If you have a pool &/or a beautiful backyard in your home, know that you can earn a great deal of money out of it. Pool and backyard rentals are quickly rising as the hot money makers in the post-pandemic world. When most of the public pools shut down and not many people are willing to take the risk of using a public pool, private pools are the best and safer alternative. People looking to cool themselves off in the hot weather and have some great summer staycation are likely to go for the easy-to-book and use pool rentals, making it a lucrative business for the private pool owners and the homeowners with well-maintained backyards. In this article, we will highlight how pool rentals have become so profitable and why pool owners should go for them.
Why Should Pool Owners Consider Renting their Pools?
If you have a pool, it has to stay on, keep circulating, flowing, heating, and monitoring the levels of chemicals. Pool maintenance, on average, costs between $3,000 to $5,000 a year. What if you can cover this cost with a rental or can even earn profit out of it as your additional income? I hope it sounds great to you too. A few years back, when I heard of one of the pool rental apps that connects the pool owners with those searching pool rentals, I decided to become a host to cover my pool maintenance cost. It worked out quite well. I rented a pool about 500 times this year and made almost $50,000. I am expecting at least the same in the coming summer. Not just has this additional money covered the cost of my pool maintenance but it also brought a very new revenue system for me.
Pool Rentals Increasing During the Pandemic
The growing number of pool rental apps, taking the advantage of a sharing economy, follow the model of businesses like Uber and Resortifi. These apps are the best means to streamline the rental process for both the pool owners and the renters.
People are looking for the means to safely resume recreational and fitness activities they have been doing before the pandemic while maintaining the pandemic-driven social distancing and other SOPs now. Hence, the pool rental apps are experiencing increasing demand since then.
For pool owners like me, these apps offer not just a way to cover the pool costs but also the source of handsome income for those who lost their jobs or were having financial constraints during the pandemic.
During the pandemic, most people could not go to the gym so pool rentals are the right place at the right time to help them start their fitness regime. Another idea that inspired the pool rental concept is that it is the way to give people who do not have their pool easy access and a safe place to swim. Nowadays, pools are being used as more than just an exercise. I have rented out my pool for different activities as diverse as baptisms to birthday parties to aqua therapy events and underwater drone trials.
How to Rent the Pools?
Pool owners can list their pool along with its description, pictures, and rates on the pool rental websites or apps. People using these apps or sites, check out the pools and the amenities it offers, choose the one they like, and make an online booking. The host then approves the booking as per the availability and cost and then the guest is notified of the further procedure including the payment terms. Most of the apps offer diverse payment options including visa cards, online transfers, etc.
When it comes to charging for the pool rental, pool owners have a variety of options. Pool rent can be charged on an hourly basis, where the average hourly rate starts from $45 per hour. Bigger pool and backyard areas include spas, hot tubs, outdoor grills, music, etc., and can go for as high as $200/$300 per hour. Some pool owners charge an additional premium for big groups.
On average, the pool hosts make around $10,000 to $20,000 per year, as per some of the surveys and as per my own experience as a pool owner who rents frequently during a year. However, some hosts may make much more. On the high end, I have seen that a pool host in Portland, Oregon, made more than $130,000 last year.
The pool rental websites or apps through which you rent the pool charge a certain percentage for its hosting service and take a percentage from the renters too as a fee for matching service. Besides these, no other fee is involved.
The Rules to Know for Pool Rental
1. Get insurance
One of the most important things to consider is insurance. You would surely want to protect your property from any kind of damage from possibly unruly guests, but now you should also consider your liability for your guests’ safety.
What happens if your pool renter meets an accident while using your pool or backyard? The typical homeowner’s insurance you would have may not cover this liability in this case or might not offer adequate coverage. Hence, the individual hosts must obtain liability insurance to protect themselves.
You should also know that not all pool rental websites or apps offer additional insurance services. Only a few apps have collaborated with a reliable insurance company to provide their custom Protection Guarantee. Such programs provide hosts with liability insurance up to $1 million (some also offer up to $10,000 in separate property damage insurance). The great news is that the insurance policies are often provided to the host at no cost.
2. Consider the activities you can deal with
If you are renting your pool that you will also probably use yourself at some point, you must consider the kinds of activities you want to host. You might feel more comfortable renting to a smaller group or individuals instead of larger groups. As a pool owner, you can decide the parameters like the number of people and the kinds of activity you can accept for your pool.
Also, think of how often you would want to rent the pool, whether it will just be on the weekends or the weekdays? Whether it will be at day only or night as well? You must also think about your neighbors while renting a pool particularly if you are hosting big groups that might lead to traffic congestion on the residential streets.
3. Amenities
Think of what other facilities or amenities you can provide with the pool. This helps you elevate the price of your location. Perhaps you have a backyard grill or the hot tub close to the pool. Will you contain the use of these in a rental? Will you offer towels, a sound system, a TV or some other kind of entertainment? How about bathroom access? Clarify the guests about what is included and what is not, in the rental, and what might be included at an additional cost. Consider all such information when you decide and list the price.
4. Keep your promise
Ensure whatever you are selling is what you actually offered to your guest.
Like with the home listing, what is going to sell your pool are descriptions and photos you post. Quality photos of your pool and surroundings will go a long way for drawing pool renters to your listing (such as pool, backyard, resort, guest room, garden etc). This implies keeping your entire pool area clean, safe, and well maintained.
When the guest arrives, they expect to see exactly what the photos showed to them. Make sure the whole pool area is clean, the furniture is in place, and that any extra services offered, such as sound systems, are in proper working conditions.
5. Set your rules and expectations
Keep in mind that it is your home after all. Some hosts try to greet their guests personally and show them the area they are renting and where all amenities are located. This is also a good time to discuss in brief the rules and expectations to avoid any misunderstandings in the future. This establishes the tone for both their fun and the level of respect vital to treat the pool and property. For a great experience, both the pool host and the renter should abide by the ethics and values while using such property.
6. Payment Terms
To have a seamless and hassle-free pool rental experience, make sure you have clear payment terms with the guests. Usually, the pool rental apps and websites provide alternative payment options where the guests are required to pay in advance to confirm the booking. At some apps, a 50% down payment is required. You can select the means suitable to you and clarify it with your listing. To avoid any issue later, it is advised to take the payment from the guest in full at the time of making a booking.
7. Disputes
Just like any other business, the pool rental business is not free from conflicts and disputes between the host and the guests. The pool rental apps provide the mechanism to deal with and resolve such cases. Make sure you abide by the same to get the dispute resolved most effectively.
Final Thoughts
Pool rental is surely one of the fastest-growing business models across the globe, especially in the United States. The summer waves are going higher every year and in the post-pandemic world, the pool rentals will be a great way for everyone to have a great summertime at economical cost with much ease and safety.