Sunrise Beach Motel — Hotel in Mackinaw Township

Literally stay ANYWHERE in Mackinaw city other than this place. We had stayed here a few years back and loved it so when we came back up we decided to stay again. Things have gone way downhill. First off they charged our card the morning before we even arrived. I was told that they would only be able to hold our spot if we paid right then because “they were filling up fast.” This was after having them booked for over a month before hand. Okay, fine. Annoying but not a huge deal. We got there late since we live 3 hours away and couldn’t leave until after work. We walked in and opened the refrigerator and a squirrel ran out from under it. (I thought it was a chipmunk but we googled and determined it was a 13 striped ground squirrel). Now I know that is out of their control and I do not blame them for that one bit. There was rodent feces all over the floors and inside of the drawers. We called them and they offered a new room, however we paid over 800 dollars for their “family suite” for the weekend because we brought the entire family as well as cold groceries so we could cook and use the refrigerator and kitchen. They do not have any other rooms like that and it was always 10:00 at night. We asked them to please send someone over the clean that evening as I am pregnant and we also had a toddler with us. At first she said there was no one on site but she did eventually get someone over there to do the bare minimum and sweep up the floors and spray with some sanitizer after I told them that we would do it but we would need compensation. After they left we found a LOT more filth in the room. This included a moldy paper towel and dead bugs under the dish drainer that had dishes inside of it, dirty pans in the cupboards, a dead worm on the floor, absolute filth all over the floors, mold on the refrigerator door, and more. The next morning my sister in law called and asked for a deep clean as it was not acceptable. The rest of the family left for Mackinac island the next morning and she stayed behind to make sure it was cleaned well. The “house keeper” that came to clean did the bare minimum once again. Did not clean the feces in the drawer and just changed the sheets on 1 of the 3 beds, and briefly swept. It was still disgusting and she tried telling him what else was needed and he did not do it. He said “you shouldn’t have to do it, you’re on vacation,” but he didn’t do it either. She asked that he leave the sanitizer and he did and she scrubbed the floors on her hands and knees so she didn’t have to worry about keeping her toddler off the floor during our stay. He said they would send someone else the next morning but that did not happen. For the rest of the weekend we were out doing things and just did not have the time to continue begging them to make our room sanitary for us so we cleaned up the best we could. I called them the night before we left letting them know we were not at all satisfied and would appreciate a partial refund and she claimed that we should have told them and that there’s nothing they would do. She was very condescending. When we called the morning after we arrived we DID request a better cleaning and that didn’t happen. The manager that we spoke with said that telling the house keeper what was needed wasn’t sufficient because they hire foreign students on visas and they don’t know any better. Sorry but I didn’t want to spend my weekend begging you all to make sure my hotel room was livable after spending almost 900 dollars for the weekend. She told me to call corporate and take it up with them because they would not be doing anything for us and provided me a phone number that no one would answer. I’ve attached just some of the photos of the absolute filth. I wish I would have read the reviews before booking here because everyone else says this place is trash and it absolutely is. Management does not care and will screw you. On top of all of this, the TVs didn’t work, the beds were hard as heck, there was rust all over the place, and the pool was literally...

This is why this is a 2 star hotel........buyer beware!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, we contacted the MI attorney General who contacted the hotel. We reported about our stay. Then the MI attorney General contacted the hotel. Who told untruths about us. Why would we take all the time and effort to write the attorney general if this was not true. Here is the what the hotel said about us.....incredible....then my husbands response.

