Cedar Hill Lodge — Hotel in Saint Ignace

Great location for visiting St. Ignace. Rooms were fine for what we needed, though the toilet didn't flush well. Huge issue with customer service - story follows.

TLDR: Issues with check-in after two confirmation calls, someone broke into our room and stole items. Poor service and resolution.

Story: Heading to Bronco the Mac event with a couple and saw this place had Jack-and-Jill rooms (two separate rooms with shared bathroom) at a great price, so I booked a room.

Leading up to the trip, I needed to get in earlier than originally planned, so I called to check about early check-in (noon) procedures and fees a couple of days prior and was told the room wasn't reserved the night before and shouldn't be a problem, but to call day-of to confirm. As a back-up, I had a note added and told them I'd be on the trail by 1pm and the couple I was sharing the room with would need to be able to check-in and charge my card (the one they had on file). No problem!

The day of (Thursday), I call to confirm early check-in at noon and was told the earliest I can check in is 1:30pm. A little annoying, but okay. I confirm the note and the couple can check-in and charge to my card. Great! That evening, I'm on the trail and get a text the couple can't check-in without my physical card. Another employee ended up helping and they were checked in and my card was billed. I did the paperwork when I got to the hotel that night.

Room was decent enough for what was expected for a cheap hotel. Meh beds, old carpet, clean enough. Toilet doesn't flush well, but no significant issues. Plenty fine for a place to sleep.

Friday morning is the main event where all the registered Broncos line up, parade through town, cross the Mighty Mac, and come back. We had breakfast early, but the neighborhood car wash was closed. I washed mine up really quick in the hotel parking lot and saw staff hanging out near the snack vending area. 9am rolls around and we head out to the staging area, do the thing, and come back to the room around 11am before our Club meets at 1130.

When we opened the room refrigerator, we noticed the beer and wine was gone. The husband went to talk to staff, the wife and I thought he must have left things in the cooler, so we checked the cooler. No stuff. The husband comes back to the room with staff and we discuss the situation and I asked about reviewing cameras. No cameras. Who seemed to be the manager said she'll review the reservation and see about a refund. We left it there and went to the next event.

While at the staging area for the next trail ride, I received a text saying I had a pending refund for $27.66. After the ride, I stopped by the office to follow-up on resolution for the situation (and get new keys). The seeming manager told me they issued me a 10% discount. I let them know a 10% discount ($27.66) could not be their resolution for our room having been broken into and $50ish of things stolen. She said the situation didn't make sense and there wasn't staff in that area at the time, so that was the best she could do. I asked if she was saying I was lying and she said she wasn't. I told her it seems less probable that we'd come up with a story about $50ish of things being stolen when we had thousands of dollars worth of things in the room (my two laptops, alone, for example) than for someone to steal alcohol. She let me know I could have all my money back if I was willing to stay somewhere else. I told her I'd look for somewhere else. And we did.

After securing a room, I returned to the office and let her know we were going to accept the offer of a full refund and would stay somewhere else. I questioned the amount and she said we had already stayed a night. I reminded her she told me I could have all of my money back if we stayed elsewhere, we're staying elsewhere, I want all of my money back. She processed the refund and told me to keep a better eye on my things. I walked out....

Seriously disappointing stay at what seems to be a lovely place from the lobby and their website. Quick summary: sweltering room, non-functional exhaust fan in the bathroom, awful WiFi, busted chain lock, uncomfortable bed, and disappointing breakfast.

Detailed review: We were given room 202 in the lodge. It's possible rooms that aren't in the main building are nicer, but ours wasn't comfortable. It was, however, clean.

When we arrived, it was swelteringly hot. The air conditioning was off in the unit, and there wasn't an A/C unit or fan for the second bedroom. We closed that door and the bathroom door to try to cool the room off as quickly as possible. It took several hours to reach a reasonable temperature. If they know this is a problem and know they have guests checking in, it would be nice for them to start this process ahead of time. We wound up going into the breakfast area just so we didn't have to be in the bedroom.

The exhaust fan in the bathroom was non-functional, so the humidity either enters your room or you have to keep it closed off and get blasted with a wall of sticky heat every time you use the restroom.

