Hamilton Inn Select Beachfront Mackinaw City — Hotel in Mackinaw Township

Third Edit: Upon calling the owner back, he mentioned the word "libel" multiple times. Whether their intent was malicious or not can never be known for certain, but I stand by my review and the events that followed the arrival at the hotel. Considering all the events and how they were handled, in context, the situation is concerning, to say the least. Second Edit: If you review the calls as mentioned below, you will find my contact information. I will also reach back out to provide for your staff. Edit: In response to the owner, the hotel was finally booked under [removed for privacy], and the stay was from 10/13/2023 to 10/16/2023. Specific calls that may be of interest to review:

October 17, October 18 and October 19 My mother took my grandfather on a well-deserved getaway that turned into a complete and utter disaster. Here's why: Uninformed Price Increase: Upon arrival, they were blindsided after being informed their was a credit card issue and the only remaining rooms were double the price. They claimed an email was sent to my grandfather, but since he is 90 years old, he did not receive this email, and no attempts via telephone were made to make him aware of the situation or allow him an attempt to resolve the matter prior to leaving Wisconsin. Although they were not forced to stay there, there were very limited options available at the time due to my grandfather's health and disabilities and after a six hour car ride there, they had no choice but to agree to the new room prices and try their best to continue to enjoy the weekend. Room Concerns: While generally clean, the rooms encountered technical issues like a broken toilet and TV requiring multiple service calls. Limited Accessibility: The advertised trolley service, which influenced the booking choice, was unavailable, impacting accessibility for guests with mobility limitations. Communication: Trying to understand and resolve this mess was a nightmarish ordeal. The unhelpful hotel staff lacked authority and provided conflicting information. Reaching corporate was just as bad, with representatives lacking knowledge and offering no resolution. At one point, I was escalated to an individual who eventually advised, "She didn't care about humans," suggesting a severe lack of human empathy and professionalism. Further Investigation: After being completely dismayed by this conversation, I decided to do some research of my own on who owns this hotel to try to speak to someone to understand more. In the process, there was publicly available information indicating past legal disputes involving the hotel's ownership, raising additional concerns about their practices. Next Steps: We are filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the Michigan Attorney General to further investigate these issues. Overall Conclusion: It was a humiliating and stressful experience for my family, especially my vulnerable grandfather. Throughout the entire process of trying to understand what happened, there was never once an ounce of compassion all the way up to and through to the owner, who at the end of the day threatened "libel" instead of offering even one bit of sympathy for all of the events...

We were looking forward to our long weekend away. This was the first time we visited the Mackinaw area. We do not usually look for a fancy place with special treatment, so usually have no complaints about our stay wherever we go. We have stayed at places ranging from Hyatt to Super 8, and never had issues. Some of those probably could have been updated or had repairs completed, but we mainly just want a place to relax while not sightseeing

We arrived at 1PM of the day we were to check in. We realized we were early, but hoped to check in upon arrival. The room was not ready, which was not a big deal. We did not eat lunch, and we needed a few things from the store, so we passed the 2 hours until the room was ready. We got back to the hotel at 3:05PM. We checked in, and were ready to go relax a bit before walking around Mackinaw. We reserved a room with 2 double beds and a beachfront balcony. Once we got up to our room, the door was slightly open. We pushed the door open further, and realized our room had not been serviced by housekeeping. There was a lady who just finished cleaning the room beside our room. She had been sent to clean one room, and only one room. My husband went down to the front desk to make sure we were at the correct room. Once they told him that was our room, and they would have someone clean it, he requested the room next door to our assigned room. They told him someone was in that room. Housekeeping finally came up to clean our room, and while waiting the people staying in the room next to our room, walked by. They had just arrived at the hotel, so no one was already in the room. The hotel staff could have moved us, since we were already at the hotel, then put the other guests in the room being cleaned. We were turned away 2 hours prior to check in, and our room was still not ready at 3. It seems they would have made sure our room was ready, since we were already there, and they knew we would be back at check in time.

The breakfast was an average breakfast, but was free, so no complaints. The room needed some repairs to the bathroom ceiling. The toilet wiggled a bit, so did not seem as secure as it should have been. The blanket and bedspread smelled like they had not been cleaned in a while. The hot tub looked green in spots on the bottom, and hair/dirt was floating around.

With the above review, I would like to add the view of Lake Huron was amazing. We really do not like leaving reviews, but felt we needed to let others know our experience. If the hotel had just moved us to a different room, and apologized, this review may not...

It has been on the top of the list to give an honest review on the Hamilton Inn. I wanted to give this review as a fair warning to potential patrons. This was by far the worst hotel we stayed at during our trip around Lake Michigan, not to mention the most expensive by almost double.

We should have known when we entered the non-air-conditioned lobby with open and torn screen windows to just turn around then. As we check-in and proceed to our room, the stench was another obvious warning sign. As we enter the room we now know we had made a terrible choice.

When we first walked into the room we noticed crooked light fixtures hanging on the wall as if they may fall off and the armoire was busted up with the trim missing in parts or hanging off in other parts. There were loads of spots on the wall. After further examination, we realized they were squashed and smeared bugs accompanied by mold. The wallpaper was peeling and the sheets had holes and spots on them. When my son pulled back the blanket on his bed there was some pretty unsightly hair under the covers. We found a used wet wipe or diaper wipe laying in the room. The room smelled musty too. My oldest son got stuck in the bathroom because shutting the bathroom door all the way caused it to jam. I had to throw my body weight into the door to get my 6'2 185lb son out of the bathroom. He's not weak by any means! The balcony would have been a bonus but it was covered...and I mean covered in bugs both dead and alive. Opening the door would have only solidified an even more miserable night's stay. At 6pm housekeeping was still in full swing but they must have missed our room aside from making the bed. There's no way they cleaned. At 9:30 pm housekeeping was vacuuming the hallways outside of guest rooms. I'm not faulting them totally b/c they were probably short-staffed but it was gross. Hair in the sink and bathtub are next level. At one point we all contemplated sleeping in our car for the night but eventually settled on sleeping fully clothed. The next morning we got up earlier than we had at any other location on our trip and got the heck out of there. At checkout, the attendant did not ask us how our stay was. I can only imagine this was a usual practice as I drew the conclusion that she'd probably received an earful regularly about how disgusting this place was.

I very rarely if ever leave a negative review, but this one couldn't slide under the radar. I have pictures...