Elk Rapids has always had the raw materials of a great Northern Michigan getaway — a quiet marina, a stretch of luscious Grand Traverse Bay shoreline and a village pace that slows you down within minutes of arrival.
What it hasn’t had, until now, is a hotel built to match that setting — one that achieves its mighty design ambition. The Dexter Hotel — a 29-room boutique property that just opened in May — is a work of art.
Both warm and modern, the Dexter Hotel offers a luxurious take on Michigan’s rich legacy of design and manufacturing. Conceived by Kinship Hospitality’s Kamron Bijeh-Apple and Daniel Caudill — the founding creative director of Shinola, and the mind behind the Shinola Hotel — in partnership with Shore North Development, the Dexter offers eager hospitality in a polished destination. Caudill has built a celebration of Michigan craft and mid-century design heritage that is deeply connected to its surroundings. Nearly every piece in the hotel, from the bespoke white oak furniture to the ceramics on your nightstand, was designed in-house and fabricated by regional makers. Wolf Studio in Grand Rapids built the furniture and lighting. Traverse City ceramicist Clay Maas threw the lamps, bowls and soap dishes. A local seamstress sewed the drapery. Bear Sign Company handled the signage.
Rather than hotel “boxes,” guest quarters are designed to feel like well-appointed apartments, some with kitchenettes — muted tones, woven textiles, gallery walls mixing original art with vintage pieces sourced from Northport’s Pernette’s. Modular stacked-box construction means no room shares a wall, ceiling or floor with another, so the quiet is real — savor tucking in to handcrafted Serta mattresses, down bedding and Frette linens.
Billed as “Elk Rapids’ living room,“ Noble Lounge is a destination itself. Beverage Director Anthony DiMaria, formerly of Sugar House Detroit, has crafted a bar program of clarified juices, fat-washed spirits, house-made syrups. Try the Rapid Snapper, a feta-washed gin cocktail with olive brine and celery salt, or gather a few friends for the Mini Tiki Flight — three cocktails of your choosing, served together on an actual surfboard. Executive Chef John Korycki, a three-decade veteran of Italian and Mediterranean kitchens, keeps the food list tight and shareable: Think Lemon Mascarpone Tortelli with rock shrimp, or Lobster Roll Sliders done Maine- or Connecticut-style so the table doesn’t have to pick a side. Everything on tap and on the plate leans on regional partners — Arbor Brewing Company beer brewed specifically for the hotel, cheese from Suttons Bay and Northport, produce from area farms.
The Dexter sits with direct patio access down to the public waterfront on Grand Traverse Bay, minutes from the Elk Rapids Marina and a short drive from Flintfields Horse Park, home of the Traverse City Horse Shows. Proximity to 40-plus wineries across the Old Mission and Leelanau peninsulas, Sleeping Bear Dunes and an airport (Cherry Capital, just 15 minutes away) in the middle of a $120 million expansion means Northern Michigan is becoming easier to reach — and even more worth reaching.