Stearns Hotel

Location was good

Location to downtown

Breakfast was limited but didn’t matter as we always planned to eat in various establishments during our stay. The hotel was very accommodating. Great experience would recommend to anyone.

Quaint Hotel on the edge of the business district kept largely in its original state. It was like stepping into the past.

N/A

It was a charming location.

Sincerely appreciate the professionalism and service oriented front desk staff. They were very friendly and accommodating. I am especially grateful for their assistance with arranging some freezer space to temporarily store some processed fish and freezer blocks for my transport cooler.

we didn't eat breakfast there

Location

My family and I have been visiting Ludington nearly every summer for the past 10 years. This year, we decided to try a different hotel to save a little money by not staying right next to Stearns Beach. We chose the Stearns Hotel because it was still downtown and recent reviews were mostly positive.

I had noticed reviews mentioning that the hotel’s bar could be noisy for guests in certain areas of the building. The hotel's website was very upfront about this, stating that during weekend or holiday events "some rooms may hear music" and advising guests to call the front desk if they wanted a room that would not be affected. Since we were staying over a weekend and wanted to avoid having our sleep disturbed, I called before booking. The woman I spoke with was friendly and helpful. She explained that the available double-queen rooms were not in a quiet location, but for a little more per night, we could get a king room with a queen sofa bed and kitchenette in a quieter location. She did warn me that a wedding reception would take place on the Saturday during our stay and that we would likely hear music, but she said it should end around 10 PM. That sounded reasonable, so I booked the room.

Upon arrival, we had no trouble finding parking behind the hotel. The lovely hydrangeas and old-world charm of the lobby were a nice first impression. Everything appeared neat and tidy, and check-in was friendly and efficient. Our third-floor room was clean and well-stocked with towels, but there were no linens for the sofa bed. According to the front desk clerk, housekeeping was supposed to pull out and make up the sofa bed because they knew someone would be sleeping on it, but that hadn't happened. Since it was after 8 PM and housekeeping was apparently unavailable, the clerk had to call her manager to figure out where to find the linens, and we ended up making the bed ourselves.

Unfortunately, the sofa mattress was extremely thin, and our daughter could feel the crossbars underneath it. We eventually had to put our beach towels on the mattress to make it tolerable. The king mattress was also very uncomfortable and provided essentially no support. After tossing and turning all night, my husband and I both woke up with back and neck pain. In fact, after our first night, my husband spent much of the next day sleeping on the beach because he said the sand was more comfortable than the bed.

Saturday night was the bigger issue. We knew about the wedding reception, so we expected more people, more vehicles in the parking lot, and music. What we didn't expect was music so loud that you couldn't think or carry on a conversation in the lobby area. We saw numerous wedding guests standing outside around the main entrance, presumably trying to escape the noise and actually talk. When we got to our room around 9:30 PM, the floor and walls were literally shaking from the bass. Our third-floor room was located above where the ballroom was located on the first-floor, but even with a floor between us, the music was extremely disruptive. We started getting ready for bed because I had been told the reception would end around 10 PM. Instead, the music continued until nearly 11:15 PM.

I was particularly frustrated because avoiding this kind of disturbance was the primary reason I had specifically called before booking and paid extra for the quieter room I had requested. Even if the front desk clerk had simply been given incorrect information, we were the ones affected by it. The late end to the reception also meant we had to sleep later the next morning than intended before packing and checking out. At checkout, I expected someone to ask how our stay had been, but the clerk simply collected our key, confirmed our room number, said thank you, and walked away.

Pros: Great downtown location; ample parking behind the hotel; hotel and room were generally clean and tidy; plenty of absorbent towels; larger-than-standard mini fridge that stayed consistently cold; charming historic atmosphere.

Cons: Very uncomfortable, unsupportive mattresses; thin pillows; room temperature was difficult to keep consistent overnight; no extra security lock on the door; only one elevator; some narrow and poorly lit hallways; sofa bed was uncomfortable and initially covered in debris from disuse; extremely loud wedding reception music that continued about 75 minutes longer than I was told.

Tips: Two luggage racks were typically available in the lobby near the elevator. The sidewalk from the parking lot to the entrance is on a fairly steep incline, so consider pulling up near the entrance to unload and load luggage. The hotel's only ice machine is located near the lobby desk.

Overall: The hotel has a great location and some charming features, but our primary reasons for staying there were to have a quiet room and get a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, neither happened. Given the uncomfortable mattresses and the extreme noise from the wedding reception, we will not be staying here again.

Great location. Rooms were large, comfortable and very clean. Quiet hotel.

Large room, historic charm, very helpful staff

Quiet, spacey room