The WiFi never really worked during our 2 day stay. I have screenshots of it saying "ok/connected no internet". When I mentioned this to the front desk, they said, "it does that sometimes". It happened throughout our entire 2 day stay. That isn't "sometimes" to me.

The chain lock in our room didn't have the metal piece that actually locks the door. It should be removed or fixed. It just illustrates apathy.

You could feel the springs in the mattress on the lower half of the bed. That, along with the humidity in the room, caused fitful sleep for me. My husband sleeps like the dead and didn't have a problem, but I had two of the worst night's sleep I've ever had on vacation.

Breakfast on their website is advertised as a hot breakfast. This sets your expectations to be better than a traditional continental breakfast you get at most hotels, but this was worse than most breakfasts I've had at much cheaper lodging. In fact, the Motel 6 breakfast we had in this same trip had a better variety and at least offered yogurt.

This breakfast is a small collection of processed carbs. The "hot" selection was greasy sausage and premade pancakes. No protein options for anyone who doesn't like sausage or can't eat pork. No yogurt. Breakfast consisted of English Muffins & cinnamon bread, a sugary cereal option and Raisin Bran, mini donuts or mini muffins, pancakes, sausage, apples, bananas, and coffee or orange juice.

Be careful putting anything hot on the breakfast plates. The styrofoam plate melted to my toast. When I showed the front desk, they said "yeah. We've told the manager.". No apologies ever - just apathy.

And, although a miniscule complaint in comparison to the others, I asked if the front desk could mail stamped postcards but they didn't have outgoing mail. I've never had that happen anywhere before.

The only thing nice about this hotel for us (we didn't use the pool area) was the lovely front desk girl who checked us in and offered advice about Mackinac Island.

I don't have lofty expectations of places. We stay at a lot of motels. We tent camp. When we stay somewhere, all I really require is a comfortable sleep, cleanliness, and working wifi. Cedar Hill Lodge only delivered on cleanliness.

I would...

First visit was excellent a year ago, so I am leaving that review up BUT I am adding my recent review from today July 26 2023. I reserved a LAKEVIEW room with a private entry and 2 queen beds. I made the reservation through " Booking" over a week ago. Long story short, front desk lady was incredibly rude upon arrival as if she hates her job and hates tourists too. Her all around demeanor was like she was so bothered that I was checking in to my room. 1st red flag is the room they gave me was not in the building I paid extra for... but I didn't want to feel like I was a bother to the front desk so I figured I would go give it a try and just be happy with a clean room. Nope! The room was (what I think was...) an actual closet with almost no ventilation and almost no window. They call it a "Jack and Jill suite". Don't do it. Pictures to document how awful it was. Dirty, small, one full bed and one twin, dark, depressing, a closet, hot as hades. I went to the front desk and explained that it won't work for me and my two kids and I would like to be put in the room grade I paid extra for. They told me they were overbooked, had no other room for me, and wouldn't do anything to compensate the price difference. One worker even said "that's what you get for booking 3rd party". I went back to the room and called Booking. They said they would contact the property and try to find a solution. Next thing I know, Cedar Hill CANCELLED my reservation while I still didn't have anywhere else to go and already paid for the room. They must have been upset that Booking told them they would be penalized for this mistake that they apparently make often. I did leave (had no choice) and thank God I found a different hotel but last minute had to pay an extra 120$. Pictures updated to show the atrocity that they call a suite. I am so disappointed because I really did like this place. Never again.

July 2022: Location is amazing, service was so friendly and helpful, and the rooms were great. This hotel is SO clean, and that is most important. If you like pancakes and sausage, you will lo e breakfast. Pancakes and sausage were delicious, but it is all they have each morning. My kids liked it. Coffee was nice. The pool is very warm and the hot tub is super hot. Grounds are well kept and there are bonfires every night that the hotel staff build and put out so you don't have to bother and can just sit in a nice chair relaxing in peace. The rooms are a bit dated but that is the case in all the hotels in the UP. You won't have to worry about roaches or bedbugs here, so that should rest any worries. The only change I think they need to make asap is the carpeting in the pool area. That seems to be a good place for bacteria and fungus to grow. It was soaking wet and reaches every inch of floor around the pool...