Wytheville, Virginia: Hampton Inn

January 2023, weekday, one-night

Sunrise from the rest area after we left Hampton Inn in Wytheville, Virginia

Reservations, arrival, diamond perks

In 2016, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in this area. I chose the Hampton Inn this time, as I was hoping to maintain my diamond status at Hilton. At check-in time, the app did not show any upgrades available. The day before, there were king rooms available on the top floor, and the afternoon on the day of our arrival these rooms were no longer showing. I called the hotel that afternoon to ask for help choosing a room. I asked if they could offer a diamond upgrade or a guestroom on the top floor. This hotel was apparently very busy, because this call took me almost half an hour (28 minutes)! I was on hold for 15 minutes, and then it took just about the same amount of time for the agent to assist me. Even though this took a long time, I was glad I waited. The agent was very thorough--checking my profile preferences, looking at available rooms, and explaining rooms she did not think I would like. She offered me a corner suite on floor two, which I gladly accepted. 

Call to Hampton Inn in Wytheville, Virginia

When we arrived, I received my choice of a beverage and a snack. 

Entrance to guestroom 202 in Hampton Inn in Wytheville, Virginia

East Lansing, Michigan: Hampton Inn

December 2022, weekday, one-night

Reservations, check-in, diamond perks

I reserved a king guestroom online, and that was the only guestroom choice available for check-in when I received the initial check-in notice the day before our stay. I contemplated calling the hotel, since Hilton perks say that room upgrades will be offered for diamond members 3 days before the stay, if available. I decided to wait, and when I checked again the morning of our arrival day, I saw we had been upgraded to a corner suite. I checked in on the app, choosing 4:00 PM as our arrival time, even though check-in at this hotel is 3:00 PM. That was a mistake on my part, because we ended up arriving in the area just before 3:00 PM, and our room was not ready yet. It was ready when we returned to the hotel shortly after 4:00 PM. We received two bottles of water from the front desk agent, after she asked if she could get me anything, like water or a snack.

King suite 400 in Hampton Inn East Lansing

King suite 400

This guestroom was spacious, and it was quiet. We did not hear any noise from outside the guestroom. Although the guestroom was clean and roomy, we did not think it was very comfortable, other than the work area. The desk chair was comfortable, and this area met my needs for working. The soft chair, and the sofa were both uncomfortable, and the bed was hard. If you like hard mattresses, and only want the room for working, you will probably love this room! I neglected to get a photo of the living room chair, and the work desk and chair, which were located at the left end of the sofa in the photo above. Photo #2 on the hotel website looks exactly like guestroom 400.

The kitchen area contained a coffeemaker with supplies, microwave, small fridge, and a sink. A closet and full length mirror were located in the hall area outside the bathroom.

Bathroom in suite 400 in Hampton Inn East Lansing

Detroit, Michigan: Hotel Indigo, downtown

November 2022, weekday, one night, king guestroom, floor 10?

We stayed in this hotel with a free night certificate, and I do not recall our guestroom number. We were on floor 10 or 11, and the view faced east toward Campus Martius Park.

View from guestroom in Hotel Indigo Detroit, Michigan 

Arrival and platinum perks

I received 600 bonus points at check-in. The agent did not say anything to me about this; I received the email notification that the points had been deposited before we checked out. 

Guestroom in Hotel Indigo Detroit, Michigan 

Petoskey, Michigan: Holiday Inn Express & Suites

October 2022, Sunday, one night, suite guestroom 507

Valley view from suite 507 in Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Petoskey, Michigan

Arrival and platinum perks

A front desk agent called me the day of check-in just after 2:00 PM to ask what time we were going to check-in. Check-in is 3:00 PM, so I hesitated briefly, as I considered why she would be calling to ask me this. She did not really say, and I did not directly ask. I initially told her that we were in the area, and that we could check in any time between now and this evening. It sounded like maybe they were behind on cleaning rooms, and that she wanted us to arrive later. I then told her that we were not in a rush to get to the room, so it would be an hour or two. After this conversation, I inquired about a suite upgrade. We had booked a king valley view guestroom. She said they would be able to upgrade us to a high floor suite, and I said great. 

Sunset view from hall in Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Petoskey
Non-valley view guest rooms have sunset views

We arrived around 4:30 PM, and our room had not been pre-assigned. As the agent was preparing our keys, I asked if our room was a suite. I said that someone had called me a few hours ago, and said she could give us a suite upgrade. We then waited several minutes while he did something on the computer, and then he looked at some information in another area behind the counter against the wall. During this time, another employee arrived behind the counter and asked if we needed help. I told her I thought he was getting our room keys. He had not said anything to us after the initial greeting, so I was not actually sure what was going on! The first employee provided our keys a short time later, and we headed to the room (with no information from him about what kind of guestroom we had been assigned).

