Jack's on The Bay

"Nice location . Bedrooms don’t have any dressers or closets . Two hooks on the wall is all you have for clothes . Very small bedrooms . No room for luggage even on the floor . Bugs were terrible at night . They swarmed around the lights , I have never seen anything like it . Also the camera pointed on us on the patio was invasive."

"Terrible Ownership/Customer Experience! Everything up through check in went smoothly with no issues. Booked for a friend’s reunion weekend. When we checked in place appeared clean and we were happy with it. Then we came back to unit on 1st night after dinner and those who planned to sleep in back 2 beds discovered there were small bugs in sheets of both after pulling back the bedding to get in. Right away we could tell they were not bedbugs which was a relief, but still upsetting and no one wants to sleep in bed with any type of bugs. 5 of 8 in the group slept outside in their vehicles 1st night as they were not comfortable sleeping in beds. Front bedroom did not have any bugs in it and I fortunately had an air mattress I brought. Manager was notified early a.m. by a member of group who slept in their vehicle night before and asked what was going to be done to resolve the situation. Pics & Videos were sent of bugs in sheets. Manager then called Owner who we were told was vacationing in Petoskey. Initially all that was offered was Manager to drive out (informed us she lives an hour + away from property) to swap out current sheets on the bed for spare sheets kept in closets. With more push back on our part, the Manager called back saying owner agreed to give us our $150 cleaning fee back (which is a given and should have been offered immediately). Also that he knows what kind of bugs they are and are common in locations near water. He said "baby box elders", which I don't believe they were and it really didn't matter what kind of bugs they were- we weren't sleeping on them. We then said at least some of cost of 1st night should be reimbursed for those that couldn't even sleep in unit, and the fact that some of the group didn’t even want to stay 2nd night there and wanted to find somewhere else entirely to stay. From there Manager called owner (it was clear she couldn’t authorize anything without running past Owner) and she came back advising the Owner has 2 options for us, he is going to have an exterminator come out and we needed to be out of the unit by 12:30 p.m. (it was after 10 a.m. at this point) and we would be refunded OR we can stay in unit as is. It was a busy summer weekend at Houghton Lake and the odds of us finding somewhere else to stay same day was not likely. Also, we didn’t want to have to pack everything up, take more time away from our vacation to find another place. I told manager I’d consult with my group and call back. Begrudgingly we decided we would stay but have her come out and take all sheets wash them, re-make up beds. She then informed us she was no longer going to drive out, it was either exterminator comes, and we leave or stay and wash sheets ourselves in laundry room if we’d like to. So basically, the Owner (who we never spoke directly to) was on a power trip, didn’t want to be bothered on his vacation (even though we were completely inconvenienced and lost time dealing with this on ours) seriously lacking customer service skills, made Manager the Messenger, and knew we didn’t have much of a choice. The other 4 out of 5 units were booked that weekend, so there’s no way a business would want exterminator co. showing up to service a unit in the lot for other guests to see. The fact is, he was never going to have an exterminator come out. That was essentially a take it or leave it threat to say he wasn’t going to reimburse us any further than cleaning fee. We wanted to make the best of our short time together, so we powered through washing the bed and spare sheets too (just in case). It is ridiculous that we had to handle this ourselves and take hours away from our vacation dealing with rude ownership/management and doing their laundry! Never have I been treated like this by a business like I did something wrong as a customer, when it was their establishment that had bugs in their sheets for their guests to find! That owner may have won the power struggle, but lost 8 customers who will never stay there again and who will leave honest reviews for other potential guests to be warned of."

"We are a family of 10 adults and two toddlers. Our family rented Jacks largest unit over the holiday weekend. I was so impressed to see how clean the unit and common ares on the property were. We had plenty of room to gather most especially outside. Our kitchen was fully stocked with any utensil we could need. The dock and beach are well maintained. The basket of s’more fixings and the provided firewood were most appreciated. Not a single complaint from our crew!"

"We absolutely loved Jack's on the bay. Great views of the water, plenty of lounge chairs and two fire pits. The rooms were modern and updated along with a fully stocked kitchen that includes everything you need for cooking. Each cabin has it's own patio set and weber grill. The owners meticulously care for and clean the entire property."

"This place pretty much has it all. Starting with clean accommodations, sandy beach front, beautiful views, dock, gas grills and so many more perks. It was a perfect spot for a large family old-fashioned summer getaway. We hope to make it a yearly tradition here. If you are looking for somewhere to rent on Houghton Lake, look no further. This is the perfect place. Enjoy!"