Starved Rock Pool House

10/08/2026

10/05/2026

📱 **Our Starved Rock Pool House Digital Guidebook Just Got a Major Upgrade!**

One of the things I spend a LOT of time thinking about is how to make staying at the Pool House as easy and stress-free as possible — including making sure you can quickly find the answer to just about any question you might have before or during your stay.

We’ve always had a pretty extensive digital guest guidebook, and I recently went through it again to update the content. At almost the exact same time, our digital guidebook got a whole new look and a major usability upgrade.

And I LOVE how much easier it is to use!

One of my favorite improvements is the new **Stay Timeline**, which organizes information around where you are in your trip — from preparing for your stay and checking in, to enjoying the house and eventually checking out. Instead of digging around for information, the things you’re most likely to need are much easier to find when you need them.

📲 You can even add our guidebook directly to your phone’s home screen, so it essentially travels with you like an app throughout your stay.

Need the Wi-Fi password?
Wondering how something in the house works?
Looking for restaurant recommendations?
Trying to remember a pool or house rule?
Looking for things to do around Ottawa or Starved Rock?

**It’s all right there.**

And with a 4,500-square-foot house that sleeps up to 16 and includes a 20' x 40' heated indoor pool, hot tub, sauna, two kitchens, coffee nook, dedicated office, Peloton, outdoor patio, grill, fire pit and plenty more…there’s a LOT of information we want our guests to have at their fingertips!

The best part? **You don’t have to be staying with us to check it out.** 👀

Whether you already have a stay booked, are thinking about visiting someday, or are just curious about the Pool House, take a look around our newly updated guidebook for yourself:

👉 https://starvedrockpoolhouse.touchstay.com/

**And while I have your attention, my periodic friendly reminder for anyone thinking about a future Pool House weekend…**

Friday and Saturday nights are ALWAYS the first dates to go.

Our weekends typically book about **4–5 months in advance**, and many of our guests plan their stays **6–12 months ahead**. Last-minute weekends do occasionally happen because of a cancellation, but cancellations here are pretty rare.

So if you’ve been talking about getting the family together, planning a girls’ weekend, celebrating a milestone, or just escaping for a couple of days of swimming while it’s freezing outside… **don’t wait until you’re ready to go to start looking at weekend dates.** 😉

We absolutely love our spontaneous travelers — we just don’t have very many spontaneous **weekends** to give them!

**Weekdays are a different story.** If you have some flexibility in your schedule, we can often accommodate weekday stays on much shorter notice. Maybe the urge suddenly hits to escape for a couple of days — or maybe you can **work from “home” from our dedicated office overlooking the pool while the rest of the family swims.** 🏊‍♀️💻

One of the perks of an indoor pool is that a getaway doesn’t have to wait for the weekend — or even for good weather. So if your schedule allows a little weekday flexibility, it’s always worth checking!

**Less time searching for answers. More time enjoying the Pool House.** ❤️

09/11/2026

⭐ Don’t take our word for it… take theirs. One of my favorite things about reading our Airbnb reviews is seeing the same comments come up again and again from completely different guests.

🏊 “The pool was the highlight of our stay.”
🏡 “So many places can feel generic… but the details in this house kept us in awe.”
❤️ “So much thought in this room for the guests to have an amazing experience.”
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 “The kids and adults had the best time!!!!”
📍 “Perfect location… we enjoyed the shops and restaurants in town and the hiking at Starved Rock.”
🥰 “We were all sad that vacation time was over.”

And perhaps the one I love most:

“We hope to return!”

These are just a handful of our recent ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Airbnb reviews, and they capture exactly what I hope The Starved Rock Pool House is for the families and groups who stay here.

It’s not a generic vacation rental. It’s a big, quirky, character-filled old house with an indoor pool at its heart — stocked with the little things you might forget, plenty of room to gather, and just a short walk from downtown Ottawa.

From the outside… you’d never guess what’s waiting inside. 😉

If The Pool House has been sitting on your getaway wish list, maybe it’s time to see what everyone keeps talking about. 💙

And as I’m always reminding everyone — plan ahead! Our weekends tend to book well in advance, and 2027 dates are already filling up.

👉 Check availability, pricing and all of our Airbnb reviews at airbnb.com/h/starvedrockpoolhouse

09/11/2026

⭐ Don’t take our word for it… take theirs. One of my favorite things about reading our Airbnb reviews is seeing the same comments come up again and again from completely different guests.

🏊 “The pool was the highlight of our stay.”
🏡 “So many places can feel generic… but the details in this house kept us in awe.”
❤️ “So much thought in this room for the guests to have an amazing experience.”
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 “The kids and adults had the best time!!!!”
📍 “Perfect location… we enjoyed the shops and restaurants in town and the hiking at Starved Rock.”
🥰 “We were all sad that vacation time was over.”

And perhaps the one I love most:

“We hope to return!”

These are just a handful of our recent ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Airbnb reviews, and they capture exactly what I hope The Starved Rock Pool House is for the families and groups who stay here.

It’s not a generic vacation rental. It’s a big, quirky, character-filled old house with an indoor pool at its heart — stocked with the little things you might forget, plenty of room to gather, and just a short walk from downtown Ottawa.

From the outside… you’d never guess what’s waiting inside. 😉

If The Pool House has been sitting on your getaway wish list, maybe it’s time to see what everyone keeps talking about. 💙

And as I’m always reminding everyone — plan ahead! Our weekends tend to book well in advance, and 2027 dates are already filling up.

