How to confirm a hotel pool is really indoor, and open when you get there

Booking sites and maps often say "pool" without saying where it is. A family that drives four hours for an indoor pool and finds an outdoor one under a winter cover does not forget it. Here is how we check, and how you can check a hotel we have not listed.

Read the amenity list, not the photos

Google Hotels lists pools as separate amenities: Pool, Indoor pool, Outdoor pool and Hot tub. A hotel that only shows "Pool" has not said which kind it has. We list a hotel only when its own Google Hotels record marks "Indoor pool" as available, and we drop it when Google's written description of the same hotel describes only an outdoor pool. Photos are a poor guide: a pool shot with a glass wall can be a seasonal enclosure, and a sunny photo can be years old.

Words that do not mean indoor

"Heated pool" can be outdoor. Many Florida and Arizona pools are heated and outdoors.
"Covered" or "shaded" pool usually means a roof or awning with open sides.
"Seasonal pool" is an outdoor pool that closes part of the year.
"Indoor/outdoor pool" can be one pool that passes under a wall, which may be partly closed in winter. Ask which part is open.

Call and ask four things

Is the indoor pool open on my dates? Pools close for maintenance, resurfacing and inspections, often with little notice online.
What are the pool hours? Many hotel pools close at 9 or 10 pm, some open late morning.
Are there age rules? Some hotels require an adult with anyone under a certain age, and some hot tubs are adults only.
Is it heated, and is the hot tub working? Ask the desk on the day before arrival too.

When the pool is closed on arrival

If you booked because of the pool and it is closed, ask the front desk at check-in what they can do. Many hotels will move you, waive a fee or let you use a sister property's pool. Write down who you spoke to and when.

Tell us

If a hotel on this site has closed its indoor pool, or the pool turns out to be outdoor, please email contact@hotelswithindoorpools.com with the hotel name and what you found. We re-check reported hotels first.