Pool Temperature Expectations and Cold Pool Complaints

Changing weather can affect the temperature of an outdoor swimming pool. Whether your pool is heated or unheated, your Swimply Guests should expect to be comfortable at a Swimply reservation. Here are Swimply’s expectations for pool temperatures, and also how we resolve complaints from swimmers about pool temps. 

Expectations for Unheated pools:

In your Pool Management screen you can specify that your pool is heated, this will add the information to your Pool Listing page so Guests know what to expect. Guests who book your pool will be aware that the water temperature may be cooler, especially in the off-season months. They may still ask you ahead of time what the temperature will be, do your best to estimate for them what the water temp will be for their reservation. You’re not expected to tell the future, but if you can estimate accurately the day before the reservation your Guests will appreciate it. You may wish to equip your pool with a thermometer in order to better estimate temps.

Guests who choose an unheated pool should not be expecting 90°f degrees. But if your pool is under 80°f, you should definitely let them know so they can be aware ahead of time.

Expectations for Heated pools:

Heating your pool can seem like an expense, but our Swimply hosts who choose to heat their pools over the summer and into the off-season have gotten tremendous responses from Guests, both in terms of 5 star reviews and in booking volume. A few extra bookings a month in your nicely heated pool will definitely off-set the heating bill. 

Guests who book a heated pool will expect a comfortable experience. The most positive responses we’ve seen start around 85 degrees. The minimum expected temperature for a heated pool during a Swimply reservation is 80 degrees. Outfitting your pool with a thermometer can help your Guests know what they’re getting into. 

Cold pool complaints 

When Swimply Support receives a complaint about a pool being too cold to swim in, we will immediately follow it up with some investigation. We require that swimmers make this report no more than 24 hours after their reservation time. Any longer than this makes it difficult to assess with any certainty. 

Once we receive the report we will first consider how your pool is marketed:

For an Unheated pool

If you’ve been in contact with your Guests and let them know the estimated temperature in advance we will likely remind them of the details of your pool Listing and the expectations they agreed to. Offers of compensation to the Guest will be based on the individual experience.

As an alternative, which will likely earn a better review, you may wish to offer your Guest a rescheduled swim. You can use the Reschedule tool to offer a new date or time. 

For a Heated pool

Swimply Support will ask you for a photo or screenshot of the thermometer or temperature regulation app to show the current temp of your pool. Your response is expected within 24 hours to be considered valid evidence, longer than that and we can’t reasonably assess the data.

The minimum expected temperature for a Swimply reservation is 80 degrees.

If your pool is cooler than this, we will offer the Guest a refund which will affect your payout. If it is warmer than 80, but not by much, then the any offered compensation will be based on the Guest’s experience and how long they stayed at the reservation. 

To prevent a refund, you should offer to reschedule with your Guest instead. This will let them return at another date or time when the pool temp is increased. They will enjoy their swim as expected and your payout will be unaffected. 

In all cases, if your Guests stayed the entire time of their reservation, regardless of whether they swam, this is considered a full use of their Swimply reservation.