I stayed at the Grand Islander Hotel from August 22-24, 2025, and unfortunately, my experience was very disappointing. The staff seemed very inexperienced--when I asked basic questions, they were often unfamiliar with the hotel's own rules and policies. I specifically requested a refrigerator in my room to store medication, but I was told there were none available. The only option I was given was to place my medication in the staff refrigerator until one opened up. For a hotel of this price point, this is not acceptable--especially since they do not allow guests to bring in coolers, and the rooms are not equipped with microwaves. When I asked to speak to the manager on duty, I had to wait 45 minutes for her to arrive because she was not even on-site--this on a busy weekend when leadership presence should have been a priority. To make matters worse, while I was waiting, I noticed a child playing behind the front desk, which made the whole operation feel very unprofessional. The rooms themselves are extremely outdated and in need of renovation. The television in my room did not work, and for a rate of $299 per night with a two-night minimum, you would expect at least modern amenities and quality hospitality services. Instead, the overall impression was one of neglect and lack of value. While Put-in-Bay is a great spot for a day trip or short visit, I strongly recommend choosing another hotel if you plan to stay overnight. The Grand Islander Hotel simply does not live up to its price or promises, and there are much better quality accommodations on the island read more

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Great location, check in was easy and has a pool that we will check out tomorrow. The room is okay no refrigeration or safe, but has what you need, we spent the evening hanging with some friends. And decided to go to sleep about midnight and found out there is a techno bar above our room 101 Recommend asking for something closer to the pool. This goes on until 2 am not good. read more

I stayed for 4 nights, and there definitely are a lot of pro's and a lot of con's. #1 reason that you'd want to stay here is your proximity to the fun downtown. Behind the hotel is "The World's Largest Swim-up Bar" called "SPLASH!" Pretty cool place, if you're into that, with a wooden stage above the bar for live music. There also is a pirate ship with another bar on it as well for people to go nuts. Surrounding this hotel is access to many of the other nightlife places. You are literally 30+ seconds out the front door to Tony's, the PIB Brewery, Historical Society, Hooligan's Pub, Mojito Bay, Tipper's, Beer Barrel, Mist, and more. The hotel itself is a little tricky to get in and out of easily if you're looking for shortcuts at all times of the day or night. You'll do a lot of walking to get in and out through the lobby door. However, during hours that SPLASH! is open, you can enter through the rear entrance into the first floor of the hotel, also, which is a time saver. Parking can also be an issue, and you may have to park at the sister hotel, "The Islander" and walk a little bit further to get into the Grand. But, this is an island and space is limited downtown nowadays, so just keep that in your head when you stay here. The rooms are o.k. and fortunately do not smell musty like the lobby does. The best thing about this hotel is that they do keep the rooms very clean and working well. Along the front of the building are some great shops to add to your experience, like the "World's Smallest Margarita Bar" (seats 2!), a tanning shop, wine shop and Cameo Pizza that delivers until 3 a.m. and smells delicious. Above the lobby and those small shops is the abomination "Level 2" night club. Loud, super late on weekends, thump thump thump. But, maybe it's your kind of thing, but definitely not mine. Fortunately, you can't hear that noise whilst you are in your hotel room. read more

For the price this is ok. The staff is good just need to be more friendly. The location is really good. The pool bar is great read more

I regret not reading reviews about this place prior to booking. My husband and I stayed here this past weekend. We paid about $400/night. For that price, I assumed I would be provided toilet paper and clean towels at minimum. That wasn't the case here. After asking multiple times for clean towels and TP, I was told to come get it myself and haul any soiled towels I had down to the front desk and they could be switched out. The elevator was broken, so I hauled the soiled towels down the stairs. I politely voiced my concern and explained my frustrations in hopes the front desk employee, Zack (who claimed he was the manager) could change my experience. I was appalled when he shrugged me off and treated me as an inconvenience to him. He said the maids already went home for the day so that's just too bad. I've never been treated so poorly as a guest of any hotel. Besides the hassle to receive towels and TP, and experiencing rude employees, the entire hotel is filthy. No AC. Broken elevator. Holes in the walls. Spider webs and months all over the windows. It's just gross. I'm not even sure how they haven't been shut down yet. Do yourself a favor, and stay somewhere else. read more

