The Boyden House — Hotel in Grand Haven

Before diving into the cosmetic issues, I need to address the check-in experience, which was far from ideal. When we booked our stay, we received an initial email confirming a check-in time of 3 PM—totally understandable. However, five months later, on the day of our arrival, our second email neglected to mention this detail. After a long day of travel, including an overnight flight, we arrived around 11:00 AM feeling disoriented.||I called the number posted at the front door and was told, “Check-in isn’t until 3:00 PM, but we’ll try to get you in sooner if available.” I appreciated this response, considering our exhaustion. Unfortunately, the situation quickly turned disappointing. After four hours of wandering and waiting, we were eager to finally relax, only for the innkeeper to come outside and demand we move our car as soon as we arrived. Fair enough; we did that. What was frustrating was that they mentioned having checked in other guests who hadn’t even requested an early check-in—a clear oversight, especially for guests who had been awake for over 24 hours. This set a negative tone for our stay.||To make matters worse, we ultimately had to cut our visit short by a day and seek alternative accommodations because the air conditioner in our separate unit was broken. We tried to overlook the carpet in the bathroom, the filthy dishes left unwashed, the worn-out couch hidden under blankets, and the toilet paper holder that wasn’t even attached to the wall. There’s absolutely no excuse for renting out a space in such poor condition.||While the property itself is beautiful, the experience was lacking, and I cannot recommend this place to anyone. It’s time for more honest reviews to help others avoid wasting their...

Before diving into the cosmetic issues, I need to address the check-in experience, which was far from ideal. When we booked our stay, we received an initial email confirming a check-in time of 3 PM—totally understandable. However, five months later, on the day of our arrival, our second email neglected to mention this detail. After a long day of travel, including an overnight flight, we arrived around 11:00 AM feeling disoriented.

I called the number posted at the front door and was told, “Check-in isn’t until 3:00 PM, but we’ll try to get you in sooner if available.” I appreciated this response, considering our exhaustion. Unfortunately, the situation quickly turned disappointing. After four hours of wandering and waiting, we were eager to finally relax, only for the innkeeper to come outside and demand we move our car as soon as we arrived. Fair enough; we did that. What was frustrating was that they mentioned having checked in other guests who hadn’t even requested an early check-in—a clear oversight, especially for guests who had been awake for over 24 hours. This set a negative tone for our stay.

To make matters worse, we ultimately had to cut our visit short by a day and seek alternative accommodations because the air conditioner in our separate unit was broken. We tried to overlook the carpet in the bathroom, the filthy dishes left unwashed, the worn-out couch hidden under blankets, and the toilet paper holder that wasn’t even attached to the wall. There’s absolutely no excuse for renting out a space in such poor condition.

While the property itself is beautiful, the experience was lacking, and I cannot recommend this place to anyone. It’s time for more honest reviews to help others avoid wasting their...

My husband and I love to walk when we visit cities and the Boyden House is a 5 min walk into town. The neighborhood is beautiful, well lit, and we always felt safe walking back at night. We stayed in the Safari Den room that is quite spacious, but I must admit it needs a new paint job. Its so dark in that room even with the lights on and blinds open. Some furniture could use replacing, there were some noticeable rips in the fabrics. I will say though the Safari Den room seemed private away from other rooms a bit and with nothing but the kitchen and dining area below us we never felt like we weren't disturbing anyone. Our host and Innkeeper Shelly, was so great! Always greeted you with a smile and gave us the inside scoop of what was happening downtown. My only other suggestion to the management is to maybe list on a board what will be served at breakfast in the morning. We had baked Oatmeal and yogurt and my husband was not a fan, we probably would have skipped it if we would have known ahead of time. So some pros and cons but nothing that we felt ruined our stay and we would absolutely...