Waterfront Inn — Hotel in Mackinaw Township

READ THE REVIEWS OR BE FILLED WITH REGRET!!

This is the only accountability necessary on my part, I failed to read the reviews and trusted the individual who selected this for our group blindly. My mistake. I will never recommend this location, if it was the last option on Mackinaw City, I would recommend camping in St. Ignace over staying here. The first cabins our group was checked into were in terrible condition, they looked as if they were abandoned since the '80s, broken blinds and windows and all. One of them didn't even have power! They claimed that this was a breaker issue and that it just needed to be jiggled, but upon returning after that there was still no power. And one of them the door wasn't even locked, so that makes you question the safety for sure. Not to mention the abandoned semi trucks and bushes overgrowing the main door, definitely a safety concern and not acceptable for a girls trip at all. Not even going to get started on the cleanliness of those rooms. When all of this was brought to the attention of the staff, they were combative and unwilling to help. Their best solution, initially, was to tell us to contact the third party booking company that we booked through and request a refund. Mind you all of this was happening for the first car of our group, the second car we were still over an hour away getting this information from our friends. Although I had already been informed by my friends that the parking lot appeared empty, when I called and stated that this was unacceptable, I was told that there were no other options and that they were sold out. I of course called this out as a lie. As I am a hospitality professional at a well-renowned global brand, I refused to accept this as a solution and informed them that they needed to have a better solution by the time I arrived in now less than an hour. The employee that I spoke with kept trying to speak over me as I was expressing my concern and frustration with the matter. I reminded her that in this industry and line of work, we do not make excuses or place blame on the guests/booking route, we just make it better. This experience could have absolutely ruined our entire weekend. The only grace that I can offer in this review is that they did eventually make it right by offering us a discounted upgrade to the only nice option on the property, but it was not without difficulty to get to that point. Additionally, I will not say that the beachfront cabins are perfect. There were broken blinds and no working porch light in one cabin and the microwave did not work at all in the other. There's also no phone, so the front desk does not communicate with you by calling you to check about being sure that you are out of the cabin. They simply come and use the keypad and dial in their code and enter the room without checking to see if you have left yet. For the record, this was before 11:00, which is the checkout time.

Over all? The beach front cabins are cute, rustic and quiet... But the quiet is due to low occupancy at the Inn and none of these "positive" attributes make up for the HORRENDOUS service. Save your money, time and energy and pick a...

Honestly, we booked this place without looking at the reviews and I so wish we would have. I’ve traveled all across the US and have been in some pretty sketchy motels, but this by far was the worst one. To start the trip off we opened our door, which was unlocked from the beginning, and there were dead bugs EVERYWHERE. On our beds, in the shower, in the toilet, in the sink, in the counter, in the fridge. We went to the front desk and told them and they sent somebody in to clean, and we came back to significantly less bugs, however there were still bugs all over. Dead and alive. We ended up checking out the beach and it was disgusting. Goose poop and garbage were everywhere and the playground was covered in spiderwebs, so we left instantly. We went back into our room to find two outlets in our room, most of them already being used by other appliances. The appliances there were awful too! The fridge was gross and covered in a yellow sticky substance, and it was sitting on a lawn chair. We turned on the TV only to find that the TV service didn’t work anymore either. The phone in our room didn’t have a dial tone either so that was unusable. Nor did we receive any information about the wifi so we were unable to use that. The bugs were in the lights and the lampshade creates a cloud of dust after it was touched. We ended up locking ourselves out and went to the front office, only to have to wait because we had to call a different hotel to let us into our room. And there was a large fight in the room down the hall which a woman got seconds close to being ran over with a truck. The violence didn’t end there and somebody eventually called the police because of the events that unfolded. I hate giving bad reviews, but if i could give this place 0 stars I would. Definitely not worth the money for everything I had to endure. Didn’t feel safe staying where I was. Please don’t bring your children here! Not only was the trip awful, though. The management was just as awful! I first went to the front office to ask who i contact about a refund and they sent me to the chamber of commerce (which didn’t open up again for a few more days) and since i don’t have another $100 (since the hotel was $300 for two days) to get a new hotel I had no other choice but to stay again. I contacted the Chamber of Commerce and they sent me to the Chamber of Tourism, which told me to speak to the manager. After explaining my situation to him he ended up getting an attitude with me and asked about why i stayed if i didn’t feel safe and told me I should have checked out! The absolute worst business I have ever come into contact with. Don’t waste your money on this awful place. This place needs to be shut down!! Don’t just take my word for it, read all of the other reviews. This place has a record for being an awful and disgusting place and these people don’t deserve any of your money!! Next time i’d rather sleep on a park bench. Safer and cleaner than...

I booked before I read the reviews, and was rather stressed as my teen read the reviews out loud en route to this inn (motel). When I booked it, based on the somewhat difficult/basic website, pictures depicting bedspreads from the (90s?), and the lack of identified amenities, I figured I was getting a somewhat dated, basic, hotel/motel room. That had a pool, hot tub, and was on Lake Huron, because those things the waterfront inn does claim to have. Nothing more, nothing less. I would never make up a standard and then fault a facility for not meeting that standard when they never claimed to. That's probably half of the low reviews. Are you looking for a bed, clean towels, clean sheets, and being able to walk 10 feet to Lake Huron? For half the price of the any other hotel in Mackinaw City? Boom, done - book the waterfront inn. We had the three queen beds family room, which was actually two rooms adjoined by a jack-and-jill bathroom set up. Yes, it was dated. Yes, there were some worn spots on the carpet. Yes, the lamp shade looked a little dusty. But the sheets were clean, the towels were clean, the bathroom was clean, the water was hot. We had a TV in each room, and one did not work, so that was a bit of a bummer, however, we had such a limited time we had planned to watch TV anyway it was fine. We did an Aldi run prior and had an awesome breakfast in our room for cheap. Our room said "courtyard view" but we actually ended up with a view of the lake outside one of the windows. We were able to park right outside our room. The pool/hot tub building was dated but looked clean except for a bin of used towels that was overdue for being emptied/washed. The pool itself was clean and the hot tub had some sand in it. I imagine that is to be expected when you can walk straight from the beach to the hot tub. Didn't bother us. The hot tub was hot and worked and otherwise appeared clean. We stayed on a Saturday night and were pleasantly surprised by the city firework show. People were having bon fires and singing along with a guitar, with the firework backdrop. For what we paid, it doesn't get much better than that! Again, if you want a ton of amenities, this is not your place. But if you are looking for a good deal...