Our Blog

As we approach the busy summer tourist season, here is a public service announcement from the Traverse City Econo Lodge.  In this day and age, there are many options for the traveler for booking a room which include 800#’s, countless website options, taking a chance on walking through the door at the last minute, and the good old fashioned call the hotel/motel directly.  Here at the Traverse City Econo Lodge, we urge you to call us directly at (231) 943-3040 to make your reservations, especially if you have a special need or request.  But if you do chose to use another source, follow it up with a call to us to make sure we can meet that need or request.  If you’ve ever been to Traverse City in the summer you know that rooms fill up fast and at most times we do not have the availability to make last minute changes to reservations.  This special need could be something as simple as you need a ground floor room.  The Traverse City Econo Lodge has a variety of room types and some one of a kind rooms.  For instance, we have one two room suite and it is located on the second floor.  Our rooms with two double beds are only on the first floor.  Rooms with two queen beds are on the second floor.  Countless times every summer we hear guests say “but they said I could have ….”.  The “they” is someone at an 800#.  While some lodging properties have their own toll free number, most of the those 800#’s you are calling are to a Central Reservation System.  The “they” you are talking to have never set foot on the property in question and may not even be in the same country.  The same can be said of a lot of those websites you may be using.  They may not have up to date information on the property.  They may give you the option of making a “special requests” but as they information travels through their system to ours (or that of any other property), that special request may be so far hidden within screens that the property never sees it at all or at least not until the day of arrival.  One such reservation really stands out in my mind.  The reservation came through with a special request for a second floor room, away from elevators (we don’t have one anyway), entrances and vending machines.  The reservation was for one of our “one of a kind” rooms and this particular room is located on the first floor, right next to an entrance and across from our pool and vending machines.  This was for a Saturday night in July.  We were full, with no options for changing the room.  And we were not able to even make a courtesy call to the guest to let them know the situation because they had use a pre-pay website which provided us with no contact information for the guest.   We don’t want this to happen to you.  Call. Talk to people who actually know the property.  Ask your questions.  We want you to be happy with your accommodations and if you have a need that we are unable to meet, we’ll tell.

The announcement you all have been waiting for–the headline performance for the 2014 Traverse City Wine and Art Festival is Mayer Hawthorne.  The Traverse City Econo Lodge is offering lodging packages for the third year for this great summer event that takes place on June 21, 2014 at Grand Traverse Commons.  The Traverse City Econo Lodge package offers  you the most affordable Traverse City lodging package so that you can spend your money on food, art and oh yeah, WINE.  At the Traverse City Wine and Art Festival you will have an opportunity to sample great wines from all of the wineries in the Grand Traverse Area.  That’s right, all the wineries from Old Mission Peninsula, Leelanau Peninsula and the surrounding area.  We are located just seven miles from this awesome festival!  Did we mention that along with the wine, there is also food and art?  And entertainment?  Along with Mayer Hawthorne, Phil Denny, The Crane Wives, The Mainstays (formerly Funktion), The Accidentals, Jordan Taylor and Samantha Crawford all take the stage to offer you great music while you sip wine, look at art and sample great food.

So…wine, art, musical entertainment, food, the splendor of Grand Traverse Commons all part of the lodging package presented to you by the Traverse City Econo Lodge.  For just $317.90 plus tax you receive two tickets to the Traverse City Wine and Art Festival, a two night stay at Traverse City’s affordable lodging option, and a special gift at check in.  When you are not at the festival, you can relax in our pool and hot tub, surf the web on our free wifi,  or be a couch potatoe while you watch one of our new flat screen TV’s.  Before you head out to the festival, start  your day out with our free continental breakfast.  You’ll find waffles, bagels, danishes, Cheerioes, Raisin Bran, Quaker Instant Oatmeal, toast, coffee, juice, milk and hot chocolate to fill your belly.  This special offer is only available to those you call (231) 943-3040 to make their reservations.  Due to other groups we have in that weekend, the number of packages available is limited, so make that call today.

It’s that time of year!  The rain has been falling, so the ‘shrooms should be popping.  Head to Mesick for the Mesick Mushroom Festival May 9-11, 2014.  Hunt the tasty, elusive morel  mushroom.  They have a full schedule of family events and activities, including a carnival, flea market, mud bogg, car show, rodeo and more.  The Traverse City Econo Lodge, is Traverse City’s closest lodging option to Mesick. Rooms are still available but will be going fast!