👉 Check availability, pricing and all of our Airbnb reviews at airbnb.com/h/starvedrockpoolhouse

09/05/2026

👀 **FULL TRANSPARENCY: ⚠️ **Fair warning: this is a longer post than I usually write. 😂 BUT if a Pool House stay has been on your wish list, stick with me — this one is worth the read because I'm laying out exactly what our availability looks like through spring and giving you a peek at summer 2027, too.**

I know I probably sound like a broken record when I keep saying **“PLAN AHEAD if you want a weekend.”** 😂 Sometimes I even feel like I'm nagging you guys about it!

But there's a reason I keep saying it.

**Weekends here really do book that far in advance.** And while cancellations occasionally happen, they’re pretty rare — and when a weekend does pop back open, it usually gets scooped up immediately once I announce it.

So if you've been thinking, *“We'll just wait and see if something opens up,”* I wouldn't make that Plan A.

And rather than just keep telling you to plan ahead, I thought I'd show you **exactly what our calendar looks like right now.**

Because the picture is pretty clear:

**Weekends go first. Weekdays are where you have WAY more opportunities and lower nightly rates.**

But here’s the part I really don't want people to overlook…

If your schedule gives you some flexibility — remote work, homeschool, retired, shift work, vacation days, a girls’ getaway, family time, or simply the ability to sneak away Sunday through Thursday — **you have a lot more options.**

And honestly, there’s something pretty great about a weekday getaway.

🏊 Your own private 20' x 40' heated indoor pool
💦 Hot tub + sauna
🏡 Room for up to 16 people
🌲 Enjoy Starved Rock Country without the weekend crowds
🍽️ Downtown Ottawa just a short walk away
💻 And yes — you can even work remotely from the office, where the large glass window in the door overlooks the pool room so you can still keep an eye on all the fun while getting some work done.

**So, in the spirit of full transparency, here's exactly what we currently have available:**

**SEPTEMBER 2026**
9/7–9/9 • 9/14 • 9/16–9/17 • 9/21–9/23

**OCTOBER 2026**
10/1 • 10/12–10/15 • 10/18–10/22 • 10/27–10/29
⭐ **10/31 — our ONLY available Saturday night this fall!**

**NOVEMBER 2026**
11/22–11/24 • 11/28–11/30

**DECEMBER 2026**
12/1–12/3 • 12/14–12/17 • 12/20–12/22

**JANUARY 2027**
January is the exception! 🎉
Other than 1/1, **January is currently wide open — including weekends.** If you need a Friday/Saturday stay, this is the month I'd be looking at right now.

**FEBRUARY 2027**
Every Friday & Saturday is already booked.
**Weekdays are currently wide open.**

**MARCH 2027**
3/1–3/5 • 3/7–3/12 • 3/24–3/25 • 3/28–3/31
⭐ **3/20 — our ONLY available weekend night in March!**

**APRIL 2027**
4/1–4/9 • 4/11–4/28

⭐ **And April actually has THREE full weekends still available:**
**4/2–4/3 • 4/16–4/17 • 4/23–4/24**

So if you need a traditional Friday + Saturday getaway, **January or April is one of your better opportunities right now.**

**AND IF YOU'RE THINKING MAY & BEYOND... ☀️**

The weekends are already filling there, too:

**MAY:** 2 weekends still available
**JUNE:** Only 2 weekends still available
**JULY:** 3 of 5 weekends still available
**AUGUST:** 3 weekends still available

So maybe the question isn't always: **“Which weekend can we go?”** Maybe it's: **“Could we make a weekday work?” 😉**

Take a look at your work schedules, school calendars, vacation days and that group chat that keeps saying, *“We really need to plan something.”*

**Sometimes the best getaway doesn't have to start on a Friday. 💙**

And if you absolutely DO need a weekend, please forgive me for sounding like a broken record when I say it again:

**PLAN AHEAD. 😂**

Don't count on a cancellation. Don't wait until a month or two before you want to come. If there's a birthday, anniversary, family getaway, girls’ weekend or annual trip you already know you want to plan, **get it on the calendar while you still have choices.**

The calendar isn't a sales pitch — **it's why I keep reminding you.**

**Want to see what your dates would actually cost?**
👇 **Click the Airbnb link below to check live availability, enter your dates and guest count, and see current pricing for your stay.**

**Weekday getaway? You still have options.
Weekend getaway? Think ahead. 💙**

Illinois Indoor Pool House | Sleeps 16 | Hot Tub

08/24/2026

Look what we’ve got now! 👀 Don’t be surprised if you run across a Starved Rock Pool House coaster while you’re out and about at one of our local establishments!

It’s just another fun little way to spread the word about our amazing hidden gem here in Ottawa. 💙🏡🏊‍♀️

If you’ve been debating a stay, consider this your reminder to plan ahead! Dates throughout 2027 are already booking up, so if you have specific dates in mind, don’t wait too long to make your plans.

And if you own or manage a local bar or restaurant and would like some coasters—while helping support another local business—please let us know! We’ll be happy to drop some off. 😊

08/23/2026

Last chance... starting later this evening at 6:15pm. There are still a few spots left if you're interested in joining us! Just shoot a message to me or Adrift Wellness 2 Rivers