We reserved a room through Choice Hotels 800 number for the Clarion Beachfront with the understanding it was a beachfront room with balcony. After we checked in and got into our room it was apparent that it was not a beachfront room and no balcony. We went back to the front desk and explained the situation. Fortunately is was mid-week in October, and the staff helping us indicated that mix-ups did happen sometimes with the reservation system and gave us another room overlooking Lake Huron. The room was very nice, clean and the price was reasonable.

We have stayed at the Comfort Inn, Hamilton Inn and the Ramada Inn in Mackinaw City. The staff at the Clarion are the BEST! Understanding and they want your stay to be pleasant, unlike the Ramada Inn. When we arrived at the Ramada Inn to find the room that we had reserved was already occupied, we said we would stay one night (had reserved 4 nights). Called the Clarion and spoke with Dave. He reserved a room for us and was very understanding of our situation. The room we had at the Clarion was the best room we've had in Mackinaw City. The view of the Bridge and the Grand Hotel was fantastic! The breakfast area was spacious and the food was better than the previous mentioned motels. Definitely will stay there again.

I went around 3:30 to see if I could check in early. They checked me in but said my room wouldn't be ready till about 4:30. So I went and did some shopping while I waited got back around 5 just to be safe. Got my room keys and headed to my room. The room was big and very well cleaned. Bathroom was on the small size but the jacuzzi tub made up for that. The only bad parts about my stay were that I'm on the short size so climbing out of the jacuzzi tub was a bit of a challenge and the bed was not very comfy and I didn't go to break fast because of the location of the room. Other than those minor things I really enjoyed my stay

PROS: Newer sheets, comfortable bed and firm pillows. Clean room. Plentiful breakfast with lots of seating. Large flat screen TV in rooms. Check-out was quick.
CONS: Pool and whilrpool was enclosed, but you have to walk across the parking lot, and in cold weather it is not comfortable. Noise from rooms on either side of us, as well as footsteps in room above us. People were slamming their doors. All rooms have exterior doors. Pet policy not enforced. Breakfast room was on second floor, and very cool temperature inside, with a VERY small flat screen TV in an enormous room. Check-in was slow. No TV channel line-up card provided, and took us quite some time to find there was HBO, as no schedule was left on the first night. There was shiny black tile in the bathroom (a cramped area with a toilet and shower) and where the sink was. Very slippery and someday a possible lawsuit with a slip & fall could occur.
COMMENTS:We would stay there again only in a pinch. We feel the cons outweigh the pros at this hotel. We feel the difference in a Friday rate ($66) and a Saturday rate ($94) is not worth it as we could not use the pool because of the cold, and the HBO problem.