HotelChatter

Historic Hotels / Seasonal Hotels / Mackinac Hotels / → All Tags

Mackinac Island's Grand Hotel Opens Up For its 123rd Year

Where: 286 Grand Ave, [map], Mackinac Island, MI, United States, 49757

The automobile free island of Mackinac, Michigan is gearing up for its six month-long season and things look nearly exactly the same as they did over 100 years ago. But that's a good thing on Mackinac. They've decided to keep life on the island looking and feeling old school. (Although they've outfitted almost the entire island with WiFi now.)

The Grand Hotel sets the season off officially opening on April 30th for it's 123rd season. Yowza. That's old. There's also a soft opening from April 23 to 29 with rooms listed at $150 a night.

more ›

Mackinac Island Hotel Reviews / → All Tags

Mackinac Island Hotels: Free Fudge

Where: P.O. Box 178 [map], Mackinac Island, MI, United States, 49757

We met a very friendly lady on the ferry to Mackinac Island.  Since we were already committed to the technicolor backdated splendor and vinyl furniture at Grand Hotel, we asked this kind travelin' lady to drop us an email and let us know how she liked her Mackinac hotel of choice, Main Street Inn and Suites.

She was we would guess, somewhere in her thirties, and more importantly the kind of traveller that eats guide books and web message boards for breakfast before she books a room.  Our kind of Hotel Maven.

Her thoughts:

I stayed two nights at the Main Street Inn and couldn't have been happier with my choice.  The rooms were adorable and clean, yes a bit fruity in design, but nothing like your photos of Grand Hotel.  The location is super convenient, downtown and next to everything.  Super special extra:  You can store your rented bikes in the basement when you aren't using them and as you know you have to rent a bike if you want to get to the state park sections of the island.

If it was the middle of summer, the Inn may have suffered from noisiness, but because it was late October it was calm and quiet all day and night long.  No, we didn't have the world's longest porch, like you had up at the Grand, however some of the suites did have balconies.

Oh, and the staff was super friendly and you get free fudge.

So there you have it.  The rooms probably will not remind you of a Sonic the Hedgehog induced seizure, however you get free fudge, a place to store your bike, and the convenience (yet high season noisiness) of being in the center of the rock.

Related Stories:
· Main Street Inn and Suites Reviews [TripAdvisor]

Grand Hotel Reviews / Mackinac Island Hotel Reviews / Historic Hotels / → All Tags

This is Your Grandaddy's Hotel

Where: 286 Grand Ave [map], Mackinac Island, MI, United States, 49757

Ok, first things first, if you are considering a stay at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan, you better appreciate the old skool.

Let's get the hard and fast rules out of the way up front:

· After 6pm men must where a jacket and tie in both the common areas and the dining areas. Think this is a joke?  It isn't.  We didn't know this rule as we walked around the lobby at right around 7pm.  Never have we felt so out of place.  Calling the looks we got full of disdain would be an understatement. Staff and guests looked at us as if we were caught in a Dateline sting.

But worry not, you can take the elevator to the bottom floor and sneak down to the Gate House restaurant without issue, which is exactly what we did.  Next time we are fallin' in line.

· If you are not a hotel guest, it will cost you $12 to enter the hotel grounds. We guess this movie, Somewhere in Time, which was filmed at the Grand Hotel, is a tad cultish.  Not only are tourists openly willing to pay the $12, but also many of these tourists donned "Somewhere in Time" t-shirts.

After the break we will give you our take on the Grand Hotel.

more ›