The Hop and Vine Inn is located near Fennville, Michigan. There are 15 units in the main two-story building. Some of the suites function as a townhome with a first and a second floor, while others have only one or two rooms. The inn operates as a standard bed and breakfast between May and October. However, the inn can be rented as a large group venue year-round in what the owners refer to as an "inn takeover." For an inn takeover, the entire inn is reserved by one group, such as a family reunion or wedding. The owners, Amber and Dan, strive to make The Hop and Vine Inn a family-friendly bed and breakfast and to offer guests a memorable experience. The area around the inn is also the home of many notable festivals, such as the Tulip Time festival in nearby Holland.
On the coast of Lake Michigan near Fennville, Michigan, is the Hop and Vine Inn. The inn is two stories tall and has a Bavarian theme. The three-acre property has space for parking, sitting areas on the back of the house, and trees on the edge of the backyard. Inside the inn, there are more areas where people can sit towards the front of the house in the living room, dining room, and sun porch. There is also an indoor pool with a kiddie pool at the front of the house that is available to guests throughout their stay.
The inn has 15 suites available for reservation in total. Guests can choose from three styles of rooms to stay in: a single-bedroom suite, a two-bedroom suite, or a townhome suite. Each of the suites has a name around which the suite's theme is based. The Bicycle Suite, for example, is a one-bedroom suite that has bicycle-themed pictures and figures throughout the room. It has a private bathroom and can lodge up to three guests. The townhome suites are unique to the property as they are larger suites that include a full kitchen and living space, such as the Tulip Time Townhouse suite. The suite’s theme comes from a famous festival of the same name, which takes place near the inn, and the walls are decorated with tulip pictures and pink and purple walls. Every suite comes with at least one queen-sized bed, a private bathroom, TV, and Wi-Fi.
There are other activities that people who stay at the inn can do. Outside there is a playground available for any children who stay there as well as a sand volleyball court for all guests. Upon request, cornhole, badminton, bocce ball, and other yard games can be set up in the backyard. Two firepits are outside that patrons can use at their leisure, along with additional seating at both. The rest of the yard is open to guests, aside from an old barn that the owners use for personal storage.
Breakfast is served to guests each morning from 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM in the dining room and the sunroom. The owners, Amber and Dan, will ask guests upon arrival if any accommodations need to be made for those with dietary restrictions. Breakfast dishes typically consist of eggs, various breakfast meats, waffles, fruit, and yogurt, to name a few.
One of the Hop and Vine Inn's most unique features is the reservation option that the owners call a ‘resort takeover.’ During a resort takeover, the entire property can be rented out to one group that will have full access to all of the 15 units offered, as well as the option to use the large kitchen that is typically used to make breakfast in the mornings. The owners, Amber and Dan, will work with the group to ensure that they have everything taken care of. Most often, these groups are family reunions that are visiting the area. Amber says that the majority of their business comes from these resort takeovers. The inn operates year-round for large groups looking to reserve a resort takeover. The inn is open to all single-room reservations from May to October for smaller groups, families, or individuals looking for a more traditional bed and breakfast experience. The busiest season for Amber and Dan is usually between June and August, when families often reserve the inn for family reunions.
When talking about how she wants guests to feel when they stay at the inn, Amber says she wants to provide guests with the best possible vacation experience. Both Amber and Dan hope to do this by interacting with guests and getting to know them better. Dan will usually spend time making breakfast for the patrons in the mornings while Amber will walk around and talk with them. The owners mention that they both love getting to know new people. They often check in with guests throughout their stay to see if they have everything they need and provide recommendations on different activities close by.
There are many things guests can do outdoors in the area. The inn is close to the shore of Lake Michigan and is a short distance away from beach access to the lake. Some of the nearby state parks are also popular with guests, such as the Saugatuck Dunes State Park, which also has lake access and hiking and biking trails. Those wishing to be on the water can rent kayaks from various towns near the inn to take on the nearby rivers and out onto the lake.
The inn is located close to the town of Holland, which is about a 20-minute drive north of the property. The area around the inn is known for its artistic culture, and there are many venues that showcase local art, music, and theater in Holland and also in the smaller towns of Saugatuck and Douglass. Every year a number of festivals and events are hosted around the area that further display some of the artistic abilities of local artists. The largest festival that takes place is the Tulip Time festival in Holland, which happens in May. The festival celebrates the tulip flower and sometimes educates visitors about the history of the town while showing different kinds of tulips and identifying them. This time of year is usually a busy time for the inn as many guests will stay there to visit the festival.
Before the Hop and Vine Inn was an inn, the building was an old Victorian-style hospital. The original owners were a family with 12 children who were living in the old hospital in the 1970s. On Halloween night in 1980, the building caught fire and was severely damaged while the family was out trick-or-treating. When they discovered that the house was too damaged to continue living in it, the owners decided to rebuild the home in 1981 and added on a wing of townhomes behind the new house that would become the main portion of the inn. While the family lived there and rented out the townhomes, the children would give their mother a plant each Mother’s Day. Those trees and flowers she received were planted around the house and are still a part of the property today. After running the property for 15 years, the original owners sold the inn and house to Ross and Diane Hunter, who would run the inn under the name Heritage Manor for another 15 years as primarily a romantic get-away for guests.
The current owners, Dan and Amber, met in Atlanta, Georgia, while going to college. They got married and decided to run an Air B&B out of their house while they finished college. Once they graduated and were looking for a new place to live, Dan’s brother recommended that they look at an inn called Heritage Manor for sale in Michigan. They toured the property and saw potential in what they saw. Dan and Amber bought the inn from Ross and Diane in early 2017 and changed the name to the Hop and Vine Inn. They renovated some of the property and made it more family-friendly, saying that they wanted to make the inn a place where they would stay if they were on vacation with their family. Dan and Amber look forward to continuing to run and update the inn as their own family grows up.
2253 Blue Star Hwy
Fennville, Michigan 49408
United States
Bed and Breakfast
Amber and Dan
