Tia R.
Yelp
Okay, I /adored/ this place.
I was a little unsure about the size of the room on my initial reservation, as I had reserved the "Small Queen" option for a two night stay. It was just two of us, and I was ready for it to be like literally a bed in a room with a little door to a bathroom. But no! There was a little desk and chair, and also a little bench for your shoes underneath a coat rack, so I never felt like I was particularly cramped or there wasn't enough space for anything. My one request for the main room is to maybe add those folding luggage racks to each room, because we didn't really have a convenient place to put our suitcases except on the floor, and I know some people are really weird about that kind of thing.
The bathroom, yes it's smaller than you're average 'hotel chain' bathroom, but honestly it's like the size of a bathroom in a regular suburb-based home. The shower is quite roomy, but one request - PLEASE install another ledge or maybe just a suction-cup toiletry rack or something?? I had nowhere to put my shampoos and such without just setting them on the floor of the shower and I am quite blind without my glasses on. :)
The grounds were spectacular. I loved the vintage motel style setup of personal rooms because I never had to hear anyone storming down a hallway in the morning or talking too loudly that I get from normal hotels. Except unlike most motels, this place is CLEAN. The sheets still smelled faintly of bleach and that was super relaxing to notice. Also, NO KIDS. Holy crap I never realized how much I would appreciate a no kids hotel until I was in one in Ludington. No screaming children, no one running around, being crazy. There were so many obnoxious tourist children in the rest of the city it was so nice to go back to the hotel for some peace and quiet.
If you're a very light sleeper from a more rural area, you might notice some traffic noise if you're in one of the rooms right by the main road, but we're city-goers so we weren't disturbed by it at all. But I would definitely keep that in mind if you're not used to it, and maybe ask for a room more away from the road.
The gardens were /beautiful/. I could open our room windows and hear the sound of the fountain. We sat out there with our morning coffees and did some journaling and it was really relaxing and gorgeous. There's also a little library/study room with books and comfortable seating if the weather isn't great and you'd like to do a little light reading out of the room.
I won't even spend forever talking about the breakfast but, /wow/ that was a highlight of our stay!! When you walk up to the lobby, there's a sign listing the daily options for the omelette, usually 3-4 things, and then the choice of yogurt with granola and fruit. They let you remove any toppings that you don't want in your omelette if you're a picky eater, (like me!) and your choice of homemade bread. You get one slice, and whatever homemade jams they have available. And the omelette seems like a 3 egg omelette served with a scoop of fresh fruit and a piece of a baked good. (We had apple fritters!) If you're still hungry, there's a cereal option as well to add onto the rest of your meal.
The hotel is definitely within walking distance of a majority of the shopping. We walked down to The Mitten Bar and Kilwin's an afternoon and it was only like a 7 minute walk? Very convenient.
And then I guess the last thing I need to rave about is the /service/. They were unbelievably sweet and friendly here. We actually had a mishap on our first day in, 2 hours before check-in we got splashed by a big wave on the Breakwater in our regular clothes! So I called and asked if it was okay if we did an early check-in so we could change our clothes, and they so were so nice and accommodating, "Sure come right on over!" it was really nice to be saved that embarrassment of walking around soaked for two hours. I mean, it's the little things, right?
I would definitely come back here again. It's quirky in it's own ways, but I was just swept up by the charm of it. Thank you for the lovely stay, Summer's Inn!