HOUSTON — It’s the perfect day to find a pool to cool off in, but what if you don’t have one?
Well now, there’s an app for that. It’s like Airbnb for your pool.
It feels like 100 degrees, and it’s humid. Sounds like the perfect weather for some water, but for some people, a backyard oasis isn’t an option.
“I use it less nowadays than I used to," Michael White said.
White put his pool in 15 years ago. He said he’s gotten some great use out of it, but now, he’s hoping to turn his paradise into profit.
“It’s a resource that I have sitting here that I never really considered taking advantage of fiscally because, like, how do you do that? Well, this is how you do it," White said.
It’s called Swimply. The underlying idea is to swim, well simply. The brand new website launched just weeks ago, and the app came out Friday.
“I've told a couple friends about it, and they’re like what’s that? And I go, 'It’s Airbnb pools,'" White said.
Swimply allows you to post your backyard pool online for complete strangers to rent by the hour. White said he hasn’t had a visitor just yet, but he thinks soon, it’ll make a splash.
“I think it’s probably because it’s just so new that nobody has heard of it," White said. “I'll give anything a chance, and see how it happens. There’s clearly an opportunity for a lot of people to get into it. I think this is the first one. This is the Airbnb for swimming pools.”
There are already several in the Houston area, and Swimply said dozens more come online nationwide every day.
When it comes to safety and liability, Swimply said they have almost every pool inspected before it’s posted. Renters sign a built-in waiver that won’t hold parties liable for accidents, and they hope to soon add the option of insurance.
White said his pool and hot tub comes with floats, a BBQ pit and even a workout bench.
He knows it’s not the nicest available, but his ace in the hole is its closeness to downtown hot spots.
“There’s one that was like $60 an hour. They had a tennis court and a basketball court, and a jumpy house, and I'm like, yeah, but you’re in Katy," White said.
ALSO POPULAR ON KHOU.COM