Best Western Plus Dockside Waterfront Inn — Hotel in Mackinaw Township

At 240$/night this hotel was a huge disappointment. We stayed in Mackinaw City while visiting Mackinaw island. The island is overpriced but beautiful and relaxing. The city is overpriced and reminiscent of Valley Forge, TN; a tourist trap that you need to pay through to get to the nice place (Gatlinburg in that case). Staying at the BW+ in Mackinaw City nullified the relaxing atmosphere on Mackinaw island.

The front desk staff were ok at check in. They tried to upsell us on other items, claiming a 10% discount on tickets for other venues. But they didn't offer most of the tickets we needed (like bike tickets for the island ferry). The front desk staff were unhelpful later in our stay. Most of the staff were unfriendly or rude. I was surprised that many staff wouldn't smile back, or return greetings.

The very large lounge area is used as a staging ground for equipment and cleaning supplies.

It turned out that there was a trucker parade from 9:00 - 10:30 pm on the second night of our stay. Basically 18-wheelers driving 5mph blowing their horns and engine breaking for a crowd on the sidewalk. That's an annual event, so be on notice in mid September. Not great when you have a little kid trying to sleep. We asked for a late check out so that we could let our kid sleep in and still spend some time at the 'water park'. They offered to let us stay until 12 rather than 11. Then they said that all the other guests enjoyed the truck show (23rd Annual Richard Crane Memorial Truck Show), and indicated that I had no reason to be unhappy. I'm fairly certain that many other guests were similarly surprised by the event, as they were out on the walkways loudly complaining/discussing how crazy the situation was.

Our plan for the next day was to go to the water park advertised on the hotel web site. They advertise providing free access to the 'Pirates adventure water park', which is basically the pool area for another hotel down the street. What they don't mention on the hotel amenities web site is that it's only open after 2 pm on Sundays. Which was way too late to visit with our kid on the day we were checking out. As you might imagine, it makes for a pretty unhappy little one when the planned for water park day turns into a day of driving.

The hotel staff allowed a wedding party with several drunk guys monopolize the hot tub, including drinking right in the hot tub. They were pouring their drinks from glass bottles while sitting in the hot tub. Normally I wouldn't fault staff for this, but the front desk had plain view of the hot tub through glass windows right beside them. There were also around 15 people in a 12 person stated occupancy hot tub. One of the women was drunk enough to need a friend's help for going to the bathroom.

The hotel room was spacious, and furnished ok, with the furnishing about on par with a 85-100$ room elsewhere. That said, one of the drawers in the room was broken. The AC had a rat-sized dust bunny in the vents, it looked like it hasn't seen maintenance in a while, but the A/C worked fine.

Our room looked over the lake, with a nice looking beach below, and large docks on either side for the very large ferries. Keep in mind the beach is right beside a parking lot. The lake is quite cold, which made the beach less helpful as an amenity. The very nice looking indoor pool water is about the same temperature as the lake (it feels colder the longer you stay in). The hot tub is nice, but it's not a spa.

The food at breakfast was mediocre. Not a great selection. The Folgers coffee machine dispensed hot muddy liquid without much taste. Plan on getting a real coffee elsewhere. There is a Starbucks a few blocks north.

Based on other reviews, I expect the management to put a one liner response to this review, and change nothing. They didn't seem concerned when I expressed to the front desk that this hotel didn't meet expectations. Good luck to future guests on having a...

One of the Worst Hotel Experiences We’ve Had – Avoid Room 201

We stayed at the Best Western Plus Dockside Waterfront Inn in Mackinaw City on June 17th and checked into Room 201. Right away, we noticed there was no body wash in the shower dispenser — not a huge issue in itself, but worth noting that there’s also no shelf or ledge in the shower to place a bar of soap. Not exactly convenient.

Things got significantly worse from there.

On the morning of June 18th, we found the bathroom floor completely soaked — water was leaking through the ceiling light fixture. We called the front desk and they sent up housekeeping with towels to mop it up. After waiting 30 minutes with no further follow-up, we called again. This time, maintenance arrived, opened the ceiling fixture, and told us the leak was coming from the shower in the room above. They said they’d seal around it. We never heard anything more.

