Homestead

We are currently in the process of planning our wedding. I saw The Homestead on The Knot and all of the pictures looked beautiful. We had a large budget to work with so this venue would have been perfect for us. Unfortunately, we were extremely turned off right from the start. Our first attempt to contact them was through The Knot. We got no answer for two days. So, thinking the app didn’t work-​we called. We were transferred twice and finally got to the third person. She seemed nice. I told her we were planning on 180 guests (maximum amount for the venue) she took down my email address and said she would send me an email which would include various rules that were not listed on the site. Great! Then she says she would be in meetings all day and that if we still wanted to come by, email would be the best point of contact. We waited another 24 hours and no email. We live down state so we were only here for the weekend so, we just figured we would go there and ask for a tour and information. We drove 40 minutes in white out conditions. We got to the front desk and the gal there was pleasant at best. She went and got someone from the back who gave us a packet of info which was nice and said she would send us the email, the one I mentioned in the beginning, and sent us on our way. Still. No. Email. Nothing.
That’s fine. Thank you for not following up with us and saving us from more horrific customer service on our wedding day.

I never write a Unilocal review, as I prefer to talk to a company and let them have a chance to redeem themselves. But just have to say, to the buyer beware! I can tell you all the little details
that detracted from my experience as a hotel guest, cobwebs all over windows, a toilet that ran all night, overpriced grocery store on site and on it goes. But those all could have been overlooked as we were guests for a destination wedding. Yes the setting is lovley.
BUT.there was not enough food for the guests at the wedding and to have a facility run out of food at a wedding is beyond a nightmare. To witness the brides parents try to keep a happy Near fifty guests stood hovering about for over forty minutes while the kitchen scrapped something from it’s larders, as it had not prepared enough food. Sad! Just sad that what was to be a magic day was tainted by an organization that did not honor it’s contract. They just took the money and ran… so take your money and run!!!

Most of the staff was very cold and unfriendly/​unhelpful. We were there for a wedding this past weekend and it seems every answer to a question we had was abrupt, cynical or just plain short and rude.

Horrific customer service, but very beautiful setting. They desperately need to make some new hires.

We attempted to book at wedding at the Homestead recently, but pulled the plug after experiencing the worst customer service in recent memory.
We’re talking a huge outlay for the wedding and repeated requests for information were met with no response, and partial answers at best.
I wouldn’t book a hillbilly shotgun wedding at this resort even if my cousin, who’s marrying her brother, threatened me with cutting off my supply of moonshine.

The year is 2015 and no WiFi is not acceptable especially for the price. I own my owns business and need WiFi so I can stay on top of the daily work that is needed when you own your own business. In 2015 you would think internet in a 4 star hotel would be expected.
The rooms are also very dated from about the 1980s and in poor repair. Slight smell and well just ugly. I know you do not come here to spend a ton of time in the rooms but for the price you expect a fresh clean room.

What a disappoint this place was! I visited with my fiancée for a romantic weekend to be welcomed in our room by cobwebs and spiders. We cleaned those up and then went to sit on our porch which was 10x worse! There were cobwebs and spiders crawling all over the place.
We then went to the beach club of which we had to park about a ¼ of a mile from. The table was dirty with bird poop on it and the waitress didn’t offer to clean it. We quickly ate and left.
We then took a walk on the beach… disgusting. Was not kept up and needs to be cleaned. It is infested with geese, birds, and poop everywhere.
If you are going to charge around $ 250 a night. Please make sure you clean this place up. I have never been so disappointed in a stay in my life.

Friendly staff, comfortable rooms, and breathtaking views!
We came up with a group of 6 for my wife’s 30^th birthday party during the «Toast the Season» wine tour. The hotel coordinated our tickets and start location for the tour. We stayed in Fiddler’s Pond, and the rooms were wonderful. Two of our rooms had a King Size bed and a fireplace, which really made for a cozy and comfortable atmosphere. The colors this time of year were incredible as well.
We took a drive over to the beachfront to watch the sunset, which was a sight everyone should take the opportunity to see! The package we had included breakfast in the morning, which was buffet style including waffles made to order, eggs, corned beef hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy, sausage, bacon, potatoes, muffins, bagels, coffee, milk, and a variety of juices. The food was excellent, and we sat down by the large fireplace which made for a cozy group setting to kick off the day.
Highly recommend this resort, and I know we will be back again soon!

