Postcard Cabins The Thumb, Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy — Hotel in Marathon Township

I just returned from my first stay at Postcard Cabins - The Thumb, and it was absolutely lovely. I have been feeling very burned out on top of getting over a Covid infection that has lingering symptoms. I knew I needed rest, and disconnection from the demands of adulting, motherhood, work, and the stressors of everyday life and living in a high tech and fast paced world. A friend recommended Getaway House (old name when she stayed) and all I wanted was alone time, so I booked 3 nights and had a beautiful experience. I love camping, and have done both camping and glamping numerous times. I deeply enjoy being in nature. What I love about Postcard Cabins is it is perfect if you're new to nature/outdoors experiences, and need the creature comforts of glamping, such as electricity, indoor plumbing, a kitchenette, comfy real bed, heat/air conditioning, etc, while still being out in the woods, disconnected from technology and other people. It's also great for those of us who enjoy camping, but want a more luxurious and modern experience. I knew I didn't feel like pitching a tent, lugging a bunch of gear, etc, so this was PERFECT. The Tiny Cabin comes with all the amenities you need except food, but they have a sustenance kit you can purchase with easy to prepare foods or you can bring your own. You can also eat at the nearest restaurants (10-25 min away) which I did twice, and I used the list of suggestions they had. There's firewood for purchase (it's kind of high for the small bundle at $9.00), coffee and tea for purchase (they just bill you for what you used) all right there in your cabin. Waking up in front of that gorgeous window, enjoying a cup of coffee at sunrise, reading my books, building a campfire and making smores, walking trails and seeing the beauty of nature all around me was rejuvenation and rest for my soul. My two year old joined me for the last day/ night and had his first s'more, and i will cherish this as our first camp/glamp experience in his childhood. I also found that even a very active 2 year old was more calm and relaxed in such a peaceful environment with no tv or internet. The biggest discomfort was that the surrounding areas are filled with Trump signs and hostility toward liberals. I even saw one home on a venture for food That had huge Trump signs AND a confederate flag (as if the south actually won and we aren't literally in Michigan in the North......). As a Black person, this all screams racism and bigotry and unsafety. Most of the people I encountered in restaurants were friendly enough, but I for sure got some hostile stares a time or two, and I made sure I was back at the outpost by sunset. Both because it's pitch black with no streetlights AND as a person of color, especially a Black person, and a woman alone, it didn't feel safe not to be. Next time, I may not leave the outpost at all because of what is surrounding it, and racism is also something i need to get away from as often as humanly possible, but I felt very secure on the grounds. Will definitely be returning, it was a wonderful experience overall.

One other slight con: There is no customer service number if you run into issues. You have to email, and the signal isn't the best. However, each cabin has a landline too.

Last thing: PLEASE change the name back to Getaway House! Postcard Cabins sounds very cheesy and having read about the intent/founding of Getaway House, and reading the founder's book "Getting Away" the original name feels much...

We had such a wonderful time here and cannot wait to return for our next retreat away from city life. :) The campground is beautiful, serene, and full of towering shady trees. The tiny cabin was perfect and had almost everything we needed! It was so nice to not have to pack EVERYTHING! (see their website for a full list of what the cabin provides.) My FAVORITE thing about the cabin is the picturesque view from the giant window by your bedside. We felt zero guilt staying inside, relaxing and reading, and just enjoying the beautiful view. We got to see some wildlife and the entire park is just gorgeous. It was also nice to have some items available for purchase right at your campsite. The location was great because you felt like you were deep in the woods, far away from civilization, but a quick 10-15 min drive and you have access to full grocery stores and a busy shopping area.

My takeaways and advice to other campers: I personally recommend bringing a white noise machine, as the cabin itself has a lot of noises (the hot water heater turning on and off, the HVAC system noise, etc.) We brought a white noise machine and I am so glad we did-- it drowned out the various cabin noises no problem. Another tip-- If you have a dog who likes to get up on the bed (which is probably likely, since the cabin is SO tiny), I recommend bringing your own blanket or comforter to cover the PURE WHITE bedding. I am so glad we did! We also would have benefited from bringing paper cups and paper plates, so that we weren't doing so many dishes-- but again, not really a huge deal. I didn't mind washing our dishes.. and it was probably better for the environment anyway.

Feedback: If I could give a constructive feedback for future improvements, it would be that there are some missed opportunities for easy storage for campers. I could have used a shelf or two in the bathroom to set some of my items out (although the window ledge worked well enough!) I also found myself looking for a ledge to set things down near the bed.. and again, resorted to the window ledges. I appreciate the "pack light" philosophy, but realistically, it's nice to have a few more flat surfaces to actually unpack items!! There's SO much empty wall space in the cabin, and I was surprised that they didn't mount some cube shelves or floating shelves throughout. I'm also surprised that the kitchen table and chair doesn't fold away, since we ate outside most of the time. Again, none of these things are true "complaints," but I felt like it would be easy to make tiny improvements. Another note-- as the weekend approached and picked up, more kids started to arrive... and for a park that ALWAYS honors "quiet time," the kids were really loud. I'm glad most of our trip was kid-free during the week (it was so quiet and peaceful,) but the families arriving really didn't seem concerned with "quiet hours" at all -- we could hear kids just screaming and yelling for hours at a time. We didn't reach out to the staff about the noise since we couldn't hear it from inside, but I definitely would have if we had stayed longer into the weekend. One last piece of feedback-- I think it would really be cool if the campground could spread native wildflower seeds along the road ways!! I bet they would take off.

Thank you for our peaceful getaway. We 100%...

This is a follow up to my original review. Getaway has made a significant effort to address my concerns over our recent stay, and I do appreciate the actions that they are taking. I am going to give them another try in the near future.

Brandi, Thank you very much for addressing my issue so quickly.  I did not leave the negative review to be vindictive, but only with the hope that Getaway will improve this very important part of customer service.  We really did love the cabin, the property at the The Thumb, and the whole concept of Getaway.  Also, the facilities manager at the Thumb, Mark, did everything possible to help us out and get us into the cabin.  He did say that corporate was very short on staff, as many businesses are nowadays, so I am guessing that is the reason for the issues that we had.  I am sure that you know, with this type of business, customer service is crucial.  You absolutely have to have enough staff on hand to be able to answer questions and concerns in a timely manner, especially during regular business hours.  Not being able to get into the cabin and not receiving any responses to our multiple calls and texts just put a very negative cloud over our recent visit.  If it were not for that, everything else was perfect.  I do appreciate your effort with the free night and the credit, and we will give Getaway another try. ​​​​​​​Don

ORIGINAL REVIEW: The cabin and location were awesome. I cannot give enough praise about those things. However, customer service was abysmal. The door lock on our cabin did not work. I called and texted several times, but got no response. We waited in the car in the pouring rain for 45 minutes deciding what to do. We were about to go home when we ran into the facilities manager (Mark) who was luckily still on the property. He confirmed that the electronic lock was not functional and gave us a physical key to get into the cabin. If he was not on property, we would have had to go home and cancel our trip. This is completely unacceptable not being able to get a hold of a physical person in customer service. You absolutely need to do something about this. It could be a safety issue if medicines or pets were locked in the cabin, and your guests could not get in touch with someone to help. You need more staff in customer service answering the phones. This put a huge negative on our stay when the cabin and the location were awesome. It was also my girlfriend's birthday celebration, and it made her very upset. I would not book another stay with Getaway unles you fix this very critical customer service issue. I rarely complain about anything, but this was a horrible and frustrating situation for us. Even after several days, no one from customer service returned any of the messages that I left, and no one followed up on my issues. I am beyond disappointed as I had great expectations for our...