Best Kept Secret in Shelby--Luxury Home-- on Lake Michigan-Huge Beach

• Wonderful Family Vacation

  Wonderful Family Vacation

  • Guest Delena
  • Date of stay 06/27/09
  • Review Submitted 07/07/09
  My husband, daughter, son-in-law, grandson and granddog just spent the first week of July at this property. It was wonderful! The location is very private and secluded. The house was beautiful and had everything we needed, including a hot tub that we all enjoyed. The beach area is beautiful as well. The stairs to the beach gave us all a nice workout during the week! The weather was not the best but that just meant that we explored the area more, including the sand dunes at Silver Lake, shopping in downtown Pentwater, the Elk Farm in Ludington and the fair in Muskegon. We all had a great time and hope to come back next year.

  Recommended for: Girls getaway, pet owners, families with young children, sightseeing, age 55+, families with teenagers, adventure seekers, romantic getaway.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 4/5

• Wonderful Lake Michigan Getaway

  Wonderful Lake Michigan Getaway

  • Guest Niki
  • Date of stay 08/03/12
  • Review Submitted 11/26/12
  I can't say enough good things about our trip to Lake Michigan and our stay at this special home. The owners were very easy to deal with and extremely accomodating. The house is open and very clean. The kitchen was great and everything we needed. The directions were good and the location of the house was very private. We used the hot tub many times, enjoyed daytime walks on the beach, barbecued nightly and highly recommend the home --- we hope to be back next year!!!!!!! We would recommend it to friends.

  Recommended for: Girls getaway, families with young children, age 55+, families with teenagers, adventure seekers, romantic getaway.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 0/0

• Best Vacation Ever

  Best Vacation Ever

  • Guest Nate
  • Date of stay 09/01/12
  • Review Submitted 11/25/12
  We will definitely come back to Shelby at Lake Michigan. We loved the surround sound music and spaciousness the house had to offer for our large family. The beach was an awesome, private beach and our bond-fires were cozy and warm. The night sky and sunsets were spectacular. We have some wonderful memories of our stay at Lake Michigan. Thank you!!

  Recommended for: Girls getaway, pet owners, families with young children, sightseeing, families with teenagers, adventure seekers, romantic getaway.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 0/0

• Wasted Potential

  Wasted Potential

  • Guest Ethan L.
  • Date of stay 07/07/12
  • Review Submitted 08/20/12
  It wouldn’t take much work to make the Shelby house great Unfortunately, nothing we saw leads us to believe that the current management is capable of or interested in putting in this work. I expect this house to decline in quality as time goes on. I would not recommend this house to anyone. The good: Great beach (though more stairs than were expected), great sunsets, Very secluded, Surround sound throughout the house, nice layout to the home, hot tub (although dirty). The bad: No broadband. Some listings still advertise “wireless broadband”. As of 2012, this is a lie. No cell phone reception at the house. There is dial-up Internet access and a landline, but their PC crashed the first day. Frankly, we felt lied to. It was not until the day before our vacation that we found out there would be no broadband. All ads for the house misrepresented this. Not clean. When we showed up the “cleaning crew” was there. Unfortunately they were partying in the hot tub instead of cleaning. Kitchen, bathroom, and furniture were all dirty. There were cobwebs throughout the house. The hot tub was full of sand. We were told that someone would come on Tuesday to clean it. Another lie. He came on Thursday, and he was not there to clean. He came to test the chemicals in the water. The hot tub was never cleaned. The sloppy: The wooden deck and stairs down to the beach were riddled with raised nails. We hammered several of these down ourselves so that our kids would not get injured. This is sloppy. There were no large garbage cans to take your trash to. Just small kitchen sized cans in the garage with no lids that were too small to hold a single trash bag. As a result, the garage smelled terrible of garbage by the time we left. One of the kitchen cabinet doors was broken, some pans were rusted beyond use, outside shower was broken. The lights running along the ground outside to light the path to the stairs that lead to the beach: also broken. The terrible/lazy way they are failing to take care of their grills. There were two gas grills outside. One was rusted beyond being usable, the other was halfway there. There is an easy solution: buy a grill cover. This again shows laziness and a lack of care that is inexcusable. In sum, this house is an excellent example of wasted potential. Physically, it is a beautiful house in a great location. Unfortunately, it is being run into the ground. The management is either incompetent or does not care.

  Owner response: RE: Your comments about The good: Great beach (though more stairs than were expected), great sunsets, Very secluded, Surround sound throughout the house, nice layout to the home, and hot tub are what almost everyone says they love when they stay with us at Shelby at Lake Michigan. RE: your comments on the bad. We pride ourselves in making staying with us the BEST vacation experience for everyone. We are taking into account all of your comments and anyone who stays here, can be assured the house will be immaculate and everything working fine. However, at this time, we cannot assure you will have internet service. We are too close to Lake Michigan and the towers don't come in that far.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/3

• Loved this vacation!!!

  Loved this vacation!!!

  • Guest Andie C.
  • Date of stay 09/02/11
  • Review Submitted 09/08/11
  We just spent Labor Day weekend at this property and couldn't have been happier. We had 7 adults and 2 dogs and there was plenty of room for everyone. The house was beautiful and very well maintained; the hot tub was awesome; the beach was spectacular. The stairs to the beach were a great workout and it was so worth it to spend time there. The main thing we were looking for in a rental house was privacy and this place is super secluded, making it perfect for us. We never left the property over the weekend, and I did not want to have to answer my cell phone, so I do not have a single complaint - it was a perfect weekend!

  Recommended for: Girls getaway, pet owners, families with young children, families with teenagers, romantic getaway.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 1/1

• Vacation June 2011

  Vacation June 2011

  • Guest Andrea G.
  • Date of stay 06/18/11
  • Review Submitted 07/24/11
  Two couples with 3 dogs, June 2011 The house was very nice inside, spacy, clean and it had everything we needed. The house sits directly in deep forest behind a high and wooded dune and is surrounded by high trees making the place somewhat dark. The lake is invisible from the house and the surrounding lot which was not well maintained. A severe problem has been the approx. 162 stairs to the beach, half up, half down which are steep and very slippery. Once arrived at the beach, 10 min. climbing, a great view of the lake is provided. Beautiful. Another serious issue was no internet and cell phone connectivity available. Not mentioned in the advertisment. It was very serious for us because one of our family members got sick in Germany and another one of us had to drive back and forth 4 hours each trip for 2 days for business reasons. There is no chance to get a connection within mile of driving thru the woods. Not suitable for: elderly peopple, families with small kids. dogs who can´t climb steep stairs, people with any kind of disability and last but not leas not suited for people who must stay connected either buisness wise or for private reasons. Great for people who love wilderness and climbs

  Owner response: We pride ourselves in making your vacation stay the best possible and, as you can see by the other reviews, that is happening. We now offer WIFI for those of you who need to stay connected while on vacation. I am 65 and find the stairs to the place a rather good form of exercise. Once you arrive at the beach, you find the most magnificent, private sandy spot that rivals Sleeping Bear Dunes. You don't want to miss staying here.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 2/4

• Best Beach

  Best Beach

  • Guest Mary M.
  • Date of stay 06/25/11
  • Review Submitted 07/03/11
  Three families of four stayed in this beautiful house for a week. Every couch and chair is a futon, so the home sleeps 12 adult sized people comfortably. The house is nestled in the woods, providing complete privacy. The gorgeous beach is on the other side of the dune....many, many steps, but worth it. The sand is very fine and foot friendly. You can walk the beach for miles. We made good use of the kayak we brought along, and flew kites on the beach. The Sand Dune ride was fun and informative, lasted 40 minutes. Town of Pentwater has great shops, and is home to the famous Brown Bear restaurant, an unpretentious setting with delicious burgers. Property manager was very nice and responsive. I would recommend this vacation to anyone who loves the beach!

  Recommended for: Girls getaway, families with young children, sightseeing, age 55+, families with teenagers, romantic getaway.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 4/4

• Vacation 2008

  Vacation 2008

  • Guest Erin's gang
  • Date of stay 08/10/08
  • Review Submitted 08/19/08
  My extended family of 12 people enjoyed this house for a week. The house and setting are perfect for people seeking solitude. The Little Sauble lighthouse is visible and within easy walking distance from the private beach. There is minimal foot-traffic from others cutting across to the get to the lighthouse. The only drawbacks to the house were a testy dryer which had to be toyed with to start, the stress caused by tring to keep the white carpet white and the hot tub water turned milky mid week. I highly recommend this house. It was well worth the money.

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 4/5

$3,000 per week -- Sat. to Sat. begining June 16 through Labor Day
$125 cleaning fee
$75 per pet cleaning fee
$200 refundable security deposit
After Labor Day  (3 night minimum)  $400 per night weekends/$350 per night midweek

Note: Until confirmed, rates are subject to change without notice.