We have stayed on Mackinac many times...The last time at the Grand Hotel on points.
I won't debate the use of points...we decide it was for us and we thought it was worthwhile.
If you do use points, it does include breakfast and dinner.
You might think that isn't a big deal, but the dinner at the Grand Hotel is a five course dinner and costs at least $80 per person (might be more now). If you use points, you get dinner and breakfast for the number of guests in your room.
I compare the dinner at the Grand Hotel to dining at V&A...you need to experience at least once. It is set in a huge dining room with 300 other people, but it is an experience.
The room we got when we stayed at the Grand Hotel on points was wonderful...Lakeview and huge. Double the size of a studio at Disney.
One other note...Tipping is not allowed at the Grand Hotel!
A previous poster pointed out that staying on the Island is quite different after all the day visitors leave...More so at the Grand Hotel.
BTW...I just returned from San Diego and while there visited the Hotel Del Coronado, which is much like the Grand Hotel. I found out the story of the movie Somewhere in Time was actual set at the Hotel Del Coronado, not the Grand Hotel. They changed the location because the Grand Hotel closes in the winter and it was easier to film there.