The Traverse City Econo Lodge, Traverse City’s affordable lodging option is pleased to announce that we are partnering with the 2014 Traverse City  Chocolate Festival to be held April 27, 2014 from 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm at the City Opera House.   Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate! Tastings, demonstrations, art, books, shopping and more–all with a chocolate theme.  Our package includes one night of Traverse City accommodations and two adult tickets for the festival all for just $89.45 plus tax.  Need more tickets for adults and/or children?  Just let us know when you make your reservation and we’ll be happy to get them for you.  Want to make it a weekend and check out the other events going on in town?  Each additional night for package purchasers at this Traverse City motel will be just $44.95 plus tax per night.  For more information on this event, go to www.tcchocolatefestival.com  or www.cityoperahouse.org .  Want to know what else is going on that weekend?  Visit www.traversecity.com!  Or come back to our website and look for updates.

Spring is in the air.  The flowers will soon be in bloom.  That means it’s time to break out the crazy hats and head up to the Leelanau Peninsula for the annual Spring Sip and Savor Wine Tour, sponsored by the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association.  And the Traverse City Econo Lodge is once again giving wine lovers an affordable Traverse City lodging up for this great event.   For just $207.90 plus tax, tour participants get a two night stay for two adults, two wine tour tickets and a special gift at check in.  The tour takes place May 3 and 4.  After enjoying our complimentary continental breakfast, head out to your favorite winery for great wine and food pairings and lots of fun.  If you want to stay an extra night, just add one for $44.95 plus tax.  The Traverse City Econo Lodge has an indoor pool and hot tub, free wifi, and free continental breakfast.  All rooms are equipped with coffee makers, hair dryers, microwaves, refrigerators and new 32 inch flat screen TV’s. Call (231) 943-3040 to make your reservation.  For more information on the event and to check out the wine and food pairings, go to www.lpwines.com.

Welcome to Spring!  It’s been a long, cold winter and we hope the weather will follow the calendar and bring us spring soon.  We are going to use this opportunity to take you behind the scenes of the Traverse City Econo Lodge.  Econo Lodge is a franchise that falls under the Choice Hotels International umbrella.  Although, part of a franchise, we are a small, family owned and operated lodging facility.  We are also an older facility.  Taking these things into consideration, we have to carefully prioritize our upgrades to the property.  Over the last four years, we have performed a large number of upgrades and improvements to this Traverse City lodging location–some that are very noticeable to our guests and others that may go unnoticed but still have a huge impact on our guests’ experience.  All rooms have received new wallpaper and carpeting.  All rooms are now equipped with coffee makers, microwaves and mini refrigerators.  We have just recently finished upgrading all of our televisions to 32 inch flat screen TV’s.  A new roof went on the building in 2011 and we also hooked into the Blair Township water system at that time.  In the last year, we have installed new heaters for our pool and spa, and have replaced two water heaters.  As time permits, we have been putting in new tiles in our spa room bathrooms, a project we hope to complete in the next two months.  These are just a few of the projects we have tackled.

Choice Hotels randomly sends out Guest Insight Surveys to many of our guests.  We do read each and everyone of the surveys that are submitted and value the feedback from our guests.  If you receive one of these surveys after your stay at the Traverse City Econo Lodge, we urge you to complete it and to use the comments section to provide detailed feedback.  As a result of feedback from our guests, in addition to the one available in our lobby, we now have a microwave available in our breakfast room.  We have also rearranged our breakfast room in an attempt to better manage the traffic flow.   Just a couple weeks ago, we replaced the beds in 36% of our guest rooms, and it was comments from the Guest Insight Surveys which helped us prioritize which beds to replace!  So yes, the feedback from our guests counts!!

We are currently awaiting the arrival of the new bedding for our king rooms as we phase in Choice’s new bedding program for Econo Lodge.  

The Traverse City Econo Lodge prides itself on providing our guests with a clean, comfortable room at an affordable rate with a friendly staff to serve you.  We invite you to check out our ongoing upgrades and improvements by making us your Traverse City lodging choice.  Call (231) 943-3040 for reservations.

