About Us
Conveniently located 4 minutes directly South of Starved Rock State Park on Route 178, the Inn is nestled on 14 acres within the confines of Matthiessen State Park. Newly constructed in 1996, the Brightwood Inn was built to resemble a vintage farmhouse complete with verandah and rocking chairs. The Inn will provide you with a peaceful and luxurious stay amid the beauty of nature. There are many outside activities in the area such as hiking the state park trails, canoeing on the Fox river, horseback riding, sky diving, bicycling the I&M Canal towpath, fishing on the Vermillion river, wine tasting, zip-lining, shopping in nearby Utica and golfing. Like a Bed & Breakfast, a full, complimentary breakfast comes with your room.
The products and services we offer
Recommendations Received (15)
"You cannot find a better person than Sharon to associate with."
"Small family run lodging and personal touch."
Products & Services
Large room on the first floor. King size really comfy bed. Two reading chairs separated by a small table for your wine and chocolates. Beautiful...
Plan your honeymoon or your romantic weekend getaway with us. Brightwood Inn offers couples' packages to make your stay near Starved Rock State Par...
Recommendations Given (23)
"Brightwood Inn was very happy to find Johnson HVAC. Purchased a new reach in fridge at a very..."
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"Brightwood Inn was very happy to find Johnson HVAC. Purchased a new reach in fridge at a very reasonable price. Top notch company with knowledgeable friendly staff."
"Really nice people creating quality spirits! Thank you!
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Recent Activity
There is no poll for me to take. This is not the first time I have not received the poll. Please stop sending me emails to take a poll that is missing. Thank you
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There is no poll for me to take. This is not the first time I have not received the poll. Please stop sending me emails to take a poll that is missing. Thank you
I am in a blue state. Our Governor, who was born into a multi generational billionaire family has no idea how hard we work to eke out a living on a daily basis. I realize he has the responsibility to keep his state healthy, but the measures he tried to take were over the top. He wanted to...
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I am in a blue state. Our Governor, who was born into a multi generational billionaire family has no idea how hard we work to eke out a living on a daily basis. I realize he has the responsibility to keep his state healthy, but the measures he tried to take were over the top. He wanted to keep us shut down until October. Which would have successfully been the demise of every small to medium sized business in Illinois. Yesterday, June 26th we went into stage 4 of his 5 phase plan to reopen. Phase 5 will only happen with a vaccine he says. So it looks like no one will be able to visit their loved ones in the nursing home until Bill Gates says we have a viable vaccine. Which usually takes years due to testing, but with this deadly? pandemic virus they are going to fast track it. Makes no sense to me which is why I believe Gates is Dr. Evil and scares me much more than Covid 19 which has a death rate of around .o26%. Our 24 year old business got no help what so ever. Our business was closed from March 16th until May 1 st when we reopened. In May we had a total of 9 rooms out of 279 possible rooms. June has not been much better. We are operating at less than 10% of our norm. We will go out of business and that is a fact if things don't change or we don't get help from a government who cares more about corporations than it's constituents.
I have no problem bringing my help back as I don't believe this virus is any thing but a planned assault on our economy.
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I have no problem bringing my help back as I don't believe this virus is any thing but a planned assault on our economy.
1 Reply
How unfriendly state and federal government, and corporate America would be to small business 23 years later.
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How unfriendly state and federal government, and corporate America would be to small business 23 years later.
Absolutely. I drink RO water. I have for 35 years or more. Fluoride is poisonous. Other countries don't use it. I have read the "fluoride" the US uses is the result of making Aluminum and not really Fluoride at all. There are prescription drugs in our water, too much Chlorine, and things...
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Absolutely. I drink RO water. I have for 35 years or more. Fluoride is poisonous. Other countries don't use it. I have read the "fluoride" the US uses is the result of making Aluminum and not really Fluoride at all. There are prescription drugs in our water, too much Chlorine, and things too gross to mention. I buy RO at our local RO store. The place has an awesome amount of business. I use a filtered showerhead. I am serious about my water.
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It's a big deal in the lodging industry. Inns and Bed and Breakfasts are receiving letters daily from lawyers that they are being sued for great amounts of money due to non compliance. Who does compliance testing and what is a VPAT?
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It's a big deal in the lodging industry. Inns and Bed and Breakfasts are receiving letters daily from lawyers that they are being sued for great amounts of money due to non compliance. Who does compliance testing and what is a VPAT?
1 Reply
Am I reading your question correctly? You are being hired to manage a family run hotel and they have no knowledge of hospitality or HR. I assume you are not part of the family, correct? What is your degree of knowledge in both areas? Is this a new business or are they tired and now wanting...
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Am I reading your question correctly? You are being hired to manage a family run hotel and they have no knowledge of hospitality or HR. I assume you are not part of the family, correct? What is your degree of knowledge in both areas? Is this a new business or are they tired and now wanting to delegate the work? I need a bit of information to give you what I feel would be good input.
I assess each guest and decide how to proceed. There is no one fit all when you are dealing with people from all over the world, every ethnicity, all walks of life. I am honest to a fault and I put a lot of love in everything I do. I feel very lucky to be able to host a comfortable and homey...
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I assess each guest and decide how to proceed. There is no one fit all when you are dealing with people from all over the world, every ethnicity, all walks of life. I am honest to a fault and I put a lot of love in everything I do. I feel very lucky to be able to host a comfortable and homey stay for our guests because they are all awesome. It's really easy to be nice to nice people.
1 Reply
I am a huge Doc Martin fan so right now we are planning a trip to Port Wenn, Cornwall, England for next summer. While we're there we will visit friends in Geneva Switzerland and visit Ireland and Italy, the homes of our ancestors.
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I am a huge Doc Martin fan so right now we are planning a trip to Port Wenn, Cornwall, England for next summer. While we're there we will visit friends in Geneva Switzerland and visit Ireland and Italy, the homes of our ancestors.
I have no problem with price parity among hoteliers. My gripe is that huge corporations like Expedia for instance force us to raise our rates due to their greed. They don't own one darn piece of property but like a tick make their money off the blood sweat and tears of people like me. Air B&B...
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I have no problem with price parity among hoteliers. My gripe is that huge corporations like Expedia for instance force us to raise our rates due to their greed. They don't own one darn piece of property but like a tick make their money off the blood sweat and tears of people like me. Air B&B same thing. They don't own a thing but take their sweet percentage. I would have no problem if they took 5%, but no they want 20% plus. Reservations.com not only charges a percentage, they also add a service fee. On top of that they double the amount of hotel/motel tax and keep the percentage over and above what they have to pay us. I have seen people who have paid $150 more by using reservations.com to book than booking directly with me. Their advertisement of giving the best rate is a baldfaced lie. It is illegal for them to charge less than our rack rate. The only place you can get a deal is from the property you are staying with. I urge everyone to use Expedia as your search engine, but always book directly with the property or the airline, etc.
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