Summer's Hottest Trend: Leasing Swimming Pools
Imagine throwing a pool party, water guns, a twisting slide, and a bunch of inflatables. But here's the twist: the pool isn't yours. You've rented it. Welcome to the latest trend sweeping the nation, where folks are leasing swimming pools for a day or two, just like you would a car or a vacation home.
For a reasonable fee, you can take over a backyard oasis for a few hours, or even the entire weekend. This unique arrangement is made possible by up-and-coming businesses that have taken a page from the Airbnb playbook and are renting out private pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, and other spaces. It's a new aspect of the sharing economy that has made it easy and convenient to rent someone else's property.
Here's How It Works
For a birthday celebration, you could pay around $381 to host up to 30 people for three hours of pool fun. The pool's owner might have hosted a variety of events, from graduation parties, book clubs, and photo shoots, to welcoming over 1,000 guests a year.
Guests can enjoy not only a pool and a hot tub, but also an air-conditioned room with a table for setting up a food spread, a private bathroom, and a pick from a catalog of 50 different pool floats. The owner offers a tour upon arrival and is on standby to assist, ensuring a smooth experience for the guests.
Why Rent Out a Pool?
Pool owners find this a helpful way to cover upkeep costs and boost their income. Maintaining a pool can be expensive, and this provides a unique solution. The idea of helping pool owners cover those expenses was the driving force behind the creation of one such company in 2019.
Today, the company has listings in 150 cities and has recorded more than 275,000 reservations this year, a 50% increase from last year. The majority of these rentals are local, often used for staycations.
What About Liability?
One of the key questions when renting out a pool is who's responsible if an injury occurs. After all, pools can pose a danger, particularly to young swimmers. To address this, companies like this provide up to $1 million in liability coverage for hosts, mirroring Airbnb's home rental policy.
The newness of this type of enterprise means that the question of responsibility is still being worked out in the courts and by state governments. For instance, Minnesota's Supreme Court is considering whether pools rented out on these platforms should be classified as public facilities and therefore subject to government licensing regulations, possibly including state inspections.
The Downsides
However, there can be downsides too. For instance, one pool owner reported that her pool maintenance company terminated her contract, fearing they might be held accountable if a guest had an adverse reaction to the pool chemicals. She now takes care of the pool maintenance herself.
Despite the occasional need for a band-aid, she claims to have had no incidents. And that includes weekends with back-to-back bookings and all-day events.
The Future of Pool Renting
After experiencing the ease of renting a pool, some people are considering building their own. But with costs ranging from $60,000 to $110,000, it's a major investment. In the meantime, they're happy to continue renting and even dream of one day renting out their own pool. As the sharing economy continues to evolve, it's clear that renting out a pool is more than just a summertime trend.
Imagine throwing a pool party, water guns, a twisting slide, and a bunch of inflatables. But here's the twist: the pool isn't yours. You've rented it. Welcome to the latest trend sweeping the nation, where folks are leasing swimming pools for a day or two, just like you would a car or a vacation home.
For a reasonable fee, you can take over a backyard oasis for a few hours, or even the entire weekend. This unique arrangement is made possible by up-and-coming businesses that have taken a page from the Airbnb playbook and are renting out private pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, and other spaces. It's a new aspect of the sharing economy that has made it easy and convenient to rent someone else's property.
Here's How It Works
For a birthday celebration, you could pay around $381 to host up to 30 people for three hours of pool fun. The pool's owner might have hosted a variety of events, from graduation parties, book clubs, and photo shoots, to welcoming over 1,000 guests a year.
Guests can enjoy not only a pool and a hot tub, but also an air-conditioned room with a table for setting up a food spread, a private bathroom, and a pick from a catalog of 50 different pool floats. The owner offers a tour upon arrival and is on standby to assist, ensuring a smooth experience for the guests.
Why Rent Out a Pool?
Pool owners find this a helpful way to cover upkeep costs and boost their income. Maintaining a pool can be expensive, and this provides a unique solution. The idea of helping pool owners cover those expenses was the driving force behind the creation of one such company in 2019.
Today, the company has listings in 150 cities and has recorded more than 275,000 reservations this year, a 50% increase from last year. The majority of these rentals are local, often used for staycations.
What About Liability?
One of the key questions when renting out a pool is who's responsible if an injury occurs. After all, pools can pose a danger, particularly to young swimmers. To address this, companies like this provide up to $1 million in liability coverage for hosts, mirroring Airbnb's home rental policy.
The newness of this type of enterprise means that the question of responsibility is still being worked out in the courts and by state governments. For instance, Minnesota's Supreme Court is considering whether pools rented out on these platforms should be classified as public facilities and therefore subject to government licensing regulations, possibly including state inspections.
The Downsides
However, there can be downsides too. For instance, one pool owner reported that her pool maintenance company terminated her contract, fearing they might be held accountable if a guest had an adverse reaction to the pool chemicals. She now takes care of the pool maintenance herself.
Despite the occasional need for a band-aid, she claims to have had no incidents. And that includes weekends with back-to-back bookings and all-day events.
The Future of Pool Renting
After experiencing the ease of renting a pool, some people are considering building their own. But with costs ranging from $60,000 to $110,000, it's a major investment. In the meantime, they're happy to continue renting and even dream of one day renting out their own pool. As the sharing economy continues to evolve, it's clear that renting out a pool is more than just a summertime trend.