Guestroom diagram in Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Petoskey, Michigan

Suite 507

This guestroom is on the top floor across from the elevator. The guestroom was spacious and comfortable for the most part. The bedroom is located up front near the entrance, so we could easily hear hallway noise while in the bedroom. According to the guestroom diagram, the only top floor suite (other than the larger suites) with the bedroom located away from the hall is guestroom 509.

Suite 507 in Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Petoskey, Michigan

Bay City, Michigan: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Breweries, and more

We have visited the beautiful riverfront town of Bay City several times, and you can find more information about the area by clicking on the Bay City label at the bottom of this post. You can find more information about the DoubleTree Hotel in my March 2019 blog post.

Sunset from the riverwalk behind Real Seafood Company in Bay City

 November 2022, weeknight, one night, suite 431

Other than the fabulous suite upgrade, this stay was similar to previous stays. I have previously stayed in this hotel with gold and diamond status, and have always received an upgrade to a river view room. This time, when I looked on the app before arrival, our room assignment was a suite on floor 4. I had noticed that there is also a suite on floor 5; however, I did not try to exit the current room assignment to see if that one was available. I did not want to take a chance of losing the suite we had been assigned! 

Suite 431 in DoubleTree Hotel in Bay City, Michigan

We stopped at the front desk to get an extra key, cookies, and water when we arrived. The front desk agent did not say anything about breakfast, so I asked if I just needed to provide the guestroom number for breakfast. She said yes, although she did not recap how much I would receive. Our entire meal was comped the next day.

Balcony and view from suite 431 in DoubleTree Hotel in Bay City, Michigan

Fennville, Michigan: Ely Lake Campground

October 2022, 3-nights, weekdays-weekend

Ely Lake in Allegan county

Ely Lake County Campground campsite 30

This is a primitive campground with vault toilets, fresh water hand pumps, and trash dumpsters. Since this was our first visit, so we decided to wait until we arrived to actually view the campsites before choosing a site. There are two sections, and the campsites on the north side of the lake (the higher numbered sites, 49-73, to the right) are set up for horses. We did not drive through that section before choosing campsite 30.

Campsite 30 in Ely Lake County Campground

Someone was camping on site 2 when we arrived, and there were a couple of reserved tags on some of the other sites. Campsites 2 and 9 have great views of the lake. We considered site 9, but did not choose it because we thought it would be busier, as it is directly across from the beach and picnic area. There was a lot of local traffic during our stay. Many vehicles drove through the campground without stopping, and many vehicles drove down the boat ramp road, located just before campsite 30; apparently to view the lake for a short time before departing.

View from our front window on campsite 30 in Ely Lake County Campground

Campsite 30 is across the road from the lake, and we had a decent view of the lake. The picnic tables in this campground are chained down, so we were not able to move the table beside our camper. We set up our screened room over the table, which partially obstructed our view. I guess this also helped obstruct the view of our campsite from passing vehicles. This is a spacious and somewhat private site, as it is the only campsite in this triangular section of ground. A fresh water hand pump is also located in this area, across from campsite 41. I marked the water pump location in the first camper photo above. The pump was not right next to our camper, and no one used the pump while we were on our site. 

Campsite 30 in Ely Lake County Campground

None of the campsites in this section of the campground are located directly on the lake. Some of the campsites in the Equestrian section are directly on the lake.

Partial view of the beach and picnic area in Ely Lake County Campground

Hessel and Cedarville, Michigan: Kewadin casino campground, Les Cheneaux Distillery, and more

September 2022, 1-night, weekend

Kewadin casino campground in Hessel, Michigan

Kewadin casino campground in Hessel, Michigan

After camping in Mackinaw City with no facilities, we needed a place to recharge our camper and dump our holding tank. Although we are not huge gamblers, this seemed like one of the better options available for just a one night stay. We paid $20 for a campsite with electricity, and I see the rate on the Kewadin website now says $22. We joined the players club after we checked in, and each received $10 in free play.

Kewadin casino campground in Hessel, Michigan

This campground has vault toilets, and a sanitation station on-site. I am not sure why the website says the dump station is off-site. We were on the first campsite against the woods on the right, although I do not recall the campsite number. The only other people in the park the night of our stay were a few campers together in the center lots. Apparently, there are no rules about how to park campers because the campers in the center were not actually parked within their sites, and they had their fire in another fire pit, which was not on the campsite of any of the campers. 

Mackinaw Bay Nature Preserve in Cedarville, Michigan