It’s been well-documented that it’s hot outside.
Homebuyers are looking for pools; sellers are doing well touting the popular backyard oasis. And the number of people willing to let strangers use their pool for an hourly fee is skyrocketing.
When we first covered this phenomenon last June, 94 pools were listed in the greater Dallas area. Today, Swimply has 224 Dallas-area listings, and by the looks of the reviews, they’re pretty popular during these dog days of summer.
A Deep Dive
Listing a pool on Swimply is similar to offering a short-term home rental through Airbnb or Vrbo. Snap a few pics, post them through the online platform, and wait for an interested party to reach out.
Swimply hosts in the U.S. are covered by a $1 million liability insurance policy and $100,000 of property protection coverage. Hosts have to have their pools inspected for things such as proper levels of chlorine.
Swimply launched in 2018 and struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic but revenues increased 4,000 percent after the platform was featured on the Mark Cuban entrepreneurial television series Shark Tank in 2020. Swimply makes money by taking a 15 percent commission from the rental fees.
Why Go Anywhere Else?
Plenty of Dallas homes have pools that they share with their friends, relatives, and neighbors, and there are certainly hundreds of community pools. So, what’s the appeal of Swimply?
Privacy, says Collin County resident Staci Floyd.
A user can host a fabulous party at someone else’s pool for a small hourly fee and be home by dinner time. A mom can take her kids swimming and not worry about the noise and splashes from other users at the public pool. Some Swimply hosts even allow guests to use the private restrooms in their homes.
Floyd rented a pool in Wylie for a family of five on Father’s Day. It cost $60 for two hours, “which was enough time for that particular day,” she said.
“We would have spent at least $50 to go to a public pool, so it was much more fun to have a private rental,” Floyd said. “I chose a property that was pet-friendly and we were able to bring my two golden retrievers, who love the water. We had an awesome experience. I would totally do it again.”
The Price Is Right
Mari-Paige Middleton also noted the affordable price when using Swimply to rent a private pool for the day in a suburb north of Dallas.
“It was easy to book and check-in and swim once we got there,” she said. “The only thing that was weird was the house didn’t really have their gate labeled so we were searching around the house to find the entrance, which was sort of hidden.
“We chose to go through Swimply instead of a neighborhood pool for two reasons,” Middleton said. “One, because we wanted the pool to ourselves, and two, we wanted a hot tub, which is rarely available at public pools. The price per hour for most public pools in Dallas is exorbitantly high for what you’re getting.”
Middleton said that some public pools are up to $200 an hour, and you might as well go to Hurricane Harbor for that price. Some Swimply listings are as low as $15 per hour.
Middleton said her host had cameras outside and was home while she and her boyfriend used the pool, but stayed out of their way.
“When we walked in, the host had a binder with instructions,” she said. “They provided snacks, drinks, a WiFi password, towels, and directions on how to get to the bathroom within the house. It just specified that we were not to roam the house outside of the bathroom downstairs. As we were checking out, the host came outside and personally thanked us, which I thought was value added.”
