On November 5, 2011, our hotel room was entered by someone without our permission to fix the door to the bathroom which would not latch when it was closed. The "Do Not Disturb" sign was posted outside of the hotel room on the entrance door. We had not requested it to be fixed nor did we inform anyone that the repair was needed. The other occupant of the room said she was in the room within the previous 20 minutes and the door did not shut properly.

When I encountered Andy in the parking lot as we were leaving, I informed him of the breach in security. He denied that anyone had entered the room to fix the door latch. He said it was their policy to only enter a room in the case of a 911 call or possible flooding of water. I told him the bathroom door would not stay closed for two days and suddenly the strike plate on the door jamb was very loose and sloppy and the door stayed closed when shut. Andy said that the strike plate must have loosened as we opened and closed the door.

I asked him twice if he'd like to go to that room to check it out, but he declined. On Saturday there were two persons I saw in various places in the hotel who appeared to be workman. The hotel closed on Sunday. I am sure at least one of the workman entered the room while we were 100 feet down the hall at a quilting retreat.There likely was a previous work order in place to fix problems in various rooms as the hotel would be closing after the quilting retreat.

Also the screws in the security latch on the inside of the entrance door had been over-tightened to the point that the latch could not be used. This was at the same time the bathroom door strike plate was loosened. It had worked previously and could be moved to latch as an extra security measure against intruders while the occupants are in the room. After the screws were tightened the latch would not move at all. It was so tight that it was impossible to budge. I was afraid to try to force it as we may have been trapped inside the room if we were not able to open it again later. The only other exit would be the third floor window.

While we did not leave anything of value in the room, we did not expect someone to enter without our permission. Theft of luggage items, computers, cameras and jewelry is always a possibility, but identity theft is so common, that is also a possibility. But the worse offense is that Andy denied that the breach in security was possible or that it had happened at all. His denial flat out made it sound as if I was making it up, mistaken or just plain stupid. (I have remodeled houses. Strike plates do not loosen up on their own within a few minutes).

Andy appears to be a friendly and helpful person but he will lie to you repeatedly when faced with a situation where the hotel is at fault. I am wondering how many other rooms were entered while the persons renting the room were not there. Probably several more, and maybe those people did not realize it had happened.

Sharon

We originally made reservations to stay at the Bridge Vista Beach Hotel arriving Oct. 19 and departing Oct. 22 at a rate of $69 + tax per night. We checked in around 2pm and by 7pm we wanted to leave because we were so disgusted with the hotel. We went down to the front desk around 7pm and asked for the manager and we were told there was no one we could talk to until the following morning.
We did stay overnight on the 19th and on the 20th around 9:30am we spoke with Andy Shaffer in the lobby of the Bridge Vista and told him that we wanted our money back for our 3rd night, the night of Oct. 21 due to the conditions of the hotel. He said that was fine and he would refund us our money and issue us a check to pickup at the front desk (we paid cash upon arrival for all 3 nights).
We checked in the with the front desk on the evening of the 20th and there was no check there for us and the hotel we felt was just too bad to stay at another night so we ended staying at the Comfort Inn up the street. Apparently the hotels in that area have an interchange agreement because our $69 + tax per night was able to be applied from the Bridge Vista over to the Comfort Inn down the street.
We went to the Bridge Vista on the 21st and I spoke with Andy and he said that a check would be mailed out on Saturday the 22nd. As of today Nov. 2 we still haven’t received our money back for the 1 night we didn’t stay at their hotel. I have been calling the Bridge Vista to talk to Andy but he continually refuses to call us back or refund our money. The Bridge Vista even printed us a receipt I have that indicates a refund for 1 night stay but now they won't honor it. They kept our money and now they won't call us back! I have been calling 2 or 3 times for 2 weeks and I'm continually told that Andy Shaffer is unavailable or they will give him my message and he will supposedly call me back. The same individual owns multiple hotels in the area and is not registered with the BBB. Take time to research your hotel so you are not stuck with this dump. Stay in Petoskey where you don't have to put up with this.
Here is a list of things that will keep us and anyone we know from returning to the Bridge Vista. They expect your guests to honor their cancelation and payment commitments but the hotel didn’t offer their commitments for what is advertised on the website. If we would have know about ½ of the water park being closed or no complimentary breakfast we would have stayed somewhere else.

No breakfast in the morning. We were told to go to another hotel – This would have been nice to know ahead of time since it’s listed as an amenity of the hotel.
Outlet in the bathroom didn’t work
Key card consistently failed. We had to use 7 different key cards for a 1 night stay
Dirt in the pool
Mold in pool
No lifeguards for our 1 night stay so we couldn’t use the waterslides – Another reason we choose to stay there so our daughter could play in the water park. Why offer the service if it doesn’t work?
Ice machine on 2nd floor didn’t work
No manager on duty….poor communication!!
Snack court was closed
Only 1 employee there so no room service available, she said that she couldn’t leave the front desk.

NEVER AGAIN

We booked two rooms for our daughters family & ourselves using the internet. Grandkids loved the water park. Rooms were very clean & comfortable. Staff was friendly & profesional. A complete breakfast of eggs/saugage/biscuits/gravy/cererals/oatmeal/fruit/bagels/ toast/waffels/coffee/juices/ etc... in a nice large room. Motel is on the south end of town, right on the lake, yet, it was only a 10 min walk to island boats & a 15 min walk to downtown (sidewalks all the way). Off season rates are good here & the military discount on top of that was greatly appreciated. Would book here again!!!

We stay in Mackinaw every year and this year was the first time I tried this hotel and I am so glad we did! We usually stay at one of the other hotels attached to that other small waterpark down the road that something like 10 hotels share. When we arrived there was a wedding but we had no issues, other than having to park kind of far out anyway, they seemed to have it well contained. We had a room with two beds and a pullout couch for our two teenagers, two yr old and myself & hubby. It seemed clean, good water pressure in the shower, decent breakfast, and came with all the things we might need such as microwave, fridge, safe, coffee, toiletries, plenty of towels and even extra pillows. The waterpark was fantastic compared to the other option you have. It's no Great Wolfe Lodge or anything but it is very clean, nice newer play structure for the little kids a little lazy river to float on, and two big slides for the older kids (and husbands), hot tub and lily pads. I was very happy with the stay and service. I will definitely make this my "normal" hotel every year when we travel to the area.