First off, to understand my feelings about lodging away from home, see my bio.
Myself and my wife decided to take a small, 3 day, 2 night trip up to Traverse for some color touring on October 23 / 25th. As usual I made reservations before we left, at a different place, which shall remain nameless at this point as I can't find them listed here on Trip Advisor. My reason for choosing the place I did was that it was a cabin, a ways out of town and had a firepit. I wanted a campfire in the evening after a day of cruising around in the truck, taking photo's.
So anyhow, we got to this nameless place, signed in and went to see our digs. It was a nice little cabin, but with the weather in the high 30's and only a small space heater to keep the place warm, it was colder than h*** in there. So, we turned on the space heater and headed out for the day to take photos. After a full afternoon of touring and an excellent meal at La Senorita's we headed back out to our cabin in the sticks, assuming that it'd be warm after having the heater on for close to 8 hours. Imagine our surprise when we walked into the cabin and found it still cold as h***.
Holding onto a good thought, I went outside and proceeded to start a fire, while the wife got things around in the cabin. We spent the next several hours, huddled around the firepit as the cabin was way too cold to be comfortable to sit in, even with long underwear.
Eventually I ran out of firewood and retired to the cabin. The wife was already huddled in the bed, trying to get / stay warm. I attempted the same and all the during the night we slept fitfully due to the cold. By the time I finally gave up and got up about 6am I had decided to find somewhere else to stay the second night......
I looked thru my lodgings brochure and The Mitchell Creek Inn jumped out at me. I don't question these things when they happen. We drove into town to get a HOT breakfast and then went over to see if they had rooms for the coming night. It was 9am and the lady in charge had just flipped on the OPEN sign. I was a bit testy from my lack of warm sleep so I said HI, I WANT A WARM ROOM, GOT ONE? :-) She assured me they were and they charged me 45 bucks for the night, 30 bucks less then the cabin I had paid for that didn't have heat. And....to top it off, the Mitchell Creek Inn has a firepit! So I'd spent 180 bucks for two nights in a cabin that doubled as a meat locker when I could've had a warm room for two night for 90 bucks and STILL had my campfire.
Live and learn I guess. Our second evening was spent in glorious warmth once we got done with the day's activities and got back to the room. The room was clean, nicely appointed with a GREAT hot shower and a comfy bed. The proprietor was friendly and helpful and doublechecked on us to make sure the room was warm enough and that we were happy. Although, given the time of year, we couldn't really tap into the excellent location, across the street from the state park beach, it's certainly a location that would pay dividends during the warmer months.
In closing, I'd go back here to stay in a heartbeat and will next time we head to T.C. I had zero complaints and for the money it was a outstanding deal. I hope the place stays like it is for a long time to come. I hate the big chains and places like this are getting harder and harder to find. Unless you're one of those types that has to have the best of everything and have someone wait on them hand and foot, you won't be disappointed in this place.