Bayside Hotel Of Mackinac

We needed a place to stay the night before going to Mackinac Island. After reading some of the reviews, I almost passed on this hotel, I'm so glad I didn't. It was in the perfect location, room was clean, shower was nice with good water-pressure, had a refrigerator and was directly across the street from the Mackinac Island Ferry. I would stay again if ever in the area.

Was a bit dated, beds were full instead of queen size (but comfy).

I thought the hotel was nicer in person than in the pictures. I already knew it was a bit outdated but they managed to make it look nice, at least in the room we were in. The room was clean and the beds were nice and firm with fluffy pillows. The bathroom was clean and spacious. We did have a refrigerator which was convenient to store our drinks in. My teenage son got to go down to the attached water park and swim, he enjoyed it but it was quite busy and when I went down to watch him and just sit to relax, I couldn't take more than 5 minutes of being in there because it was way too hot. The temperature needs to be dropped a bit so people aren't overheating. But overall, it was nice to have the indoor pool. There was even a small game room with a couple arcade games and a air hockey table. Outside was another pool but we forgot about it so didn't get to try it out.

There was no breakfast offered when normally there is, and they have a spacious facility for it. However, I knew this when I booked the room because the website had an update on this. Our "lake view" room was disappointing, because Lake Huron was across the street on the other side of another hotel; you could see the water but it wasn't like you had a great up-close view as I had expected. Had I known this, I would have booked at the hotel across the street next to the water. There was no microwave in the room but fortunately for one night we didn't need it.

I didn't realize there was a waterpark! That was a nice surprise, as I booked this just for a night's stay on my road trip around Lake Michigan.

The waterpark was scheduled to close at 10pm. I realized the time (9:50pm) and so I began to collect my belongings to leave, and at 9:53pm the lights turned off on me! I was quite surprised that the pool attendant didn't do a check around the large room to ensure there was no one in the hot tub or pool. I asked to turn the lights back on, and was told to exit out the side door, as the main doors were already locked, so I had to walk in the dark in my wet suit, around the building, back in the front door. It was in the 50s or low 60s so was a bit unpleasant to do so. I really enjoyed the hot tub and my stay, but that could have been handled better so just wanted to pass on this feedback.

We only stayed one night. The room was clean and the beds were comfortable. A little out of date but super clean, so it didn't matter too much. The pillows were great! The front desk check in and out was quick and she was friendly (we were a little worried after finding the YouTube manager threatening a customer video). The water park was small but my 11 year old still had fun. Overall an easy overnight stay. Parking was awesome, lots of space and plenty of room for our truck and boat. The hotel was right across the street from the ferry so heading to the island was a breeze. The front desk offered discounts for the ferry and it was the cheapest rate I have ever paid and could find from other vendors.

DO NOT go to the breakfast place they recommend and give you coupons for. It's horrible! Check out Darrow's family restaurant instead. WAY too strong on the chlorine. Burned my eyes. That being said, the normal pool was really yucky and needed a deep clean. The water park area was clean.

The Waterpark area was described as splash pad but it was a lot more than just that. 3 different slides, a dump bucket, etc. Good thing we had lifejackets on hand for our 2 under 2 years old. It's in the perfect location to go anywhere you want in Mackinaw City, and we walked the entire stay because it was close to everything.

It's 2 hotels connected by the 2nd and 3rd floor which makes for a maize of stairs on your way to the Waterpark area. The alarm clock didn't work but neither of these things are big deal. Staff is a bit snarky but overall they do a good job.

Access to indoor pool, water park and jacuzzi. Affordable hotel that continues to offer a great location to everything in Mackinac City. Employees as always were great and personable. We continue to choose to stay here because of the atmosphere.

We miss the breakfast option being at the hotel pre COVID, which was convenient during stays. We stayed for 2 nights, hoping while we were out that our room would be cleaned with beds made and fresh towels when we returned but it was not.

good next to a Fairy across the street and walking distance from downtown

Very nice place to stay for the price we paid. Beds were comfortable. They are double beds just fyi. At least in the room we stayed in but my family and I were very comfortable and it met our needs for our stay. Waterpark was so fun. My daughter loved it. Remember to grab your wrist band at check in for it though. There wasn't any breakfast but the host at the front desk gave us some nice coupons to make up for it for the restaurants in town. They came in handy. Overall we loved our stay and we will be returning again. Thank you Bayside!

I loved everything except no breakfast but that is because I am used to that when I travel to hotels. But I assumed it was due to the covid pandemic is why it had stop. Either way we found good breakfast down the street. 😊

The Bayside Hotel is one of few Mackinac City Hotels open over the winter. It has reasonable rates.

2 gripes: 1))there is always a problem with the room key cards magnetic encoding. Every time I have checked in to this hotel I have to return 3 times to the lobby to get the card working properly as do most every guest. The staff have been great about helping to recode the cards or even reassign a different room but it is still a hassel affecting nearly every guest. The cards are a plug for local restaurants and don't even have the name of ther hotel on them. Bayview needs to step up and fix this flawed system. 2) In the off season there are no good places for breakfast in Mac city and the Bayview offers no in hotel facility.

I loved the outdoor pool and hot tub. I was very happy they had their own private beach use as well. it was beautiful. We were going to do indoor pool and waterpark, but we were busy on our adventures. We will be returning next late spring so we can go to the upper end of Michigan in search for the glowing rocks. Another bonus is sometimes you can see the northern lights at the bridge . I miss it there already its only been 3 weeks .

I didn't like the fact that we didn't have more time. I do plan next year 2 weeks instead of 3 days.