Hidden River Cabin

This place has a lot of potential. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a lovely covered porch. What we didn’t appreciate was the dead bugs splattered on many walls and cobwebs collecting dead bugs in almost every room. Many of the screens are torn and the doors don’t seal letting lots of bugs in at night. We’ve stayed in the cabin to the south of this one and the home upkeep was fantastic compared to this one. Overall, these are things the owner and property manager should have addressed before check in. Vacasa AI bot is also not a substitute for real customer service.

We absolutely loved the location of this cabin. It is tucked away off the road and truly in the woods. The small path from the woods to the meadow/marshland trail to get to the river is extravagant! There are no signs of invasive plant species and the ecosystem seems to be very healthy. The cabin is older, retro, and rustic but is accommodating enough to inhabit comfortably. We would love to go back!

Cabin was fine, exactly what you’d expect in a cabin. At the time we stayed, the property description was “Riverfront cabin on the Betsie with private dock, kayaks, and bikes.” We never had access to the kayaks, bikes, or anything else listed in amenities and stored in the shed. I spent the first few mornings talking with Vacasa customer support trying to get access to the shed, but no one knew the correct lock box combination. Eventually we gave up. Customer service was friendly but terrible. The experience was immensely frustrating, and I feel like we were bamboozled. I will never stay in a Vacasa property again if it can be avoided.

The entire yard was covered in leaves like they had not been raked or blown since last fall. The yard did not look like the picture at all. The shed was full of trash bags with trash in them. The driveway was littered with cigarette butts. There was loose trash in the yard and around the picnic table. The floor inside was soaking wet when we got there, there was legitimate puddles of water on the floor. So after driving five hours to get there, I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor for 45 minutes before I could bring my dog or my kids in because then it would have turned to mud. And it wasn't clean soapy water, it was gross dirty water. There was an acrylic nail stuck to the floor. There was a used moldy towel on the bathroom shelf upstairs. There were dead mice and mouse poop in the stairway. Mold and dust in the closets. Spider webs everywhere. One of my kids got a rusty fishing hook stuck in his foot from the carpet in the bunk room. The house stunk like mold and mildew, like it was just opened for the first time for the year that day. All of the things people complained about on the past reviews had not been resolved. There was still windows without screens, the upstairs window that does have a screen has to be propped open with a piece of wood because the springs are bad. The screen door of the sliding glass door on the porch was busted and couldn't be used to let in air. The sliding glass door does not lock. All of the bike tires were flat. The stake for the volleyball net was in the middle of the walkway to the porch. There was a random braided steel wire sticking out of the ground and was a definite hazard for tripping over, looked like an electrical wire. We had no blankets, the beds had sheets and pillows but there was no blankets. We had 40 degree nights while we were there, we needed blankets. There is a half inch gap underneath the front door, letting in bugs and mice. One of the floor fans was broken and not useable. The doors were unlocked when we got there. The coat hook in the bunk room was broken and laying on the floor. I tried calling the 1-800 number in the email and when I pressed "2" because we had checked in already, the line disconnected... yes I had enough cell service, that option 2 did not work. Our issues were not resolved in a timely manner, we had to go down to the local store to buy blankets at 9:30pm at night because their customer service still had not answered us about their local team bringing us blankets.

Great location! Quiet and secluded. Very relaxing.

Extremely quiet and peaceful. We loved sitting out by the river in the mornings. There are plenty of activities for the kids to do (kayaking, swimming, exploring, biking, volleyball, badminton). Just some precautions…there are not enough silverware and dishes for a full group of people. Luckily we brought paper products and plastic ware. There are only enough towels for one per person which is not enough for a week stay with no way to wash and dry them properly. There were only 7 bikes, not 8 as advertised. There was a lot of garbage left behind by the cleaning crew (both garbage cans in the shed were overflowing). It’s a great home base for exploring the area.