Hot tubs are a highly profitable addition to a holiday letting. Pic: Caldera Spas.

Hot Tubs Are The Golden Goose

Hot tubs are the must-have ingredient in the recipe to holiday booking success it has been revealed.

According to self-catering specialists Hoseasons, a private hot tub is the number one searched for item on the website, accounting for more than 100,000 searches each month.

“Hot tubs really are the golden goose of the holiday market,” comments Jon Moxon, business development manager at Hoseasons.

“There’s been a meteoric rise in the popularity of hot tub holidays since our first unit went on sale at Faweather Grange, Yorkshire, in 1997. These days there are more than 2,500 lodges and luxury holiday homes with hot tubs across our portfolio, with unit numbers increasing by 21% since 2013.”

A highly profitable addition to a holiday letting, there are however, potentially hazardous pitfalls to avoid before taking the hot tub plunge. Although more affordable, domestic hot tubs are designed solely for home use and are not intended for commercial use. “Avoid the temptation of buying a cheap spa on the internet,” advises Chris Brady of Lincolnshire-based 1 Stop Spas, who is heading up the UK branch of the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals.

“We come across plenty of customers whose opinion when buying was ‘I only want a cheap spa because I’m only renting it out’. Like most electrical equipment, buying cheap isn’t always cost effective over a few years.”

He adds: “Cheap spas can cost up to ten times as much to run, meaning higher overheads. They are often fitted with cheap components, therefore the reliability is not very good meaning in inconvenient downtime for you and rental customers.”