Offseason Guide

Labor Day has passed, the school year has started, the weather is cooling down, and before you know it, we'll be turning the clocks back an hour! So, the question for Swimply hosts becomes, “What now?” After a successful summer of hosting happiness at your listing and earning some extra income, you're likely wondering what the best steps are as you head into the offseason. It’s a great question, and there are several options to consider, from extending your season with new amenities, creating a new listing for your home’s interior, to closing your listing for the winter and reopening in the spring. We'll break down these options, providing clear steps for each so you can make the best decision for your listing this offseason.

Overview of Offseason Options

Closing for the Season

How to Properly Pause Your Listing

On the App:

On the Web:

Extending Your Season

Heating Your Pool in Colder Months

Offering Other Aspects and Amenities of Your Yard as Rental Space

Creating a New Listing

Editing Your Existing Listing

Listing an Interior Part of Your Home

Overview of Offseason Options

Here’s a quick look at some of the offseason strategies we'll cover in detail below:

• Closing for the winter season
  • Properly pausing your listing to prepare for 2025
• Extending your season
  • Heating your pool
  • Offering your backyard, fireplace, hot tub, etc., as a “winter alternative” listing
  • Creating a new listing for your home’s interior

Closing for the Season

Properly closing your pool for the season by “pausing” your listing is crucial for several reasons:

• Maintaining your search ranking for next spring and summer
• Avoiding unexpected and unwanted bookings when your pool isn't available or ready
• Allowing guests to view, favorite, and book your listing in advance once it becomes available for the next season

How to Properly Pause Your Listing

Pausing your listing takes less than a minute and can be done in just four simple steps.

On the App:

1. Go to the “Profile” tab and select “Manage Listing” at the top (make sure you’re in “Host View”)
2. Under Host Settings, select “Availability”
3. Select “Listing Status”
4. Choose “Pause” and set your pause and unpause dates (you can set your pause dates in advance)

On the Web:

1. Select “Manage Listing”
2. Go to Host Settings
3. Under Availability, select “Listing Status”
4. Choose “Pause” and set your pause and unpause dates (you can set your pause dates for the future now)

Learn more about listing statuses here

Extending Your Season

If you’re interested in extending your season and continuing to earn money, there are several creative ways to do so. Here are the top three options for Swimply hosts:

• Heating your pool into the cooler months
• Offering other aspects and amenities of your yard as rental space
• Listing an interior part of your home

Heating Your Pool in Colder Months

This option may not be feasible for everyone, as hosts live in different climates and have various heating systems. However, if you can offer a heated pool during the colder months—despite the higher heating costs—it could be in high demand. For example, one Swimply host in Portland, Oregon, heats his pool to 90 degrees year-round and is fully booked 12 months out of the year. The bookings more than cover his heating expenses.

Offering Other Aspects and Amenities of Your Yard as Rental Space

This option may be more common for hosts with larger yards, fire pits, TV screens/projectors, or other amenities that make their space attractive for gatherings, birthday parties, or movie nights—even without pool access.

You have two options for setting this up:

1. Tweak your current listing
2. Create a separate listing for the winter

Each approach has its pros and cons, so it’s essential to weigh them and see what’s best for you.

Creating a New Listing

Pros:

• Your pool listing stays active, allowing guests to book in advance
• No need to change settings every season (prices, pictures, amenities); set it up once, and you're done

Cons:

• Starting over from scratch with reviews
• Potential to double-book (though this can now be avoided with calendar sync)

Editing Your Existing Listing

Pros:

• Keep your reviews, badges, and search ranking
• You can message fans of your pool about the new listing

Cons:

• Guests can't book your pool listing in advance
• If the new listing isn’t successful, it may negatively impact your pool listing (low conversion rates could harm your ranking)
• Requires switching between seasons

Listing an Interior Part of Your Home

If you want to go all out this fall and winter, consider using Swimply’s new "Homes" category to list areas of your home—or the entire home itself—for hourly events like dinner parties, corporate offsites, or meetings.

To get started, select the "List a Home" option in the Swimply menu once you're logged into your account.