Rooms are nice and resort is quiet and not crowded– which is surprising for late July. It features a nice convenience store (many items, like beer, are cheaper than in town), two pools, a number of nice restaurants and beach access. Not far from town, the dunes, or tubing/​kayak rentals. Would stay again!

This resort is set in a beautiful part of Michigan. The staff was all very friendly and I was overall very satisfied with my stay. I wish it could have been longer.
But I only give it three stars because it is way overpriced. This is probably because it is the only real hotel in the area and there are major taxes/​fees on top of the rate. But the fact is that it just isn’t worth it. There are much nicer resorts in other parts of the country that don’t have a monopoly on the location.
One thing to realize is that the resort is really big. Chances are you won’t be very close to the beach. Your options for enjoying the beach are to drive to a lot, then walk another 5 – 10 minutes to the beach. The other option is a shuttle van. Both are fine options, but for the price in midseason (which is the only time you want to use the beach a lot), you would hope you could be a short walk from your room to the beach, and this is just not the case. With two small kids and all the junk you have to bring with you to enjoy the beach it is easier just to go to a nearby public beach where you can park right there and walk 20 seconds and be on the sand.

This review is for the lovely and talented woman who works at Cavanaugh’s made two double lattes WAY WAY BETTER than anything my wife and I have had at Leelanau Coffee Co. Deepest Thanks.
****ALSO ***
on some summer evenings, when they stay open late, they offer $ 1.50 ice cream
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UNFORTUNATELY I can’t review Cavanaugh’s separately. There are other options: restaurants, shoppes, and condo rentals under the «Homestead» umbrella. Someday Unilocal will help with this, right?

Stayed at the Homestead for a week at the end of June. Overall our experience was good but there were some quirks. We rented a cottage and were surprised to not have air conditioning. It made for a warm first night but was fine after opening all the windows and running the fans. The property itself has a small general store to get many of the basics but is 5 – 10 minutes away from Glen Arbor if you need more than the basics. We did not eat onsite but did have drinks at the beach club. The drinks were fine but their specialty cocktails were not superb.
The location was great for what we wanted to do — hit the beaches in Sleeping Bear, shop a bit in Glen Arbor. Note this is about 45 mins away from Traverse. We did make the trek one day and after doing so, we wondered why we did.
If you go here, definitely go to Leland and their Fishtown area.

I really want to recommend The Homestead. I really, really want to. It should be a no-​brainer:
Condo and hotel lodgings on (arguably) the most perfect part of the Lake Michigan shoreline…
Just north of Glen Arbor…
A short trip to Traverse City…
Within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore…
Surrounded by wilderness…
… But they just can’t seem to pull it off and tie it all together.
We stayed in one of the Sand Piper condos. They are right on the beach, but they are located off another access road, away from the resort proper. That is OK, I get it and it is kind of nice to be separated from the main facility. However, it is really separated. Grand Traverse Resort has this same situation with its Shores condos — however, they execute it so much better. Regular shuttle service, documentation in the rooms about the resort’s amenities, resort wi-​fi in the rooms, integration with the resort phone system, and regular full maid service. The Homestead — at least for the Sand Piper Condos (and given their similar location, I assume for South Beach, Shoreside, Wilderness, Beach Comber and Beach Walk condos) has none of these.
Staying at a location within the main property may be a different experience, I can’t speak to that. However, front desk staff were dismissive upon arrival and spent more time on informing me about the $ 150 per key lost fee than they did about the property’s amenities. If you read the other reviews on Unilocal,including my review of the resort’s restaurant Beppi’s, you will see this is a trend.
So much potential here, but it seems like the customer service is not acceptable for this tier of facility. The whole thing kind of feels like it a mass of separate components barely held together with a bit of twine and bailing wire. Look at the resort’s map and you can se

I discovered this Lake Michigan beach and ski resort on a trip 20 years ago and have never found another Great Lakes resort to compare to it in terms of scenery, variety of quality accommodations (from Beach houses for parties of 20 to elegant B&B style lodge rooms with spa-​tubs and fireplaces overlooking the brook for our anniversary weekend).
Have been a travel writer for national magazines and absolutely love the northwoods setting of this casual, low key «up north» resort. The restaurants up here aren’t great, but skip on over to Traverse City or Leland (there’s a lovely Wine Spectator gourmet restaurant on the harbor rapids we do anniversary dinners at).
Rooms vary from beachfront chic-​luxe a la Adirondack Lodge style (at $ 385+ and up) to affordable lodge rooms Brookside at South Village. In 20 trips we’ve tried most of them. Simply can’t go wrong.