Cabins of Mackinac — Hotel in Mackinaw Township

I have never bullet pointed a review, however I do feel as though this review warrants it. •PROS -Very convenient as far as location, directly across the street from Arnolds Transit Ferry (who were wonderful). I believe it was 0.8 miles to Sheplers Ferry which we did not use so unable to comment. It is about a 2miles to do the full walk to the shops and back. But it is a beautiful view with shops or restaurants along the whole route. -Staff were nice. They didn't say much, but were respectful and informative. -Easy and cheap to travel with a pet. Understandably they do have you sign a waiver stating you will not leave your pet in your room unattended. So plus or a minus depending on your ability to bring them with on outings. My husband and I swapped places outside with the dog, while the other browsed stores that were not dog friendly, but a good chunk of them are. -Kid friendly. It was really nice having the outdoor pool, and water park available for the kids to play. Water park is open 2pm-10pm, I believe the outdoor is open all day. Some of the other reviews I read stated the water looked a bit cloudy. Can confirm, and my eyes are still burning 3 days later from the chlorine smell, I never dunked my head. But the kids say they are fine, so consider that how you'd like. But overall nice to give the kids time to blow off some energy and play in the water. -Price. You really couldn't go wrong with the price. It was a great deal to get the family away for a short trip before school started again. It was nice to be able to save a little bit more on the hotel and spend more on activities for the kids first vacation. So we knew there was a good possibility there would be some "quirk's". •CONS -Unsure when the last updates were done on the buildings, but there were a few code violations easily noted by some cheap do it yourselfers. We stayed in the hotel portion, so cannot comment on the state of the cabins. -It would have been nice to have a microwave in the room, however it did not state in the description of the room that there was one. That was absolutely my mistake, just worth noting for takeout purposes. You do have a college dorm sized mini fridge, but you cannot reheat your leftovers. -Bedding, oh the bedding. First, there was no fitted sheets on either queen sized bed. We couldn't even help but laugh that the top sheet that they used instead, was a full sized turned sideways. So it didn't reach head to toes. We pulled them down so the pillows sat on the non sheeted part, this was both beds. There was a mattress protector on both beds. The beds were not completely made, so the first night all of the bedding ended up on the floor. -Toiletries,Towels. When we checked in kids inevitably had to use the bathroom for the 76th time since starting the drive. And we had 1/4 of toilet paper. Not a single towel. 5 hrs and multiple requests later we got toilet paper and 2 towels, one ended up being wet. Both bath towels despite the reservation for 4 people. We brought beach towels so we just used those too. The shower, I wish it was professional to use emojis on reviews. My husband is 5'8"(he says) and when he told me he had to bend over to rinse his hair I thought he was full of crap. I am 5'6" and I had to tip that shower head up as far as it would go, and it shot directly at my sternum. It was truly a trick and a half to wash your hair and body. Not sure about other rooms but our shower had a lowered ceiling and a 6' person could not stand comfortably. And the ceiling was pealing. The shower head had significant mold, as did the shower itself. The tub was put in at an odd angle so when you turn on the faucet water shoots off the rim and onto the floor, and immediately into the carpet less than a foot away. So I'd bet there is mold there. The bathroom was just large enough for my 5'6" self to sit on the toilet and only shimmy a little bit to open or shut the door if necessary to yell to the kids. Definitely not large enough for even an adult and younger child. It was convenient and cheap, but...

