9.3 C
New York
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Americans Are Now Renting Private Swimming Pools 

Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.

The virus pandemic has led to the closure of many public pools across the country. The latest surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths across Sun Belt states sealed the deal in postponing the reopening of pools. With only a month left of the swimming season, Americans have resorted to an Airbnb-style app that allows them to rent private residential pools. 

Readers living or visiting the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast area have been scorched this summer by absolutely brutal June and July temperatures. Going to the beach has been met with many challenges, especially strict social distancing, and most oceanside restaurants are only open for carryout. The point about going to the beach is being with family and enjoying a delicious meal while watching the sunset. Not this year… 

So given the truly remarkable will of the consumer to shift habits, that is, with beaches under strict social distancing rules, public pools closed and traveling on airplanes to resort towns out of the question, there's been a massive surge in activity in people not just staying at home but are renting private pools from homeowners using an app described as Airbnb for swimming pools, called Swimply

CNBC said the 2-year-old app saw a 2,000% jump in growth this summer, according to its founder.

The process in reserving a pool works on a smartphone app is a  contactless way to rent a pool from residential homeowners on a per hour basis. Prices range from $15 to $300 per hour, all dependent on the pool size, location, and additional amenities. 

Swimply makes money by facilitating the booking and then takes a 15% finders fee. 

"We've seen demand skyrocket. We simply cannot keep up," said Asher Weinberger, co-founder of Swimply.

Weinberger said, "There are people who are now desperate to get out of their homes. They're working from home. There's no school. There's no camp. What are parents supposed to do with their kids?" 

He said some hosts "are making $30,000 to $40,000 in the summer. This is not just — rent out your home for $200 bucks a night — you can make $1,000, $2,000 a day, and that's real money that's not just paying for your pool's upkeep but it's even paying for your whole mortgage."

Here are some of the examples of pools for rent on the app: 

Pools in the Miami area ranged from $45 to $60 per hour. 

Pools in San Diego ranged from $45 to $60 per hour.

Pools in Vegas ranged from $15 to $60 per hour.

Swimply's appears to be launching a new platform called "JoySpace," where users of the app can rent or share "all kind of unique private spaces from tennis and basketball courts to home gyms and decked out backyard." 

With much of the country having paused or taken steps to reverse reopenings, Americans have found creative ways to still have fun during a pandemic, even if that means renting a stranger's pool while public ones are closed. 

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Stay Connected

157,452FansLike
396,312FollowersFollow
2,280SubscribersSubscribe

Latest Articles

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x