Houghton Lake House w/Fire Pit - 2 Mi to Trails!

Reviews

• Nice place with plenty of beds

  5/5

  We go up to Tip Up Town every year and we always rent a cabin.This is the second time we stayed here and enjoyed it both times.Plenty of beds, right on the water, clean and an open layout to gather.There is a bar and grill about a half mile down the street that had decent food as well.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

• Family fun at the lake

  5/5

  We have rented for years and this house is like being at home. I reported an issue with the outside lights being broke due to a storm and it was fixed within days. Some of the cabinets are in a disarray but that's expected when you have renters in weekly. We love the lake and the location. We rented on 2021, 2022 and have our reservation for 2023.

• Beautiful cabin.

  5/5

  Great cabin for a stay on the lake. Had everything we needed and lots of space. Felt like home while you were there.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

• Not our best experience…

  2/5

  My extended family been going on vacation together for 7 years now. We’ve stayed in multiple locations, and have enjoyed every year. We know renting a property from someone can have its quirks. I’m a go-with-the-flow kinda guy, and don’t like to make waves. That being said, this experience was not great. The house:There isn’t a single smoke detector in the entire place. I found a smoke detector on a shelf in the laundry room, but it wasn’t functional. The mount (and only smoke detector location) was in the hallway with the wires stuffed into the wall. The kitchen completely lacked organization. The sharp knives were intermingled with other utensils in an overcrowded drawer; points and blades in all directions, resulting in a few close calls. We had to do laundry in the sink because the washer was broken, and were asked to leave the house unlocked with all of our things inside for a repairman to come twice during the week. The full bed mattress was almost unbearable. I’ve slept on firm mattresses before, but I was sore every single day. The queen bed is the exact opposite, rolling both its occupants toward the center in a sort of weird bed taco. The porch was decent, but was overcrowded with furniture, decorations, and shelves full of what can best be described as piles of garage clutter. The grill provided was completely out of propane when we tried to use it. When we inquired about being reimbursed for the tank we purchased, we were told that they “provide the grill, not the gas.” For as much as we were charged a week, that feels off. The lake:We were told by the owners that the lake was good for swimming. It’s knee deep at the end of the dock, and it struggles to get much deeper than 5 ft anywhere in the northern bay. If you like STANDING in a lake, this is the property for you…or if your kids are small and can navigate slippery stairs (the only water entry). We specifically asked if we could SWIM, and were told it was deep enough to place our lily pad in the water to jump off of. We could not. We felt misled by the owners of the property on this. They also said that it was deep enough to tie our boat up at the dock. It is not. We were forced to place sand anchors beyond the dock in “deeper” water to avoid risking the boat running aground.Again, not trying to be “Negative Nancy,” but for these reasons and a few others there aren’t room for here, we will not be returning.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

  Manager's Response:

  Hi Sue, the homeowners were surprised to read your review, as they are accustomed to providing 5-star experiences, and would like to clarify the following:
  
  - Guest safety is our number one priority so we've always had full functioning smoke detectors across the home and are in the process of replacing these now.
  
  - We provide a stocked kitchen for our guests but apologize if the organization didn't meet your personal preferences.
  
  - The washer unexpectedly broke the morning of your stay and we sincerely apologize for this inconvenience. It has since been replaced.
  
  - While we try to accommodate all guests' comfort, we know that mattress preference is unique to each guest and we were sorry to hear that you weren’t comfortable during your stay.
  
  - We use professional photographers so we can be sure that our images accurately reflect each property and guests can decide before booking if the decor meets their expectations. The porch is as-advertised in our listing photos.
  
  - Since propane isn’t included for guests, we don’t market it as an amenity in the listing. We're sorry if this caught you off-guard but encourage guests to thoroughly review the listing before booking to ensure that they find the perfect rental for their needs.
  
  - The lake is appropriate for swimming and for hanging out on a lily pad, as you asked. We do not condone jumping off the dock in shallow water, as this is unsafe. The lake levels went down last month so guests had to moor their boat out instead of leaving from the dock. Unfortunately, this is out of our control.
  
  Thanks for taking the time to leave your review.

• Beautiful Location - Great spaces

  5/5

  Rooms were exactly as described, exactly what we were expecting and hoping for. Owners were very available for communication - we didn't have any issues, but they were available for questions. It was great to have everything we needed at the home - linens, bathroom products, etc. Kitchen was fully stocked. Lake was beautiful, many outside items available to make our stay extra confortable.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo