Pleasantly surprised - a time warp!
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 02/19/08
We booked a room at the Swan Inn primarily based on price, and that we had read only good to glowing reviews online. We didn't expect much.
I must say we were pleasantly surprised. The Swan is situated on the north end of busy Alpine Avenue, just on the fringe before things get intense. The property itself is a throwback to the motor hotel boom of the early 60s. I can remember staying at places like this with my parents when we were kids. Three boxy, simple brick-over-concrete buildings - one is the Swan restaurant, the other two house the rooms in basic park and enter fashion. If your room is in the back building, you drive through a funky tunnel right through the front building to get to the rear parking lot.
We didn't try the restaurant, but they were busy on a Sunday night, and the menu looks decent with reasonable prices. Here again, the almost Twilight Zone time warp of the place appears in 60's style fonts and graphics: The Cygnet Lounge - Drink Specials! [smiling cartoon man] Happy Hour! [bubbling cartoon glass]. Room service is available.
The room we had was in the back building, isolated from Alpine. It was very clean, smelled fresh, had new carpet and a comfortable bed with sheets that looked almost as if they had been ironed. The only dirt we could find was the very top of the white inner curtains; otherwise spotless. It was very, very quiet. Cable, phone, clock radio, very basic furnishings; it's no frills, but it's not meant to be. If you're tired of the corporate predictability of chain motels, The Swan Inn is an excellent budget stay, with friendly service, and a chance to see what it was like to be a motor-tourist in Michigan in the glory days.