Chalet

Taking The Plunge

Posted on November 28, 2014
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Having their own hot tub is often the highlight of a holiday break for many guests. Pic Master Spas

Taking The Plunge

There is something rather decadent about lying back in an al fresco hot tub with just the gentle bubble of warm water to break the silence – don’t knock it until you have tried it.

Appealing to families as well as couples, for many holiday makers, having their own hot tub is the highlight of their break. Perfect any time of the year, hot tubs are especially indulgent when it is cold outside so add to the lure of an autumn or winter holiday offering.

For holiday park operators, adding a hot tub is an opportunity to enhance visitor appeal and to add a premium to the letting price of the accommodation. Switched on holiday sector marketeers are cashing in on the popular trend with a host of websites and on-line marketing offers, highlighting the added attraction of a holiday hot tub.

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The Management of Spa Pools booklet insists that a hot tub in a commercial environment needs to have a continuous chemical feeder built into the spa
to continuously treat it with disinfectant.

Hoseasons is among them, currently offering more than 750 holiday options with a hot tub. On-line searches of holiday accommodation with hot tubs spring up a multitude of websites such as www.hottubholiday.co.uk and www.forestholidays.co.uk all majoring on hot tubs as an added attraction. Potentially profitable, there are however, many pitfalls to avoid before taking the plunge and adding a hot tub to your holiday offering.

Shrewd operators and owners will look before they leap when it comes to showing duty of care not to mention doing the necessary sums to ensure a profitable bottom line.

“The best advice I can give holiday operators is to keep it simple and only invest in hot tubs if they can provide or include service, within a daily maintenance routine, to ensure safe water and correct settings,” advises Stephen Weller, of Master Spas, one of the UK’s longest serving suppliers.

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HOLIDAY HOT TUBS

Posted on December 19, 2013

HOLIDAY HOT TUBS

Hot tubs can add value to holiday lets but operators need to look before they leap.

Hot tubs now regularly feature on the wish list of holiday makers looking to book a range of holiday accommodation from cabins, lodges and chalets to some of the more luxurious ‘glamping’ packages at holiday sites throughout the UK and Eire.

For holiday park operators, the addition of a hot tub is a tempting prospect. It makes a lodge stand apart from a comparable cabin at a competing location, while creating the option for a premium price level for ‘superior accommodation’ with hot tubs. It also adds to the kudos of the site generally as a ‘five star’ holiday venue.

A handful of the bigger holiday park operators have invested in ‘adapted’ portable tubs with remote commercial filtration and chemical dosing for their luxury lodges. These are generally much larger than the average portable spa with bigger and better filtration and sanitation systems along with other features that suit much heavier use in theme parks and health spas.

But, over the past ten years, a vast majority of smaller holiday park operators and holiday let owners, have just purchased and operate what are in fact domestic hot tubs only designed for home, and not intended for commercial use.

WELCOME BOOST

While holiday park operators rush to meet the demands of prospective customers and a welcome boost to sales – hot tub suppliers should make clear about the health and safety considerations that come with every holiday hot tub installation – advising customers appropriately and not succumbing to lower standards for the lure of quick or bulk sale.

“Any pool of water being used by a paying customer would bring it under the category of commercial use. It is the case for hot tubs installed into a holiday lodge. They are there for commercial use,” advises Jimmy Lamb, UK Bayrol product manager for the Pollet Pool Group, and a leading expert in hot tub care.

“It’s not as straight forward to simply plonk a hot tub into any log cabin, chalet or holiday lodge and expect the hirer to get on with it. If the water is not maintained properly things can quickly go wrong,” warns Lamb.

“One risk is the fast dissipation of the disinfection residual as the holiday maker, his family and all of their friends embark on the inevitable hot tub party.

“Once the disinfectant is allowed to diminish, bacteria are allowed to multiply exposing the risk of cross contamination between bathers. Rashes and skin complaints will result in an unhappy holiday maker seeking some form of compensation but, we all know that other waterborne diseases can develop in poorly treated pools that can become a lot more serious than just a rash.”

And he stresses: “A legally-required risk assessment should highlight the requirement for operating procedures of such an installation to include regular draining, disinfecting of the tub, pipework and filter after each letting.”

The HPA (Health Protection Agency) has produced a booklet called ‘Management of Spa Pools’. This booklet offers advice on the installation of what is generally a product designed for domestic use being installed into a commercial facility. It states that if there are a number of premises sharing the pool then a commercial spa is required. The British and Irish Spa and Hot Tub Association also offer member fact sheets about these installations and have further advice within their standards.

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