Bayshore Resort — Hotel in Traverse City

I gave 4s but really I’d give 4.5s if I could. We have stayed in Traverse City for our anniversary every year for almost the last 20 years. We’ve tried quite a few hotels and this year we decided to try out the Bayshore. The staff were friendly and accommodating! We stayed in the king size room with the jacuzzi tub. The room only had a small table in it, so we asked if they had a spare table we could use since both my husband and I game on our laptops. The staff was so kind as to bring us a whole desk to use!

As for the room itself, it was clean. A little outdated, but I’d rather have a clean outdated room than a modern dirty one! The bed was okay. Not bad, but not the most comfortable either. The shower was very small. Basically felt like a hole in the wall. I loved the view of the beach, and being able to just walk out and enjoy the water. We did track sand in the room by the door, but aside from maybe having a rug or something, I’m not sure what else they can do to prevent that. My biggest complaint about the room was that whenever the people above us or next to us used the shower, it was super loud. Like there was no insulation to the sound at all. So one night at midnight the person above us decided to take a shower, and if I wasn’t a night owl, it 100% would have been too loud to sleep through.

They have a complimentary continental breakfast. I’m a picky eater and I will freely admit that. So I pretty much only had some muffins each morning. The only minor complaint I have is that it was the exact same food every single day. The hot food was a cheese or veggie omelet and sausage links. They did have a waffle station. It would have just been nice to see a change in the hot options. Like scrambled eggs, or some bacon.

Overall, aside from the few small things, I did enjoy my stay. It was a clean hotel, with friendly people, and...

My wife and I just spent the weekend there and got hit with a room rate much higher than quoted and they wouldn't budge. My wife took good notes and was aware of her corporate ceiling when she booked. They said it would be $128 which was fine and billed $178 and wouldn't budge. After an hour on the phone and a number of prior stays we could not get them to budge. They also have strict cancellation policies and I know someone else who got hit with unexpected charges there.

My wife spends 200 nights a year on the road and this is the first time she has encountered this approach. Their sign-in information only shows the first night charges, not any of the other room charges which means that you don't see the problem until checking out. They stated that they had sent an email with the rate, but this was not correct and they did not have a copy of it either.

While standing around the front desk checking out, it was clear we weren't the only ones having problems. The Holiday Day Inn ("West Bay Beach Resort") next door looks like it was recently upgraded. The Park in downtown is old, but nice. There are a million of other hotels on Front Street heading out of town.

The staff is nice. The rooms are clean, but there were a few other problems. My wife begged them not to put us in a first floor room where people could see in. They told us that the first floor was actually a floor up and you couldn't be seen from the beach. It turned out that we were pool facing and right behind the hot tub so you could absolutely see in the room.

Another one which was only a minor bother, but is worth mentioning. On Friday, I was out of my room from 8am through 4pm only to find that they still hadn't cleaned my room. By 6, it was cleaned. Another minor but annoying point is that there is no coffee in the room. Free coffee is available...

This property is nowhere near worth the price you’ll pay. It is very lackluster to call itself a “resort.” It is pretty outdated and the rooms are noisy. When the room above our turned on their water it was extremely loud in our room. Additionally, we had construction going on Nextdoor, which ended up being about 25 feet from our room. After a late night out we were woken up with constant loud hammering and sawing literally right outside our room. There was zero warning about this from the hotel and when I went the first morning to complain about it they really acted like they didn’t care at all. It also ruined the nice view we expected to have since it was awkward having workers right outside your window, so we kept the blinds closed most of the first day. Since our next two mornings were Saturday and Sunday, the construction wasn’t happening, but the loud pipes were definitely still a nuisance when trying to sleep.

Also, they told us when we checked in that it was a “free continental breakfast,” only to find out too late the first morning that they actually have hot waffles, eggs, and sausage. So we basically missed our free breakfast the first day because we were told it was continental so we planned to go out somewhere else for some hot options. The next two days at breakfast were okay. The food is decent but definitely nothing to write home about. Also, the workers in the breakfast spot start putting everything away and cleaning up at 945 even though breakfast is supposed to end at 10am. It’s very obnoxious and a terrible customer experience to feel like you are getting ran out of the breakfast area or you are in the way of them cleaning up. I would definitely stay somewhere else next time. Not worth the $400 a night we paid. Very mediocre hotel...