To whom it may concern, First and foremost, I am displeased to hear that the guest had a less than satisfactory stay at the Sunrise Beach Hotel. It is our sole mission to provide guests with the utmost quality accommodations and service during their stay. I sincerely hope that this situation will not hinder this guest from continuing to visit Mackinaw City going forward. Regarding the complaint issued by the guest, upon further review, their assertions have been deemed inaccurate. At the time of the guest’s arrival, there was no previous knowledge of an issue with the toilet in the room which they were assigned. When the issue was brought to the attention of the front desk staff by the guest, more than three hours after checking into the motel, the front desk staff immediately dispatched a maintenance employee to the room. This maintenance employee promptly fixed the toilet issue. Additionally, the front desk staff offered to move the guest free of charge to an upgraded lake front room located in the adjacent Bridgeview motel. The guest refused this offer, claiming that they had made their decision to leave the property. The front desk staff then reminded the guest that they would be charged for the first night of their stay, as they had occupied the room to that point and were past the penalty-free cancellation period stipulated in the terms and conditions which they had agreed to when booking their reservation. The front desk staff at the Sunrise Beach Motel had this toilet issue fixed in a timely manner and attempted to upgrade the guest free of charge, to no avail. No credit is due. Sincerely, Scott Bridges Customer Service Representative

Our response:

To whom it may concern:

The portrayal of our stay, by Sunrise Motel, is inaccurate. The staffs response was that we had been in the room for three hours. That is NOT the truth. We had just entered the room when my wife used the restroom. We had been in the room approximately five minutes. We immediately returned to the front desk for help. The response we got was that there were no other rooms available. My wife was very upset and walked out. The front desk attendant then told me that she had another room but that “she” , meaning my wife, would not stay in it as it was in worse condition than the one we were in. So she was not truthful in her first response.

As a consumer it is extremely frustrating to be treated in such a manner. It is unfortunate that this person on your staff feels the need to be inaccurate. It is also extremely frustrating to not be heard by this organization.

“The customer is always right” is obviously not something that your organization chooses to live by. As a former leader of an organization myself, I would advise that you take a look at your practices if your goal is to be successful. This was not a successful experience for your organization. I would trust that this matters to you and that the constructive criticism is taken as such.

Thank you...

We rented a room from this place back in 2019 so we decided to rent it again. We didn’t know it had a new owner. When we arrived late in the evening we were welcomed by a squirrel in the room. Not a huge deal, it happens. We let the front desk know and they sent someone to try to catch it. When we were bringing bags in and getting settled, we realized there were squirrel feces all over the room. We contacted the office again and asked them to send housekeeping to get it cleaned. They first told us that there was no one to clean and they wanted to send us to a room that was not comparable to the rooms we rented. We told them we chose this room because of the size and the kitchen/living space. When we stated that we would expect them to comp us, they were able to find someone right away to clean. The lady that came to clean swept the floor, changed the sheet on one of the beds, then sprayed the kitchen/living area floor with a cleaner and used towels to wipe it up. She never actually mopped the floor. The owner also came over and was condescending and kept stating this was “Northern Michigan” as if we have no idea that animals can get into the house. We live in Michigan, in the country. Since it was late we were satisfied for the night and went to bed. The next morning, we called the office and asked for them to send housekeeping to do a thorough cleaning since she didn’t the night before. We had told them that the floors were dirty and left our socks black and that we also had found feces in the drawers. We had a pregnant woman and a toddler with us. We wanted to make sure everything was clean properly since rodents carry diseases. When housekeeping finally came, the guy barely swept the floor and took out trash. The floors were never mopped. They refused to do any more cleaning, so we asked for more towels and the bottle of cleaner. We had to clean the place, so it was livable and safe for our family. Over the weekend we started to see how dirty the place was. The refrigerator had mold in it, the dish strainer had a moldy paper towel under it along with a bunch of dead bugs. One of the bathrooms had a dead worm in it and hair in the sink. The floors were sandy and had sticky spots where stuff was spilled and never mopped up and a stiff dirty towel was left on a chair. The pool was green and of course the feces in drawers. We talked to management and expressed our concern about all of the filth and unsanitary conditions left in the rooms, and she didn’t care. This company is ok with leaving the rooms filthy and will not clean it for you or give you any kind of refund. If they are ok with people living with rodent feces, who knows what other disgusting, unsanitary filth they are ok with letting their customers live in. And if you think you will just stop payment on your credit card, nope, they charge your card in the morning before you even arrive. I would think twice about booking with this company. Sunrise Beach and Bridge View Beach are owned by the same guy. I would think twice about booking this room. If you decide to try it out, bring your own cleaning supplies. You will have...