Less than satisfactory, old air conditioning unit that looked like from 1970s. The tub doesn't drain well, the toilet seat was loose. The room smells like mildew, the room needed total updating. The halls didn't have air conditioning. The ice machine wasn't working on the first floor. The hotel doesn't provide wi-fi. The pool was super dirty,No way was I stepping foot in there. Mold in front of the tub. No refrigerator, I could go on and on but just so you know don't waste your time. No Continental breakfast, as much money as we paid that should've been something besides coffee. The parking was inconvenient for guests. We had to walk across the street for something to eat. The only four things good I can say about the place is the location, The front porch was comfortable for people watching, The bed and pillows were soft and comfortable. read more

For the price, this was the worst hotel I've ever spent two nights in. For a really crappy, small, musty, moldy smelling room with little amenities price tag of $250 per night. All because it's on the bachelor/bachlorette/frat boy capital of the Lake Erie Islands... Put-in-Bay. There were a few good points. The location is one of them. It's really close to everything. You're a very short walk from where the Jet Express docks. Also a very short walk from downtown PIB and all of the amazing (lolz) night life. Free WiFi. The pool is pretty cool too. It features "The World's Longest Swim-up Bar!" Minus the fact that the water is green from wasted people pissing in it -- and it smells a lot like Sea World -- it was decent and fun. It was loud and very party oriented. I was also very irritated that pool towels were not offered. I was very foolish and didn't remember what Towelie, of South Park fame, told me. I didn't bring one. "Always bring a towel!" I would not plan a stay at this hotel if you're looking for a quiet or low-key weekend. Bad idea. I wouldn't even go to this island at all if that's what you're looking for. If you're looking to go crazy and drink yourself silly -- stay here. This is not a quaint little hotel by any means. It's definitely geared toward the partying types that hang out on PIB. Overall, totally not worth the price... unless you're a bachelor or bachelorette and have no other options. read more

My husband and I stayed here for a weekend in a King room. The hallways smelled a little musty and smoky but the room was pretty clean. The bed was comfortable, the air conditioning worked and the room was pretty spacious. The pool needed a little TLC but all in all we had a good experience and would stay again. read more

Well the manager took my friends "medication". A friend also might have conceived here and I couldn't think of a worse place to have to tell your child they were created in. Door hinges and locks were super suspect. read more

This is the best place on the island. If you're looking cheep fun you're in the right place. Save the money on the room so you can spend it at all the bars without a care in the world. read more

The islander was sold out last time we travelled from Arizona,so we stayed at the grand islander ... I honestly am not sure What they are talking about with bad reviews because this place was great .. I will for sure be back next year :) read more

This place is overpriced and it's disgusting. The only good thing about it is the proximity to the pools, but I would have much preferred to be farther away and just use the convenient van cabs. I can't believe what we paid for a small, cest pool of a room. We were told that refrigerators and microwaves would be in our room. Knowing this we prepared by bringing frozen microwave snacks and drinks to save money. When we got there we were told there were neither in our room, and all of our frozen snacks ended up getting thrown out. Not only is there no fridge, you can't bring a cooler into your room. The front desk associate was rude, incompetent, and had no professional or people skills. I will never, ever stay at this hotel again and to others I would say take your money elsewhere!! read more

Please, please, please DO NOT stay here. Too bad I couldn't give it a zero rating. The conditions at this hotel are diplorable. I've stayed at hotels all over the world and the Grand Islander is without a doubt the worst place I've been too. Filthy rooms, filthy halls, filthy lobby, filthy pool, windows boarded up, no furniture in rooms and make you pay a $100 deposit in the event you happen to screw it up even more. I find it hard to believe they have not been shut down yet. Tell your friends, tell everyone you know. Stop people in the street you've never met. Disgusting isn't even the word! read more

If I could give 0 stars I would. This place is beyond disgusting.. I noticed my ankle itching after the second night staying here..ok no big deal maybe a mosquito? No, come to find out I brought home BED BUGS! Are you kidding me?! I'm almost a grand in the hole now because of this vile place they call a hotel. Also, still waiting for a 'supervisor' to call me back. You better believe I'm getting ALL of my money back that I spent cleaning up this mess and will NEVER book a room here again. read more

