Ludington Pier House Motel — Hotel in Ludington

My fiancee and I were about an hour away from the hotel and it was about 9 PM when we received a call from the hotel staff. They let us know there would be no one in the office to check us in because it was going to be late by the time we got there (it was literally 10PM). They instructed us to first go to another hotel down the road to check in a get our key. Once we checked in and got our room key we had to find street parking by the building, which there was no spaces left that looked like it was considered the hotel so we had to park across the street.

Once we opened up the door to our room and realized the pictures online are very deceiving from the room we were standing in. Yes, the room was outdated but sometimes those are the best places to stay! But I did not have those feelings with this stay. Not only was this room outdated and rundown, it was NOT clean. When we first walked into the room, the air conditioner was running full blast and the smell of mildew and mold was overwhelming. We had to immediately turn it off and open a window because it felt a little hard to breathe. We just kept seeing more and more stuff the longer we were in there that had us grossed out and disappointed. There was water stains with black mold in the bathroom, and the floor was unswept. The bathroom “looked clean” but honestly at that point i don’t know if I’m even comfortable trusting that. We pulled the comforter back off the bed and you could see stains all over the sheets. I’d like to think that the bedding was washed and they just didn’t care about the stains because they were clearly old but who would want to sleep in that? The fridge seemed wiped out but once again they did not care that it clearly had something growing in there..

You know how I mentioned we had to go get our key from another building? Well we realized that there was not staff available to call after 11 PM, no way of voicing our concerns and disgust. We were 2.5 hours from home, everywhere near us was booked out for the night because at this point it was 10:45/11 pm. Our options were this room, or sleep in our car.

The following morning we went into the office to get a refund. I waited in the car while my finance went in. He showed the receptionist photos of our room but there’s no way they don’t know… they just don’t care and continue to let people stay. The women acted “shocked” by the photos and agreed that it was gross. She apologized and refunded our money for the second night we were going to stay, but did not refund our money for the night we stayed. There was mold, the air smelt like mold, it was dirty, and we had to sleep in a bed with stains, yet they still made us pay for the room.

With the reaction of the staff, this is normal for their business. They have an amazing location, I imagine it was once a great place. Unfortunately they do not take care of their business.

WE DO NOT...

We stayed at this hotel on two different nights. The first night we had a room in the motel on the first floor. The room was large but dated. The bathroom was unnecessarily small. It should have used more of the space available rather than allocating too much space to sink/counter. The toilet was one of the lowest I have ever encountered which was exceptionally difficult to use as I have had knee surgery. When I asked at the office if there were any rooms with a more accessible bathroom for our next stay in a few days, the person was unconcerned and almost rude. On our return our room was in the annex. There is no parking for the annex, We did find a place on the street but that meant carrying luggage a longer distance than necessary. The stairway to the second floor at the door was so steep and the steps were so short in depth that when combined with the carpet on them I was afraid to try to climb them. Eventually I found the front stairway (no signage) which was only slightly better and inadequately lighted. The hand rail stopped before you reached the second floor. No breakfast is included although there was a coffee maker in the room. The blind on the recessed floor level windows were almost impossible to reach to close even though they faced the main street. The swimming pool was closed.||Although this was once a good spot in Ludington, it has gone downhill and needs updating including those related to...

The good:

1. Within walking distance to the beach. The bad:
2. The motel still uses keys for the room. The keys are not marked as "Do Not Duplicate" so anyone could have a copy made. Unless the motel changes the locks after every checkout (doubtful), anyone with a copy of the key could enter your room. Pretty scary.
3. The TV got 1 channel. The weather Channel.
4. When I tried to call the front desk regarding the TV (9:30 pm) there was no answer. I walked to the office and it was closed. I called the support number and got a recording and left a voice mail with my name and cell phone number. I haven't heard from anyone since.
5. There is no elevator. If your room is on the second floor, you have to lug all your stuff up and down a flight of stairs on the outside of the building. Good luck if it's raining.
6. I was happy to see a beverage vending machine but it was not plugged in so it was not working.
7. The room had a musty smell.

Bottom line: Although I loved the proximity to the beach, I would not...