The Traverse City Econo Lodge has been partnering with the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association for the last three years to offer great lodging packages for the various LPVA wine tour events.  We are again offering lodging and wine tour packages for the Sip and Savor wine tour taking place the first weekend in May.  But you don’t have to wait until then to get a taste of the great wines and ciders available on the Leelanau Peninsula.  The LPVA has announced a NEW, FREE wine tour event to help you shake the winter blues.  With the event being free, the Traverse City Econo Lodge is not offering lodging packages, but we’ll still provide you with Traverse City lodging in a clean, comfortable room at an affordable rate.  This new event, dubbed Sips, Chips & Dips takes place Saturday, March 29, 2014 from noon until 5 pm.  Participating wineries will offer snack and wine pairings free for the taking.  For example, Forty-Five North will be serving their Semi-Dry Riesling with a creamy jalapeno ranch dip and tortilla chips, while Gill’s Pier offers an artichoke dip and pita with their 2011 Royce.  Go to www.lpwines.com for a complete list of the pairings.  

The LPVA also has two opportunities for Small Plates events, the first being April 25 and then again May 30.  Not to be outdone, the Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula will be having their annual Blossom Day event on May 17 and Divas Uncorked returns June 13, 2014.  

The Traverse City Econo Lodge wants to be your Traverse City lodging location for these great events. Call 231-943-3040 for reservations.

 Savanna says come to the Traverse City Econo Lodge and check out our swimming pool.  Traverse City’s affordable lodging option has a great swimming pool and spa and they have recently been repainted.  Some other recent improvements at this Traverse City hotel include new flat screen TV’s in all guest rooms, all rooms  now have refrigerators and microwaves, and several of our rooms were equipped with new beds last week.  

The Traverse City Econo Lodge loves snowmobilers and the Traverse City area has plenty of snow this winter.  The Grand Traverse Area Snowmobile Council grooms 200 miles of trails that are waiting to be explored.  The Traverse City Econo Lodge offers snowmobilers with an affordable lodging option and we have ample parking for your trucks and trailers.  Either ride from our parking lot, down Beitner Road to Hoosier Valley Road or trailer your sleds to the staging area at the nearby Northwest Michigan Fairgrounds.  Then after a hard time of riding, come on back and relax in our newly painted indoor pool and hot tub. What a little more privacy for your relaxing time?  Then just reserved one of our spa tub rooms.  Use our free wifi to check out trail and weather conditions.  And in the morning, wake up to our complimentary continental breakfast which includes: waffles, danishes, bagels,  toast, cold cereal, instant oatmeal, coffee, tea, juice, hot chocolate and milk.  All of our rooms are now equipped with refrigerators and microwaves, and we just completed the installation of new 32 inch flat screen TV’s in all of our rooms.  Call (231) 943-3040 for reservations.

Hi. My name is Maverick.  Mom had to step away from the computer so I’m going to take over and woof to all my fellow canines.  I let Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa think that they’re in charge, but everyone else knows that I’m the top dog around here, and I bet you are at your house too.  And I say to you dogs, to bring your people to the Traverse City EconoLodge where we provide pet friendly lodging and people lodging too!  We’re family owned and operated and we want you to bring your family too for a great, affordable Traverse City lodging option.  I’m going to give you a couple quick tips to make the stay more enjoyable for everyone.

1.  It  is a really good idea to have your people call and make reservations in advance to make sure that dog family rooms are available.  We  have a few rooms specially designated for you. They are on the ground floor, near exits so it will be easier for you to walk your people.  And you know that they really don’t want to go upstairs.  But, if our pet friendly rooms are gone and you are willing to vouch for your people, we can make make more rooms available.

2.  If your family forgets to make reservations, make sure they tell the front desk they are with you when you check in.  We do have a small extra fee and it is really important that the staff knows which rooms we are all in.  For your safety, the housekeepers won’t go into your room while you are in it.  We wouldn’t want you to get loose and we don’t want to expose you to the cleaning supplies. Also, if the front desk knows you are checking in, you’ll get treats and I don’t know about you, but I’ve never met a treat I didn’t like.

3.  Ask your people to let the staff know if clean up supplies are not available when you are outside. Oh, and if the weather isn’t very good, ask for paw and fur rags.

4.  When your family leaves, make sure to go with them so they can find their way back.  But, if you decide you really need a break from them, ask them to leave a telephone number with the front desk in case you need to contact them.  We all expect an occasional yelp or two, but if you need to keep “calling” the front desk, other guests may get a little cranky so it is a good idea if the front desk can call your family for you.

5.  Let your people know that you really don’t want to go into the breakfast room or pool area.  You’ll get stepped on in the breakfast room and the pool area is too hot for fur coats. 

Any questions?  Just call and ask for Maverick.  Traverse City Econo Lodge, affordable, pet friendly, lodging.   Gotta go–Mom’s coming back and she’ll probably want to use her computer.