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If you don't have access to a pool this summer, why not rent someone else's? NPR's Stephan Bisaha reports that backyard pool rentals are a growing part of the sharing economy.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Woo.
STEPHAN BISAHA, BYLINE: To state the obvious, Alabama summers get hot.
MEGHAN CLOPTON: There was no, like, hanging out outside unless you were in a pool (laughter).
BISAHA: Meghan Clopton lives just outside Birmingham. And two summers ago, she saw her friend post online that her pool was available to rent using a platform called Swimply.
CLOPTON: So I thought, just kind of on a whim, like, why don't we split the cost and go spend a day at the pool with the kids? And they had a blast. It was a lot of fun.
Jump to Daddy.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Jump now. There you go. Gotcha.
BISAHA: Swimply is one of a small but growing number of Airbnb-style companies that lets you rent private pools. Clopton prefers the privacy and space versus using a crowded public pool. And she became a repeat renter.
CLOPTON: We did a full birthday party there, and that was tons of fun.
BISAHA: That rental costs about 380 bucks. That got 30 guests three hours of pool time. And the owner of that pool is Jasmine Lawson.
JASMINE LAWSON: We host over a thousand guests a summer here. It...
BISAHA: Over a thousand guests?
LAWSON: Yes. It's wild, and it grows every single year.
BISAHA: Her 8-foot-deep pool is shaded by tall trees and comes with a twisting slide, water guns and a catalogue of 50 pool floats to choose from.
LAWSON: And our infamous unicorn sprinkler, which is always a hit.
BISAHA: Think a human-size inflatable unicorn with water spraying from the horn. Lawson gives all her guests a walk-through when they arrive and a few rules, like no standing on the slide.
LAWSON: And then I go upstairs and work, and I let them have the space all to themselves. But if they ever need anything, I'm right down here helping them as soon as I can.
BISAHA: Some listings offer more privacy, like self-check-in. Renting her pool earns Lawson some extra income. She charges 50 bucks an hour for up to five guests, and it goes up from there. That helps cover the cost of the pool itself 'cause owning a pool is not cheap.
LAWSON: Well, when you own a pool, every time you turn around, something happens and it's a thousand dollars.
BUNIM LASKIN: The idea was just like, hey, rent out your pool just to cover its expenses.
BISAHA: Bunim Laskin founded Swimply in 2019.
LASKIN: And now we have owners earning over six figures from their backyard.
BISAHA: The company says it has about 275,000 reservations so far this year. And while Airbnb is often used by out-of-towners, Swimply is more often used locally. People reserve pools nearby. Laskin says the company has done better during tough times when people need an affordable nearby getaway.
LASKIN: I mean, we really became big for the first time during the pandemic, where travel was impossible and people more than ever needed a way to supplement their income.
BISAHA: Now, renting out a swimming pool comes with an important and possibly expensive question. Who's responsible if someone gets hurt?
LINDSEY CAMERON: I mean, 'cause swimming pools are so dangerous.
BISAHA: Lindsey Cameron researches the gig and sharing economy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. She says this responsibility question has been playing out in courts regarding other kinds of sharing economy companies.
CAMERON: 'Cause there's not an employer, you know, as one typically thinks of that you can say, you have responsibility for the products that you're putting out into the world.
BISAHA: Swimply says it covers up to $1 million in liability, similar to Airbnb's policy. Jasmine Lawson in Birmingham says she hasn't had any incident in the three years she's rented out her pool.
LAWSON: You'll need to come down and give a Band-Aid every once in a while, but nothing serious.
BISAHA: And that's with weekends with three or four bookings back to back. This weekend, she's got an all-day Fourth of July party booked, and she'll be ready with pool noodles, the grill and plenty of floats.
Stephan Bisaha, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE SURFARIS' "WIPE OUT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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