I bet Grand Islander was really bitchin' back in 1998. Since then, not a thing has changed. The hallways and lobby smell like urine. Always a good first impression, right?! The rooms are super dark even after you open the curtain on the small window and turn on the lights. Beds seem really low to the ground but are comfortable enough for a few hours sleep. We stayed for two nights and I can't tell you how thankful I am that my sister threw a bed sheet in her bag because the sheets gave us the creeps. One of the bed sheets had makeup all over it and the other bed had random hairs on it. The shower was fine and actually the water pressure wasn't too awful. Our window "view" was of a lovely tree that had been decorated with a pair of pantyhose and empty Bud Light cans. Pool was fun but as someone else mentioned the water was kind of dirty. Lots of bugs and hair floating around. I mean, I still got in the pool and all but I sat my ass on the in-water bar stool and that was it. The pool here, Splash!, is 21+ which is awesome. You can also use the pools across the street at Islander Inn. I just had to laugh at how beat up this place is. ATM machine by the pool looked ancient. Decor on the walls are crooked and dusty. A mini facelift would greatly improve Grand Islander. We payed around $150/night during the week so you would likely be getting really screwed with a weekend rate. I recommend doing yourself a solid and researching other places to stay because there are many and they will probably be much nicer for a similar price. read more

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Don't waste your money. Rooms are dark, dingy and out of date. Security door lock was removed from our room door? Suspect. The pool was GREEN. Not worth the money. I've stayed much better places on PIB for much less. read more

We spent two nights here for our first time in Put-In-Bay. I gave it two stars only because it was so close to everything in town. When we arrived in PIB, we drove through town twice looking for the hotel. Finally we had to stop and ask someone where it was. As it turns out, there is only a small sign on the side of the building that faces away from the road coming into town. We parked in a parking lot just outside the lobby and figured that we would be able to stay there, but the young woman at the front desk said we had to move our car to the other side of the building. There is no entrance on that side, so if we wanted to go to our car, we had to walk all the way around the building. If the pool area was open (and it hardly ever was), we could go through that area and in the back door of the hotel for a slightly shorter walk. The condition of the lobby, hallway and our room was dated, dark and didn't smell great. As we walked down the hall to our room, I couldn't help but notice that almost every guestroom door was dented as though someone had punched each door. Our room looked like it hadn't been updated since 1978. The bed was fairly comfortable, and the shower wasn't bad. The ice machine didn't work on the first floor, nor did the soda/water machine. None of the shops, restaurants, etc that are attached to the hotel were open the entire time we were there. On the bright side, the hotel was very close to everything. We had a golf cart, but would have been fine without one because we could have easily walked. All in all, if we go back to Put-In-Bay, we won't stay at the Grand Islander. There are some other hotels in town that look like someone cares about providing good service and a clean, updated room for their customers. read more

Now I will mention I am not naive and I do understand Put-in-Bay is a party island and it will be loud and there will be drunk people, but this hotel was just absolutely deplorable. I was looking forward to a fun weekend with a large group of friends at Put-in-Bay to end the summer in 2010, unfortunately we didn't plan until July and this was the only hotel left and boy did we find out why. When we arrived late Friday night the we were ready to party so didn't pay much attention to anything, although we did notice the entire lobby shaking due to the "night club" above. Saturday morning we began noticing some unacceptable conditions of our room. The air conditioning did not work, nor did the window open, and it was about 80 degrees plus all weekend. All of the permanent fixtures (water sprinkler, plugs, toilet, etc.) were loose, had too large of holes, or broken. Now once again I understand this is no four star hotel what-so-ever but even for a one star hotel, they should be out of business. The room looked as if there had not been a duster inside all season not to mention the vomit stain at the entrance to our door. The hallway smelled of mold, vomit, and sweat the entire weekend. We did make use of the pool and for all purposes it was nice, prices weren't too bad and they service was great, only if they would reflect this in their 240 dollar a night hotel rooms. During check out we complained with the horrific conditions of the hotel room and were at first turned off by the front desk staff, but being insistent we had them check out the room cleanliness (or lack there of), broken features, etc. Before leaving we were told we would receive half of one day back, which was a compensation and we left with a much better view of the hotel, although they said they weren't able to do a reimbursement until Monday. After one month and many phone calls their was no compensation for our lack of hospitality. We are going back this summer once again, will be attending their pool party but there is nothing else about this hotel we will be apart of. We have booked ahead of time and done our research which is something I highly suggest doing when going to Put-in-Bay, as you are at the whim of the island when you get there! It's a great place to have for people who want to party. The noise and drunks will be everywhere, so that complaint is hard to avoid, but cleanliness and working amenities are! read more