Lava Family Inn — Hotel in Pocatello

Family reunion (20 adults, 15 kids under 7)... (This review, like a book review, is for potential renters, not for the owner or his future business, although the owner was fabulous.)

The rental home accommodated our group of 35 just fine.  We loved the large open kitchen and dining area that opens onto the deck. There was plenty of seating/eating area for our group. And the serving/counter/breakfast bar space was huge, and could seat 11 people all by itself. But we mostly used it as a serving space to lay out all the food and paper goods we brought. Worked perfectly. The main level with the kitchen was nice and cool in this 90+ degree weather. But the upstairs great room and associated four bedrooms where most of our group slept, were a bit warm during the afternoon and into the night. And the basement was a bit cold. But, the family of six that slept in the two bedrooms and open area beds down there slept fine. But the basement area, and especially the bathroom, needs updated. The master bedroom was amazing, with a bed that was four times the size of a regular King. My family loved the privacy and the tall mature shade trees and huge well-maintained lawn that surrounded the house. There's a little duck pond up the hill behind the house that's real cute with ducks and wild turkeys around. There's plenty of space to play lawn games in the shade. And we enjoyed an afternoon playing in the river at the campground swimming hole down the highway. It helped to bring our own 12x12 canopy for shade at our preferred spot on the river's edge. And of course, the main reason we rented this place was because it was only 20 minutes to Lava Hot Springs, where our family rafted the river through town one day, and returned the next day for some great fun at the water park where there are high dives and super great slides for the courageous, and low slides, splash pad, and a lot of swimming area for the whole family. The owner was very responsive to our needs. There were plenty of things for my family/clan to enjoy during our reservation period of four nights. We would definitely consider...

The house and yard were awesome!! There was definitely enough room for our family of 20. They said we could check in at 3. So we got there at 3:15, and the owner, cleaner, and lawn mower were still there. Not a big deal, so we just waited outside on their porch. But, there were signs (at least 15) everywhere saying doors were out of order, do not use this, and so on. The main faucet in the kitchen was leaking so the owner had turned off the water. We had mentioned that my husband could take a look at it, and one of the doors that was out of order. So, my husband fixed the faucet and took apart the door handle and noticed to pull the handle up because it was worn out. So we got to use those couple things on the main floor. The next day, our family was just hanging out outside and the owner drops by, says he needs to talk to my mom about something. My dad tags along and they come back saying he’s firing the current cleaner (Michelle) and he’ll need to show the new cleaner around the next day at 7. We were fixing dinner, and the owner comes by at 6:45 and says the new housekeeper didn’t work out, but oh, he brought a new door handle and a towel rack. As our family is sitting on the deck, he is fixing the door handle. It was super awkward. He was upset that someone was using the bathroom upstairs so he couldn’t fix the towel rack. If you aren’t comfortable renting out your house, then don’t! It was just really weird how we felt like we couldn’t have our privacy that we paid for. We felt restricted and not entirely free. One last thing that wasn’t a big deal to us that may be to others, there...

This place is great for family reunions because of its sheer size. There are plenty of bedrooms with multiple beds for hosting multiple families. The lawn and grass area is quite large with plenty of space for kids to play. The kitchen is nice size with enough bowls, utensils, and other cooking tools to make meals. There is also a kitchen upstairs that we really didn't use other than storing food in the refrigerator. There is lots of deck space for outside dining and relaxing.

My biggest issue with place is all the rooms or parts of the house that aren't accessible or are off limits (see pics w/ signs). I'm sure there are good reasons for all the limitations, but just a little irritating. Also, please be aware that this is not right in Lava Hot Springs. In fact, it's address is listed as Inkom, Idaho and is about a 15-20 minute drive from Lava...