Crystal Sands Beach Resort — Hotel in Whitney Township

I expected to love this place. Most of the reviews here on Google were glowing, the pictures looked beautiful, and the location next to Lake Huron seemed great.

I was on a business trip with my wife and 2-year old daughter, so I needed a place that had a solid internet connection and pleasant environment for my family. The hosts were (with a few exceptions) very hospitable and warm (they even shared some delicious food with us!), and reasonably responsive. Before we arrived I sent an email to the host confirming that I would have good internet, and she assured me I would.

Our first night there was fairly nice. It was great falling asleep to the sound of the waves :) The internet connection was slow (1-3 Mbps in our room) but passable. The cottage itself was pleasant, although it had a few issues. The couch and carpet had some stains, one of the bedroom doors wouldn't shut due to warped floor (or door possibly), and the exterior keypad door lock (when locked) would set off a pretty loud alarm at even a gentle bump (the host even set if off accidentally when letting us into our cottage). None of them show-stoppers, although the alarm did wake up my daughter at least once (when housekeeping came to the cottage at 9PM to see if we needed towels).

However, things took a turn for the worst in the following days. As more guests starting showing up, the internet went from slow to unusable (no connection) for the majority of the day. Other challenges came with the increased number of guests. The resort has portable firepits that guests can use. These were used in the parking lot, and our neighbors put theirs directly in front of our cottage, within maybe 8-10 feet of our car. Not a great setup, and it left us no room to have a fire of our own.

The biggest problem, though, was the noise policy. Quiet hours don't start until 11PM, and several of our neighbors seemed to be throwing a party with music. VERY loud music.

I'm not just talking about a little radio or bluetooth speaker - no, they had a portable PA system playing at nearly frat-party volume levels. On the lawn of the cottage directly next to us (and our attempting-to-sleep child). Multiple nights in the row. For hours and hours. The first night it went until around 11PM. The next night my wife (at 9PM) asked them to at least turn the speaker away from our cottage (they didn't at first) and then eventually we asked the host (several times) if she could ask them to lower the volume or move the party. We went through a few cycles of this - they'd lower the music for a bit, then raise it later. Eventually they moved it a few cottages down, but even then it was hard to hear the TV over the music. This was far from the peaceful resort experience we were hoping for.

As we were checking out, I brought up the issue of flaky internet - something I had confirmed in advance to ensure it wouldn't be a problem - and asked the host if she could give me any sort of refund. She said something about not expecting very good internet because we're "up north", but agreed to refund $16 a day.

That explanation bothered me for two reasons. First, I had asked if the internet was solid before arriving. That was an important condition for my visit - I would have looked elsewhere if I had known the internet would be bad. The host knew the internet was poor, but implied (via email to me) that it was fine. Secondly, I have a friend that lives a mile down the road from the resort. They have excellent internet (150Mbps). "Up north" was not the problem.

Just to add insult to injury, as I was checking out my wife was sitting in our car with our 2-year old daughter. My kid loves waving at people, and she waved to the guests that were partying the night before. One of the kids in the group (probably in his 20s) waved back to my kid, and then flipped her off. When my wife came in and told me this, the host said "oh, people are just a little crazy on the weekends".

I do not judge a resort by their guests, but I do expect them to take quick action when the guests are...

We came up for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The weather was perfect. We were able to golf near by at the Singing Bridge and at the Red Hawk golf course, both very pleasurable. We rode our bikes on the bike trail, to and from Tawas. The is a near by bike rental if needed. The trail goes all the way to the Lighthouse and Tawas State Park. There were great shoreline views on this trail. ||||Though there is plenty to do in the area, or you can just sit on the many chairs and listen to the waves crash to shore. This resort has kayaks to use in Lake Huron and a perfect, sandy and very clean beach. The hosts, Sam and Nada were very attentive, kind, and welcoming, they were always around to happily to help with anything we needed. ||All fixtures, appliances, furniture are updated, clean and comfortable. We stayed in the Moon Rise and had a full furnished kitchen. The grounds, beach, yards, rooms were all very clean and attended well.||One of the best features was the ability to have a fire on the beach. They have a fire ring and wood. This was great to have and use while enjoying the beach. ||This place is so welcoming, it was one of our best vacations ever and mainly due to our hosts. ||Thank you Sam and Nada!||PS, though we did not use them, they have BBQ grills for...

We came up for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The weather was perfect. We were able to golf near by at the Singing Bridge and at the Red Hawk golf course, both very pleasurable. We rode our bikes on the bike trail, to and from Tawas. The is a near by bike rental if needed. The trail goes all the way to the Lighthouse and Tawas State Park. There were great shoreline views on this trail. ||||Though there is plenty to do in the area, or you can just sit on the many chairs and listen to the waves crash to shore. This resort has kayaks to use in Lake Huron and a perfect, sandy and very clean beach. The hosts, Sam and Nada were very attentive, kind, and welcoming, they were always around to happily to help with anything we needed. ||All fixtures, appliances, furniture are updated, clean and comfortable. We stayed in the Moon Rise and had a full furnished kitchen. The grounds, beach, yards, rooms were all very clean and attended well.||One of the best features was the ability to have a fire on the beach. They have a fire ring and wood. This was great to have and use while enjoying the beach. ||This place is so welcoming, it was one of our best vacations ever and mainly due to our hosts. ||Thank you Sam and Nada!||PS, though we did not use them, they have BBQ grills for...