Grand Mountain Lodge Nice But Expensive
Written: Feb 26 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great outdoor activities, awesome water park
Cons: Expensive, not that great for non-skiers
The Bottom Line: If you like skiing and want a great outdoor experience, this is the place to be, with the added bonus of the water park for those who prefer indoor activities.
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| susiee's Full Review: Mountain Grand Lodge & Spa, Boyne Falls, Michigan |
I recently won 2 free nights at the new Grand Mountain Lodge at Boyne Mountain, so my family headed out there last weekend.
The lobby was huge and packed. The Boyne Mountain complex includes several lodges and condos, and you check in to any of them at this central location, so it took a while to get checked in.
The lower level of the lodge had a huge fireplace and seating area, a large screen tv displaying near the back of the room, and a library. There was also a gift shop and restaurant right there.
Our accommodations were for the lodge's basic room. It included 2 double beds, a three drawer dresser with a TV on top, a small desk with 2 chairs. A nice touch on the beds were some extra throw pillows.
The room had a small refrigerator, a counter with a sink and cupboard including a nice selection of real glasses, from short glasses, tall glasses and wine glasses. There were more than enough glasses for each of us to use more than one a day, and were replaced by the maid service. Under the sink was a larger wastebasket (nice for a change from the tiny wastebaskets most hotel rooms have), paper towels and some cleaning supplies. A coffee maker with a selection of coffees and a box of coffee filters. I also found a bottle opener and wine opener in the drawer.
The bathroom had only a shower stall, no tub, which disappointed my son who wanted a bath. It was a very roomy shower, though, and had built in shelves to hold your grooming supplies, as well as a wire basket hanging from the shower head. As in many hotels, complimentary bar soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion and shower caps were provided, and a blow dryer was available in the cupboard.
The room was a good size, with enough space to put two large suitcases against the wall and still have room to move. While the room was "free", we were responsible for the taxes only, and the rate for this room on a Sunday night was $265, and taxes on it were $34.45, making it a grand total of $299.45 for the room for one night.
The hotel has a very nice indoor/outdoor pool. You enter the pool just past the fitness center. The indoor portion is a large circle and you go through a plastic barrier to get to the outdoor pool. Even though it was extremely cold outside with lots of snow on the ground, my family went under the barrier to the outside area. The pool was heated and it was quite refreshing (I wasn't too sure about this myself, but when everybody else went over, I had to check it out). Outside was also where the hot tub was, requiring you to get out of the nice warm pool, then run like mad through the cold to the hot tub.
Inside this hotel is also an excellent spa, offering massages, body treatments, facials, pedicures, fitness center and fitness classes. I had a wonderful treatment called Hot Toddy for the Body, which started with an exfoliating scrub, then covered me with a specialty mud and hot towels, followed by a 30 minute massage. This was priced at $110 and included all day access to all spa facilities (fitness center, hot tub, sauna, etc.). The locker rooms had available everything you could need for after your treatments, from 7 different curling and straightening irons, lotions, tons of different hair styling aids, deodorant, brushes, combs, mouthwash, baby powder, and more. There was a hot tub and sauna available in the locker room too. While waiting for your treatment, you sit in a very relaxing waiting room, with chairs, loungers, dim lights, water sculptures and magazines to keep you occupied. You are brought back there after your treatment and given a nice tray with grapes, a bottle of water and a wet compress for your eyes.
The hotel also had an arcade covering two floors with games you play to win tickets which you turn in for prizes. The upper level was much smaller but had different games than the lower level.
This is a skiing resort, and had a large variety of ski options. There are 51 runs and 6 ski lifts available for downhill skiing. The slopes looked incredible. I am not a skier, so never got out there personally, but my husband was very impressed with all the different slopes.
You could rent all the equipment you needed, including snowboarding, which my youngest almost tried, before deciding to "wait until I am bigger."
There are also many cross-country and snow shoe trails, which is what my hubby and kids were most interested in. Again, you could rent any equipment you might need, although we had our own.
Classes were available for every level of skier and age group, either private lessons or groups.
In addition to skiing, there was a tubing park and ice skating available.
For adults with small children not interested in skiing, the hotel offers Play Care Monday - Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., allowing adults to ski without worrying about the children. My kids were a bit old for this, so I don't know the rates.
There were also nighttime Kids Activities planned for each evening from 6 - 8 p..m. These were things such as arts and crafts and karaoke. It was $16 per child and reservations were required.
Each night a family movie was shown just off the lobby free of charge.
An awesome water park is inside this hotel. We have visited many other hotels with water parks, and usually admission to the water park is included in your room charge. That is not the case here. It was $41 per person for the water park for hotel guests, making it a pretty expensive day. After 4 p.m. the price drops by $10 to $31 per person.
For us, food is very important when staying at a hotel. If the food is good and easy to get, my husband is happy. So when the brochure I was given at check-in showed 8 restaurants, he was pretty happy. Unfortunately, only two of them were actually in the lodge itself. One was the"fancy" restaurant where a cheeseburger by itself was $10, and that was the least expensive item on the menu. The other was the Snack Shack which was inside the water park, and not easy to get to unless you had paid admission to the water park. All the other eating options required you to leave the building and trek through the snow to the different locations.
One problem I had during this trip was with the vending machines. None of the machines the first night had any Sprite or non-caffeine beverages available. I called down to the desk to find out where I could get something and was transferred to the expensive restaurant. For $1.50, I was given a small glass of soft drink with ice. But they had it ready for me when I walked into the restaurant after the call. The second day, the machines were empty and not giving back change, so again I had to go to the lobby to get my money back. The staff offered to get me cans from the employee lounge, which they knew was working.
The staff at this hotel were all super, doing their best to help and in general making our stay very pleasant.
It was a pleasant experience, but my "free" trip cost us over $400 for two nights for just taxes, food and the water park (I had won 1 day passes, so only paid for 1 day). If the room costs had been added, that would have been a very expensive trip.
Recommended:
Yes
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susiee
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