The Homestead - GLEN ARBOR

We BOOKED a three night stay in this sprawling “resort” complex with hundreds of rooms set across what felt like a hundred plus acres near the Sleeping Bear Dunes national lakeshore to attend a wedding. Unfortunately we had to leave a day early due to TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE… more on that in a minute. We stayed in one of the “suites” in the Little Belle -an aging mini ski village at the base of the chairlift to the ski hills. As it was August, the village was pretty quiet. Our room, Suite 10 was located on the second floor and while spacious, had several flaws including a broken gas fireplace not really an issue in August), stained carpet, broken base molding, a tiny bathroom with a phone-booth sized shower with a slow drain, a ridiculous 1990s whirlpool tub set in the middle of the bedroom along with a tiny pedestal sink. At more than $350/night $400 on the weekend) given the modest quality of the room, this would be for me a 2 or 3-star place, at best. Unfortunately we received a shocking text Friday night see photo) with less than 12 hours notice that the electricity would be shut off at 8 am on SATURDAY for an indeterminate time frame in our section of the property and that they were sorry. Obviously I called asking to move to a different part of the resort but was told they were full. I’m thinking, well emergencies happen, but after additional calls, I found out, no, in fact they had a power issue a couple of weeks ago and have been running off a generator. Further, while there was no time frame for the repair, they were “HOPING to have it done by mid afternoon.”!!!!! As we had a 4 pm wedding, this was obviously not going to be acceptable to be without power, hot water or a room for what was expected to be a rainy day. We just couldn’t rely on the HOPE that we could get back into the electric door locks after all) and HOPE we would have enough time to get ready and HOPE there would be hot water… I think you get the idea! Luckily I was able to find a hotel in Empire with a room we could book for 1 night when I called at 9 pm. They were super nice when I explained our situation and promised to get a room cleaned as quickly as possible then call us so we wouldn’t have an issue with the 4 pm wedding-No THAT IS CUSTOMER SERVICE! Hint to the Homestead). What I can’t get over is the tone-deafness of the text. Clearly they knew about this issue when we arrive to check in on THURSDAY yet only notified us late the night before when we and the other suckers were stuck with no options during the busy tourist season?! I don’t know about you but we travel frequently and stay in hotels of all levels 50-60 nights a year and have never experienced such a cavalier level of customer service. While this is a nice area to visit, I’ll never stay at the Homestead again and hope my experience will inform your decision as well. Good riddance!

The Homestead is an amazing property with so much potential but the owners refuse to properly take care of it. We stayed in the same room as last year. All the same issues persist and are worse, the blinds don’t work, the carpet is grossly stained, the lights flicker, the a/c doesn’t get cold enough, the roofs and gutters are falling apart, etc. The hot tub isn’t working while we are here and the indoor restaurant on the beach which was amazing last year is closed this month due to power issues. For paying $850 per night it’s pathetic but the views and property have so much potential. This will be our last time staying here unless there is a major renovation.

The Homestead is a pretty great lake resort in northern Michigan. The campus is large and sprawls tons of amazing beachfront and wooded trails with walkable paths. There are a couple pools, a fitness center, and some other recreational options (tennis, nearby golf, water activities). The views from many of the units are breathtaking. We 've been going one and off for nearly a decade, with my spouse 's family having visited since they were kids. There is certainly a huge nostalgia draw for folks who have been before, and many families rent the same general week each year, so there 's a strange sense of community across the various big groups you encounter around the resort year after year. Being honest, the place suffers from aging pretty bad. Coupled with the fact that prices keep going up (both booking direct through the Homestead, or through one of the rental companies the many condos are managed through), it 's a value proposition that has been increasingly lower for us. As much as we love the place, the premium they charge doesn 't seem to go back into reasonable maintenance, much less any sort of improvements over the years. This year, one of the pool/hot tub areas was out of commission for most of the summer. There are maintenance issues we 've noticed for years now that do not get addressed. The individual condos and rooms have all sorts of challenges musty stanks, broken windows, dirty decor... Staff and service gets more sparse each year. The cleaning crew for our condo this year showed up AFTER WE ARRIVED FOR CHECK IN and needed 45 minutes to clean it... That was it 45 minutes to clean a condo used by upwards of ten people. It showed in what they handed over when they were done cleaning. We just sort of hold our noses about the funk most years; after all, you 're at the beach and you 're probably tracking in some sun and sand yourself. Overall, it has a very strong peaked in '92 feel about it that kinda gets worse each year. Our family has a bunch of owners (timeshares) so we are kind of stuck going here each year, but given how precious time and money are getting, we find ourselves hard pressed making the annual commitment when the money could do a lot for us elsewhere. Nevertheless, we do always enjoy our time at The Homestead.

Carl at the front desk ruined our vacation. Checking in is awful now, as are any special requests. Today I asked Carl, the front desk service manager to provide me an extra plastic room key. His answer, simply “no”. I would normally be understanding that someone is having a bad day. I asked to speak to his manager and again he said one word, “no.” My family has come to the Homestead for three generations, having owned properties over that time. Over the last 4 years service has become horrible. It is no wonder they have a sign at the front desk asking people not to get upset with their staff. At first I thought it to be a remnant of Covid. Nope. Carl just brings out the worst in guests.

All of the indoor dinning rooms are closed. There is only a grill down by the beach and a pickup window at whiskers. The half empty store only has terrible pizza and brown water for coffee. Many of the buildings are using generators, due to mystery power outages. Rooms are falling apart. Hot tubs are closed. Roofs are falling apart. The lady at the welcome center is a very sad and angry at the world. She is also in denial about the dismal conditions of the resort facilities. Do NOT waste your hard earned money or time. Not even remotely close to what their website claims