Name: the Lieghio family
Ages: various
Occupation: businesspeople
Last Seen: Mackinaw City, MI
Bee-otched For: being very shitty human beings
You should not judge a book by its cover.
Mackinaw City, Michigan is a small town with a mere 800 souls. It has one small grocery store that's barely under the Mackinac Bridge. It does have a few non-big box stores. But, that's the only thing that is "small town" regarding this small town.
One who visits Mackinaw City might think that it's a mini Las Vegas minus the ritzy casinos. The town is sprinkled with hotels left and right since it attracts thousands of tourists every Summer. Drive over the Mackinac Bridge and you'll be in St. Ignace, the larger of the three major towns in the intermediate Straits area. And yes, Mackinac Island is a simple ferry ride away.
One reason for all those hotels in Mackinaw City is because of the Lieghio family, who bought their first property there in 1953. Today, the family owns several businesses in the small village, including the Mackinaw Crossings shopping center. Recently, Lieghio's reputation came into check because of a cousin who bullied a mother, her friend, and their family.
In April of last year, Jennifer Biela took her friend and five children to the Crown Choice Inn & Suites. While sleeping, one of her kids woke up to use the bathroom, only to see it flooded. So, at 2:30 a.m., she complained to the manager, Benny Lucchese. In a normal situation, a hotel manager would have sent a maintenance man to the room and fixed it. Instead, Lucchese bitched that she was renting the room, so it was her problem.
Because the argument got heated, Biela yanked out her phone and started filming Lucchese screaming and yelling at her. He called her an "idiot", "irresponsible piece of shit" and worse, a "dumb Democrat". She and her party were booted from the Crown Choice that morning and had to drive 60 miles to Gaylord where they spent the rest of their morning.
Biela uploaded Lucchese's argument with her and it went viral. Crown Choice management saw the video and announced that Lucchese - a cousin to the Lieghio - was no longer with the hotel. Crown Choice offered to give Biela another night's stay, but she declined.
The Lieghio family then performed damage control.
Shortly after news broke regarding Biela and Co. getting booted from the Crown Choice, Enzo Lieghio made a video with his elderly parents, Tony and Anna in the background. Enzo proclaimed that Lucchese - who happens to be his cousin - does not represent the values his family represents. However, many who live in Mackinaw City and have visited their businesses have said that what happened to Biela is business as usual for the Lieghio family.
The Lieghios own 20 hotels and eight restaurants in the small village and locals complain that their stranglehold has hurt its image. Their properties include Crown Choice along with the town's Best Western, Clarion, Quality Inn, Rodeway, and Hamilton Inn, just to name a few. They also own Nonna Lisa's, Dixie Saloon, Anna's Country Buffet, and O'Reilly's Irish Pub. Reviews of their hotels and restaurants on sites like Yelp and Google are notoriously damning. People have said that the food is cold and the rooms are dirty. One person even said to stay in St. Ignace instead, where there are many hotels as well. Personally, I stayed at a small motel in St. Ignace ten years ago. It was quite outdated, but the owners were quite friendly and they even invited their guests to a campfire and smores.
In the aforementioned video, Enzo bitched that locals spread lies about them because of their ethnicity. He said that people have linked them to the mafia because they're Italian. BULLSHIT! As somebody who grew up in northern Michigan, I know that many business owners are all sleazy. Some folks don't pay taxes, screw over business partners, and chump changes their employees. I've had several bad bosses in my life and they're all different. One was of Dutch descent and another was Chaldean. Up in Lake Leelanau, NJ's Grocery has been around since 1912 and has been owned by an Indian family for nearly 20 years. I've heard wonderful things about them, especially their Deli. However, it's sad that many other Indian grocers are a different story. Here in Grand Rapids, many of the convenience stores are a joke because they buy items from Aldi, dump the items on their shelves, and jack the price up by a buck or two. One time, I witnessed one such incident at Aldi where an Indian bought a shit ton of milk and had at it with the manager.
The point is, is that bad business ethics know no color. Look at radio here in Grand Rapids: about 90% of all the radio stations in town are owned by three big corporations. Thankfully, there's one station operated by an African American. However, even the black community in West Michigan disowns him for being a notoriously manipulative gaslighter. He's known for using his race to get what he wants. Sadly, he's just as bad as the white station owners in Grand Rapids, who fire good jocks for no reason and program to the lowest common denominator.
The sad truth is that some business owners are full of shit for finding excuses for their shortcomings. Some are now blaming COVID-19 for their problems, though their problems began long before the pandemic began. I know of one business up north that begged people to give them money through a crowdfunding effort. And the funny thing was that their GoFundMe page was created in late 2019. The owners simply got themselves in trouble because of poor business practices. The funny thing was that they weren't able to raise the money they needed and they still spent Spring Break in Florida.
The only thing Biela did wrong was not knowing about the Lieghio family and how they operate their businesses. She probably went there because it had a water slide, which was good for her kids. People think that because one Best Western is nice that they're all the same. My father has a grudge against Burger King because he went to one and the cheese wasn't melted on his Whopper. However, there are other BKs that do. The reality is that if one's bad, the rest are too.
As for the "Dumb Democrat" comment, look, it's the so-called "Dumb Democrats" who want to shut down the biggest threat to the Mackinac region: Line 5. If Michigan gets another retarded Republican running this state like pRick Snyder, I would only imagine that Enbridge would help them pass legislation to keep Line 5 open, endangering the Straits area. Line 5 should have been shut down years ago. If it bursts, tourism for the Straits region and especially the UP would definitely dwindle. The Repukes will cry that Line 5 creates jobs for those in the Straits area. Of course, it will; when it bursts like the BP disaster many years ago, the Lieghios and other businesspeople in the area would be begging the Dems for forgiveness.
I've also heard that Lieghios and others do tell sites to eliminate negative reviews. I know, since I've gotten cease-and-desist letters from a few business owners. One was the douchebag who tore down several buildings in downtown Traverse City, left a giant hole in the ground for nearly a decade, and tried to sell it for $5 million. He also was known for giving his employees bounced paychecks and was abusive towards them. Today, he now lives in Grand Rapids in a tiny apartment and is in poor health.
The lesson here is that when you own a business, you might be the boss, but, you're not the boss. Your bosses are your customers, current and potential. If you trash them, they have every God-given right to avoid your ass and move on. If you give them threats, may karma have the best of you.
Now, the Lieghios are being investigated by the office of Michigan's Attorney General, Dana Nessel. According to the lawsuit, three of their hotels have been involved in bait-and-switch practices. The suit claims that customers staying at their hotels were forced to stay in rooms with fewer amenities than the ones they paid for. So, in other words, you pay for the presidential suite at a Lieghio hotel and you get the boiler room.
Funny, I thought because of an old video game, Italians were good plumbers.
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