I wish that I could give a negative star rating to this company. The ABSOLUTE worst experience I have ever had with customer service & a hotel/cabin. Worst experience, period. I had booked a stay with them last summer but was never given a confirmation number, email, check in times, policies, etc. David was extremely polite when talking to me about the cabins on the phone. I told him that he had some negative reviews on social media but he assured me that new management was in place and turning things around. I called in the morning to get info on the cabins, put a hold on a room for a two night stay and then called later that night to confirm & inquire about their policies. When I called that night, "Candy" answered and told me she could not find my reservation. After about five minutes of being place on hold, she miraculously found it. I inquired about dates, options for the stay, check in times, etc. She asked me if I was cancelling my stay because I had inquired about other dates and I told her that I was not cancelling but that I was looking for additional information. That I had not been provided with an email or any sort of confirmation after taking all of MY info. She put me on hold again and when she returned, she told me she had cancelled my stay and charged my card in full. The amount she charged to my card was $587 even though David told me that for the ENTIRE stay {taxes & pet fee included}, the amount was $529. I asked to speak to a manager and she refused to transfer me, then told me he had just stepped out then said that he had left for the day but that he actually was the one that had charged me {even though she said she had charged me}. Is your head spinning yet? I told her I was not cancelling and that I did not approve her to charge my card. I also said that the amount was different than what David had told me. She accused me of lying and started to yell at me telling me that I was wrong. She then said she had tried to help me but that she would be fired and that David charged my card after she BEGGED him not to. Didn't she just tell me David charged my card? She hung up on me so I called the next day to talk to David. He was no help & extremely rude to me. He accused me of lying. Also said that I had cancelled and therefore they could not refund the charge to my card. He said I had agreed on the amount of $587. I was frustrated to tears at this point from the complete runaround. I immediately contacted my card company to file for fraud as he charged my card with NO approval and for an amount I didn't even know about. He cancelled my stay without my permission. They filed a case and when it got to him, he denied everything. He states that he provided me with the cancellation policy & the correct amount that I signed off on everything. He, of course, had my card number to HOLD {not charge} the room. Typically hotels put your CC on file to hold until you stay. I have NEVER had a company charge me ahead of time and for an amount that was NOT clearly stated in a confirmation email. Because of his claim, I was not refunded by my card company and have to further pursue this to be made right. He is a LIAR. I cannot believe how many people he has done this to. His business deserves to be closed and EVERYONE deserves to be refunded for their troubles alone. I have now contacted: VISA, Econo Lodge, Choice Hotels, City of Mackinaw, The Attorney General of Michigan, the BBB of Michigan & the FTC. I am also going to every site that I can think of to make sure people KNOW what kind of person he is & what kind of company he is running. FYI: Econo Lodge & Choice Hotels have nothing to do with his company. They both confirmed this. Please do yourself a favor and do not book your stay with Cabins of Mackinaw. Save yourself the stress, the headache...

This property needs to be closed permanently, I can't see a way forward with it, even with new ownership. Let's start with the appearance. The outward appearance of the "cabins" look decent enough as you drive into the weirdly cramped parking lot. No issues checking in, the staff seems to be doing the best they can. We stayed in room 105, which is connected to the office. There were what seemed like actual cabins there, but these are clearly not. What we found is that there was just a fake wooden paneling that adorns the outside. Inside, it's clear this was an old motel from ages ago that really has only been slightly upgraded and retrofitted to look like it's worth the price. Let's talk about the price for a moment, which is enough to entice people thinking they are getting "something a little extra" but about twice as much as a cheap value hotel. Do not believe the hype, this property falls short on all accounts. Next, when it comes to cleanliness, the property just misses at every opportunity. Sure, the cups and ice caddy seemed to be clean, but any inspection of the underside of bed or behind anything, and you will find trash, unfortunate stains, and just general dirtiness. As for safety, this is a big one, because I had a thought at some point that we were actually not fully safe during our visit there. There was an annoying buzzing that we just could not get over. It was intermittent, and high pitched. For noise sensitive people, please stay away! The maintenance worker (whom I believed managed multiple properties, and this was a summer weekend) had to be called in, and was not nearby to fix issues immediately. He stated he messed with the gas settings (!) to attempt to fix the noise issue. I did a quick walk around the property and found wayward electrical lines, old meters, and a lack of vision when it came to the nature of how the property was laid out. It was basically like puzzle pieces that didn't fit together forced into place. This screams to me "unsafe." Don't get me started on the old electronics and 60's light fixtures. Lastly, I have one more comment on the safety of the place, but it comes from a perspective of someone who has children that are around 7 years old. They have a "waterpark" in a large indoor space. If you are looking for a quiet pool with a few pools and hot tubs, forget it. It's literally an indoor version of a water park playground you may find at places like Michigan's Adventure or other outdoor water parks. It's clear that the engineering of such a thing was done quickly and without thought for safety of the children. I saw children as young as 2 running up and down hard metal stairs that were constantly being splashed. On more than one occasion a child would run screaming from the structure. I honestly believe it's only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured. My oldest chipped his tooth in half and was bleeding everywhere. The "lifeguard" was no more than a young kid that basically ran away when we told him what happened. Seriously, keep the kids away, even though it looks like a blast (I'm sure it is when it's run properly and not stuck into a small area.) In conclusion, stay far away from this property. Spend a little less and stay nearby at the Super 8. Not only will you get better service, but you won't be putting your life in the hands of someone who cares...