Kingsley House, or how I learned not to trust awards

Background
Since moving to Ann Arbor, our life has been running fast, fast, fast.  In fact, we've been in the fast lane ever since Cathy accepted the job of University of Michigan Law School.  We had about 2 weeks to find a place to live, pack all of our stuff, arrange transportation, move, and unpack -- all the while working at our current jobs.   We had time to spend with our families during the holidays which we really enjoyed, but that was equally frenetic.

Cathy's birthday was coming up in early February, so I wanted to plan a romantic night where we could relax -- actually decompress.  Since Valentine's Day was on the other side of her birthday, I decided on a full weekend at a bed & breakfast for the two of us somewhere between 3 and 5 hours driving distance from us.  We had previously enjoyed a bed and breakfast in Snow Hill Maryland (on our way to the Chincoteague Oysterfest), and in Lexington, Virginia for our honeymoon.  Great places, romantic rooms, large bath tubs, and delicious food.  What a great way to be pampered, right?

To find a suitable place, I turned to my good friend, Mr. Google, and spent some time researching bed & breakfasts in central and western Michigan.  I also looked on BedAndBreakfast.Com, which we had used to find the other places we've stayed at. Saugutuck sounded like a good location -- near the water, arts and craft stores, and restaurants.  Of the B&B's that I saw, Kingsley House looked like the perfect place!  A large, beautiful house with a large porch, nice rooms, and optional activities.  Most importantly, this B&B has one a bunch of awards -- Top 12 Bed and Breakfast Inn Worldwide, most prominently.

So I booked us a room -- the Cider Nook -- for two nights.


Cathy's View
Oh such a profoundly wonderful gift: time together, peace, food, romance. I'm going to write a lot more about the place specifics, but I want to start with this: it was SUCH a great weekend of relaxation and connection with my wonderful husband. We so needed the time off the gerbil wheel. I ADORE my job, which might be why I've been so immersed. So a weekend away in a wonderful location was awesome.

Kingsley House wasn't what they said it would be, nor were the proprietors up to the task. We LOVE B&Bs; we wanted to love you. But we kind of think it would be easy to live up to your room rates and make people want to return -- or even send your post cards to others offering them a (small) discount. More on this later.

Part of the charm of a B&B for us is the luxurious things we don't have in our daily lives. Like great bathtubs. Or fireplaces. Or charming locations. Kingsley advertises being in Saugatuk, but it's really 20 minutes away. That's not so bad that they couldn't just say so, especially because there are lots of good things where it is located, like the wonderful Salt of the Earth restaurant. (You will hear more about Salt from us soon!) Kingsley is great at marketing, not so great at delivering. We made a list. It's long:

• Really, regrout. We're paying a lot for the big tub; keep it clean, up to date and completely functional. Those cracks in the base? ugh.
• If you MUST put up signs in the bathroom about how to run the functions and when, please make them either freshly printed/laminated or framed.
• Really, you couldn't have more than one mini soap? Or a fresh one the second day?
• The room cost more than $250 a night and caters to those looking for a romantic weekend. It's nice that you provide wine glasses. Couldn't you offer us fresh ones the second night?
• We were in the basement room, once a wine cellar. So I can understand why you don't have plush carpeting, rather a stock basementy thing. But really, why not a rug so it didn't FEEL like a basement?
• It's a romantic place, remember? But we're expected to leave between 9:30 and noon for room cleaning. Oh Kay.
• We've stayed in a lot of B&Bs and were excited by the marketing of a "full, hot breakfast." In our experience, this has meant we're in for some goodies. Notsomuch. I would have rather eaten almost anywhere else. 
• The host was very cold. I hated being invited into the house only to PAY FIRST. Really? Coffee? Or Idunno, maybe at the end of the stay like every other place I've ever stayed? We never even saw the host spouse.
• That said, the assistant hostess was AWESOME. So friendly, helpful and kind. You made our stay for us!
• So much more, feeling too negative.

Bottom line, we relaxed, we enjoyed. We would have thought this was a wonderful place at a fraction of the price. It just was not at all what they are charging for it. If you want to buy a great room even when you want to splurge, it's not here. BTW, when we saw the post card to send to someone offering a discount, we thought of a few people. In the end, we would have been embarrassed to recommend the place, so the postcard was left in the room. I'm sure we weren't the first to leave it there.

But the area, awesome! GO!