The toilet doesn't flush properly and we only had 5 in the cottage and struggled to get the toilet to flush. I can't imagine if you had 10 people.||2. The shower is very difficult to get it to work many struggles getting it to work.||3. They give you one fan because there is no air conditioning which we knew. However, the fan they give you is a dilapidated piece of junk that barely works.||4. Carpet in the bedrooms is filthy dirty.||5. Doors are dilapidated and don't open or close easily.||6. Filthy charcoal old time grill that you see at state parks - no gas grill.||7. Beds are old and filthy.||||I could go on but bottom line Silver Sands is in desperate need of a renovation. It is clear the owners have been sucking this place dry for years and not put any money back into it. We paid $2,700 for a dilapidated cottage in desperate need of repairs,||||I WILL NEVER NEVER RENT HERE AGAIN. These dilapidated cabins are in desperate need of renovations but they are still charging top-dollar...

Just came back from a fun little family weekend at Silver Lake. The staff at Silver Sands could not have been more friendlier nor more welcoming. They were truly the best. This was a last minute trip I decided on, so I booked the last double room that they had. No cabins or anything else were available (though i would have loved to rent one); the double room was small, but totally fine for my family of 4. The place is dated, and the wifi was not good. at all. but those are my only complains. And honestly, I enjoyed the lack of wifi as I was there with my two teenagers, and my workaholic husband. This was the most phone free weekend I've had with my family in awhile lol (cell reception is also not the best not the hotel's fault thought). The property and rooms, while being dated have been maintained really really well. There aren't holes in the wall, or moldy caulk in the bathroom that you will find with most aging properties. The rooms and the pool were really clean (and cleanliness is extremely important to me, i'm usually disappointed at the cleanliness in most 4 or 5 star hotels). It's in the absolute best location. It's about a mile to the dunes (an easy mile at that we walked to the dunes from the hotel and then spent two hours hiking around the dunes and had an easy walk back to the hotel), it's right next to an ice cream place, right across from the General Store, right by putt putt, right across from Craigs cruisers (go carts, more putt putt, swan boats, zip line, arcade etc), and within walking distance to multiple restaurants (I recommend the chicken shack for lunch, and Golden Bakery for coffee/breakfast). Not to mention it is on the main drag. If you're into cars or dune buggies you'll enjoy watching everything go by all day. Also you have private beach access. Each room has access to plenty of BBQ's and picnic tables if that's your thing, you can bbq every night. I was there with older kids, but the pool and playground by the pool are totally set up nicely for parents with little kids. AC worked great, mini fridge worked great. Really this hotel exceeded my expectations. I will absolutely come back and stay at the Silver...

Our rooms had not been updated since the seventies. The beds squeaked horribly. As a 5’5” tall woman I could not fit my head under the shower head, I had to stand back and bend my head forward like I was washing my hair in a sink. My husband is 6’2” so he didn’t get a shower this weekend the water would have started at his belly button... The location is great, and they charge enough for the rooms that there is no excuse to never update the space. The sink drained very slowly, which is just nasty in a hotel and they should keep up better. Also the vent fan in the bathroom made horrible noises for the first two minutes you turned it on and was run by a ticking timer that you could hear through all of the cinder block walls. The living room couch was like something from the 80s or 90s- in the best case scenario, and it was complimented by two chairs that looked like they belonged in a dentists waiting room. Honestly it felt like we were staying in a prison. The space was reasonably clean when we arrived. The grout on the bathroom floors is pretty yucky, but I’m probably nitpicking there because I’m a housekeeper, I’m guessing theirs never cleans the grout.

I don’t think the condition of the place was worth what we paid. This was Labor Day 2025. We stayed in room 30. And I caution others against wasting their money, if you plan to book for 2026 season insist to see photos of any renovations they claim, otherwise trust my post and stay at any of the air bnb or other hotels in the area.

As a side note not controllable by the property but rejections on the decision to stay there, it was disappointing that so many of the dune town businesses were closed, and the restaurant next door, that was really limiting. The kids loved Craig’s cruisers but we could do that at home. :(

We came home a day early so we could...