Hampton Inn St Ignace Lakefront Mackinac — Hotel in Saint Ignace

This is a relatively new property and the hotel is lovely with great views of Lake Huron and Mackinac Island, with just one caveat after dark. Conveniently located near many tourist attractions, shops and restaurants/breweries. They had a cool feature I loved, a sparking water dispenser in the lobby. Nice outdoor balcony / patio on the beach side rooms as well as off the cafe/lounge area with large picture windows over looking the lake off the lobby/lounge area. This made for a great viewing of the sunrise. And the beach is accessible on the lower level or down the stairs right off the balcony. This location also has a bar which is something not often seen in the standard Hampton Inn's. Breakfast was the typical Hampton Inn offerings. The staff was friendly and helpful, room was clean. And unlike most hotels, this hotel has a energy about it that brought about community, I don't know if it's because the majority of the guests were older, but many of guests chatted and exchanged cordials and pleasantries. It was nice to hear about everyone's travels, the neat places they had been and plans for the upcoming week. ||The only negative that I feel is worth mentioning because it did change our experience. We loved the views, however, we and several of the other guests were chatting on our balconies after dark as were not real happy about the overhead lights that came on after sunset. It wasn't the ambiance I was looking for as I set there under the spotlights with a glass of wine trying to relax listening to the lake waves and taking in the view of the night sky. I'm like this is okay, I'll just walk down to the grounds and was going to go down to the the nice little seating area to the side of the hotel that was not in the direct light, however we observed several guests using that area for their dogs to relieve themselves. And it didn't seem like the lights of the lobby balcony were as intense. The room balcony lights were intensely bright and added a lot of light pollution for viewing the beautiful lake and star gazing. We were trying to photograph Saturn, but the added light made it difficult for my camera to focus properly. ||I feel bad for wishing they had put in the tempered glass panels instead of the bar rail type with supports because it's obvious they spent a great deal on these balconies and nice Adirondack chairs. But I'm just a little over 5ft, sitting in the Adirondack chair, I couldn't see over the hand rail and had to look through the support rails, so I moved the desk chair out so I could raise it up to see over the hand rail. Otherwise the seating is so close to the support rails you can't look past them if you know what I mean, just felt kind of cagey. But if you are lucky enough to score a 1st floor patio room this would not be an issue. ||Several us also were chatting during breakfast that we thought being so close to the lake that we would be able to hear the waves. The weather was perfect for leaving the sliding glass door open (again sparing no expense they also included screen doors) and turning off the AC. But we realized there is still some type of fan system continuously running so you couldn't hear the lake waves even with...

Don't be fooled by "Lakefront"

We were originally excited to stay here for a couple nights on a week long Up North road trip. Having more modern amenities and being on the water, at a not-too-unreasonable-for-the-summer price, was appealing.

Unfortunately nothing can make up for a truly fatal flaw: all the balcony rooms facing the lake have blinding lights over the balconies that cannot be turned off that come on the second it gets dark. This means you can't see anything past the balcony itself: no night sky, no water, no twinkling lights on Mackinac Island, nothing. It also creates horrible light pollution for all the other properties around the Hampton Inn, none of whom have lights outside at night. And, of course, the blackout blinds can't completely blot out the light coming through the balcony window, which impacts sleep. This "feature" ruined the entire stay for us and there's no going back from that. When we asked about it, we were told the lights are controlled by "the system" and we were met with surprise that we didn't like them! We tried to sit outside the first night and it was awful and jarring. You can go out down the beach a little ways and see the sky, but there's still this hulking building lit up like the Worst Christmas Tree Ever. I'm honestly surprised St. Ignace lets them ruin the beach like that, they really shouldn't be allowed to.

If they hadn't completely negated the point of having a balcony overlooking the lake, I'd say the place was a fine example of your basic Hampton Inn: good sized rooms, nice bathrooms, somewhat better than average breakfast, friendly (if slightly clueless) staff. The property is new, clean, etc. They even have a full bar, which was a nice amenity. But paying over $300 a night for a room with lights that actively destroy your enjoyment of the natural beauty you came to see is an insult and really bizarre. Side note: while I understand that a lot of places don't do housekeeping every day, having a note in the bathroom about how it's for "your comfort" is pretty disingenuous...but that's minor compared to having the view you paid for obliterated for no good reason. If anyone from Hilton sees this, please reconsider these lights or at least give guests the ability to turn them off. I would never stay here again and it makes me question the decision making of the...

We stayed at this brand new hotel travelling through on New Year’s Eve. It’s still slightly under construction with some finishing touches that need to be finished. The guest laundry, games room, ice machines and hot tub were not operational during our stay. We were really disappointed that the hot tub wasn’t operational yet as we were looking forward to sitting under the winter stars on New Year’s Eve. We enjoyed the pool though and it was warm. A good size, plenty of towels and chairs. The work out room was a good size and well equipped. ||Check in was a little glitchy as we were checked into the wrong guests room but not a big deal. Luckily they weren’t already in their room. We didn’t take advantage of the Hilton app to check in online however that is an option and you can even select your room and utilize the e-key on your phone. The app doesn’t display the floor plan so you can’t visualize your approximation to the elevators etc when selecting. Our room was amazing-room 433. We booked the King with sofa bed and balcony. We arrived too late to see the sunset but I’m sure it would have been amazing to see. The bed was very comfortable and I can tell the hotel designer was paying attention to small details. Lots of hooks to hang coats etc. Wall plugs were plentiful for charging devices and accessible. The bathroom was well planned as well. Great hooks behind the door-not just one or two that are flimsy. Perfect height shelf in the shower to place items, a lower shelf to raise your foot for shaving, the shower pan itself sits higher around the edges so no water pooling out. Shower tap opposite to shower head and position of shower doors allow water to flow with the glass rather than seep through the two doors. None of those plastic strips on the glass edge required. Nice bathroom shampoo etc supplied. I was very impressed with the design compared to other hotels. ||Breakfast was great as well with a beautiful view! Three cold cereal choices (brand flakes, raisin bran and fruit loops), hot oatmeal, bacon, eggs, potato chunk hash browns, Chobani Greek yogurt, as well as flavoured Yoplait, bread, bagels, English muffins, biscuits, vanilla and blueberry waffle mix, juice, coffee, tea etc. Great offerings and well replenished!||This hotel will be booming come summer! We hope to be back the next time we...