Hot tub

[Andra12458]

Hi everyone! I’m a new host and have added a hot tub to my rental cabin. My plan is to drain, scrub, and refill the tub after each guest. However, I’ve read that if guests stay more than two nights, it might be better to use bromine or chlorine to keep the water clean during their stay.

For those of you with experience — what’s the best way to keep the hot tub safe and sanitary when guests stay longer and use it multiple times? Any tips or routines that have worked well for you?

Also, for back-to-back bookings: if the hot tub isn’t ready to use right at check-in time, what’s been your experience? Have guests been understanding, or have you had complaints?

[Lorna170]

@Andra12458   Have had hot tubs for 20+ years.  I do not do back to back bookings as I empty, scrub and refill after every departing guest and it takes 6 hours to get the hot tub to the correct temperature for enjoyment.  We are on a well that has been tested as environmentally safe.

We do not use chemicals as guests have complained about chemical use causing allergic reactions.  We empty, scrub and refill because guests would say that the hot tub was dirty.  Guests who stay for a week can request a clean and refill as long as they also acknowledge that it will be unusable for several hours or more on the cleaning day.  Weeklong guests have the option of using a bromine float during their stay.

When we had back-to-back bookings and the hot tub was newly refilled, guests would complain if it was not at usable temperature at their arrival time.  Cleaning the hot tub as soon as a guest departs (10 am) and no back-to-back bookings means we have 24 hours or more before the next guest arrives (4 pm the next day).  No more complaints about an unusable amenity.

It is unbelievable what guests will do with a hot tub.  

[Andra12458]

Thank you! 

[Alex]

Hi @Andra12458,

Thank you for sharing your question with the Community. @Lorna170 has mentioned that he has a lot of experience with hot tubs, did you check his answer? Let us know what you think about it!

Best, 

Alex

[Tom5085 · Accepted solution]

@Andra12458 First thing: You should not be offering a hot tub with no sanitizer. Even if the water is clean, the human bodies getting into the water carry germs. Yes, people should shower with soap and water before using the tub. No, they don't always do that even if you post signs.

The idea of maintaining 3ppm Chlorine or 4 ppm Bromine (minimum) is to immediately kill the germs already on your body as you enter the water. Just to be clear, we're talking about the germs left behind by toilet paper.

Second thing: A hot tub at a vacation rental is in a grey area as far as health & safety codes.

A tub at a hotel/motel/health club is 'public' so sanitation and water quality  are maintained by a certified professional and, at least annually, inspected by the health department. 

A hot tub in a single-family dwelling is 'private' and not regulated because the assumption is the owner occupies and uses the tub. Most health codes haven't caught up to the 'semi-public' nature of a vacation rental.

Here is Washington, it's a misdemeanor to deliver a hot tub without providing an owners manual because the first three to five pages of every hot tub manual contain all the product liability warnings about hyperthermia and drowning.

Here is what I tell my vacation rental customers:

1. Make sure your hot tub is 100% wired to code

2. Make sure your hot tub cover is ASTM certified for drowning prevention. Make sure the child-resistant locks are functional before every guest.

3. Post a state approved 'Hot Tub Rules' sign just like you see at a hotel, motel or gym

4. Provide a copy of the owner's manual or at least the Warnings & Cautions pages

5. Include a 'use at your own risk' disclaimer for the hot tub in your rental agreement that

I can test the water and guarantee it is safe and sanitary until somebody sits in the tub. After that, I can't guarantee anything. If the tenant is covered in sunscreen or cosmetics or hair products when they get in the tub all that dissolves into the water as 'bather load' (contamination) and can quickly deplete the sanitizer and leave the tub unsanitary.

A hot tub without sanitizer can give you a minor rash. It can also give you a Staph infection or Legionnaires' disease.

I recommend using a floating tablet dispenser with 1" Bromine tablets for primary, continuous sanitation and giving the tenant instructions to add 2 to 4 Tablespoons of non-chlorine shock after each use. Provide the non-chlorine shock and a Tablespoon and instructions.

You should also install an Ozone/UV sanitizer as a backup. Health departments consider Ozone and UV 'supplemental sanitizers' which still require a residual of Bromine or Chlorine so you shouldn't operate a hot tub at a vacation rental on Ozone/UV alone no matter what the hot tub salesperson told you.

Treating your vacation rental hot tub more like a public hot tub at a hotel, motel or health club, installing the 'Hot Tub Rules' sign, including disclaimers in your rental agreement, adding Ozone/UV and providing non-chlorine shock with instructions all works in your favor if a tenant claims your hot tub made them sick.