Holiday Inn Express Mackinaw City By Ihg

“Good option for a night.”

The hotel was better than I expected. We only stayed one night but good rooms and beds weren’t bad. The breakfast offering could be a little more varied, but it was included. Didn’t love the pillows but that was about it for room issues.

“Pleasant, would stay again.”

Place was clean and modern looking, breakfast was very good, a lot of options and fresh fruit available. Fresh ground coffee.

“Immaculately clean”

I stayed one night at the Holiday Inn Express in Mackinaw City and came away pleasantly surprised. While the hotel dates to the 1990s, it feels newer and fresher than expected. The lobby appears to have been renovated or at least refreshed within the last couple of years. My room — a top-floor su… more

I stayed one night at the Holiday Inn Express in Mackinaw City and came away pleasantly surprised. While the hotel dates to the 1990s, it feels newer and fresher than expected. The lobby appears to have been renovated or at least refreshed within the last couple of years. My room — a top-floor suite with a balcony — had also been updated. The suite itself was massive. Clearly designed with families in mind, it offered plenty of space but came with some drawbacks. The balcony was small, and even from the top floor the view was obstructed by trees. Don’t expect million-dollar views of the Straits of Mackinac or the Mackinac Bridge. That aside, the suite was immaculately clean. Among the cleanest rooms I’ve encountered at a Holiday Inn Express in recent memory. Front desk staff were excellent and exemplified small-town hospitality. For those staying more than one night the hotel does NOT offer daily housekeeping service. Only a light room "refresh," which is basically removing trash and replacing used towels. For $380 before taxes and fees, I would expect daily housekeeping. Especially in a suite, which is their best and most expensive room. That said, I had three issues: 1) The in-room safe was not affixed to anything and could easily be carried out of the room. 2) Breakfast was limited; about half the spread of a typical Holiday Inn Express. Service also started at 6:30 a.m., which is later than the more usual 6 a.m. start time. It doesn't help that the breakfast room is extremely small. This causes overcrowding. Some guests don't have anywhere to eat. Adding an extra half hour of breakfast with service starting at 6 a.m. might help with overcrowding. 3) The ferry shuttle service, while complimentary on-demand, proved unreliable. Waits stretched 20 to 30 minutes. The shuttle also stopped running at night. For those catching a boat to Mackinac Island, paying $75 to park directly at Shepler’s dock may be a better use of time and money. All things considered, the Holiday Inn Express stands out as one of the few Mackinaw City hotels not owned by the dominant local hotel ownership group. For that reason alone, I’d stay here again over many of the other options in town.

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“Is check in time really 3pm?”

Hotel is nice and is in a good location. Checkin says 3:00pm, but we came after 3 and room was still not ready. They asked if we wanted to change room configuration, from 2 beds to one, which is not what we reserved months ago. When we declined, we had to wait. We did not get a call until 4:15 sayi… more

Hotel is nice and is in a good location. Checkin says 3:00pm, but we came after 3 and room was still not ready. They asked if we wanted to change room configuration, from 2 beds to one, which is not what we reserved months ago. When we declined, we had to wait. We did not get a call until 4:15 saying our room was finally ready. After a long trip, it would have been nice if room was ready and that this hotel kept to their standard check in time. We had the room closest to lobby which can be a bit noisy. Wish they had a door to divide lobby to room area, so they could close it so you do not hear breakfast set up and people in lobby. Beds were average on the comfort level and the room was clean.

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