On the morning of June 19th, we woke up to the same issue: water dripping through the ceiling light. This time, the leak was so bad that if you sat on the toilet, the water would drip directly onto your head. Same situation when stepping out of the shower — water dripping right on you. Absolutely unacceptable.

We called the front desk again and were told we could use a bathroom in a room on the fourth floor — not move there, just use it. We had no interest in running up and down floors to shower and use the restroom. We asked to speak with the manager and were told he’d be in at 9:30 AM. Maintenance returned and said the leak couldn’t be properly fixed unless they opened the ceiling — but they wouldn’t do that while we were in the room.

Again, no follow-up or communication from hotel staff.

At 10:30, we went to check out and asked to speak with the manager. He finally appeared and said he’d “upgrade our room.” I told him we were checking out as scheduled and not interested in any upgrade. He said nothing further and just handed over the receipt. No apology. No offer of a discount or compensation.

After leaving, I returned to ask why there was no reduction in our bill, given the serious maintenance issue and lack of usable facilities. The manager came out, stood there in silence, then told me he couldn’t offer a discount. He claimed the problem was “resolved,” even though it clearly was not. I suggested he speak to maintenance while I was there — he refused. When I told him he was handling the situation poorly, his only apology was: “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

This manager was rude, dismissive, and unprofessional. Our stay was ruined by plumbing issues, poor communication, and complete indifference from hotel leadership. For what we paid, we expected basic functioning facilities and decent customer service — we got neither.

Do yourself a favor and stay elsewhere.

p.s. I did tell the manager what he should do to himself when he made a comment after I told the clerk that I was sorry she had to work for such a...

We stayed at the Best Western Plus Dockside Waterfront Inn in Mackinaw City on June 17th and checked into Room 201. Right away, we noticed there was no body wash in the shower dispenser — not a huge issue in itself, but worth noting that there’s also no shelf or ledge in the shower to place a bar of soap. Not exactly convenient.||Things got significantly worse from there.||On the morning of June 18th, we found the bathroom floor completely soaked — water was leaking through the ceiling light fixture. We called the front desk and they sent up housekeeping with towels to mop it up. After waiting 30 minutes with no further follow-up, we called again. This time, maintenance arrived, opened the ceiling fixture, and told us the leak was coming from the shower in the room above. They said they’d seal around it. We never heard anything more.||On the morning of June 19th, we woke up to the same issue: water dripping through the ceiling light. This time, the leak was so bad that if you sat on the toilet, the water would drip directly onto your head. Same situation when stepping out of the shower — water dripping right on you. Absolutely unacceptable.||We called the front desk again and were told we could use a bathroom in a room on the fourth floor — not move there, just use it. We had no interest in running up and down floors to shower and use the restroom. We asked to speak with the manager and were told he’d be in at 9:30 AM. Maintenance returned and said the leak couldn’t be properly fixed unless they opened the ceiling — but they wouldn’t do that while we were in the room.||Again, no follow-up or communication from hotel staff.||At 10:30, we went to check out and asked to speak with the manager. He finally appeared and said he’d “upgrade our room.” I told him we were checking out as scheduled and not interested in any upgrade. He said nothing further and just handed over the receipt. No apology. No offer of a discount or compensation.||After leaving, I returned to ask why there was no reduction in our bill, given the serious maintenance issue and lack of usable facilities. The manager came out, stood there in silence, then told me he couldn’t offer a discount. He claimed the problem was “resolved,” even though it clearly was not. I suggested he speak to maintenance while I was there — he refused. When I told him he was handling the situation poorly, his only apology was: “I’m sorry you feel that way.”||This manager was rude, dismissive, and unprofessional. Our stay was ruined by plumbing issues, poor communication, and complete indifference from hotel leadership. For what we paid, we expected basic functioning facilities and decent customer service — we got neither.||Do yourself a favor and stay elsewhere.||p.s. I did tell the manager what he should do to himself when he made a comment after I told the clerk that I was sorry she had to work for such a...