Cool Pool Tool

First-of-its-kind app for pool sharing splashes into Houston

You can rent this Rice Village-area pool for $50 an hour. Swimply.com

A new app is making a splash in Houston by enabling users to rent pools, Airbnb-style.

Swimply, which launched in Houston last month, promotes itself as the first online marketplace for pool sharing. On the app, someone searching for a cool pool to borrow can sift through offerings based on location, price, and amenities (like grills and hot tubs). A potential customer also can peruse reviews left by renters. Once a renter finds an appropriate pool, he or she then reserves it through the Swimply platform.

A review of Houston-area pools available for rent found prices ranging from $40 to $125 an hour.

For instance, a pool near Rice Village that's listed at $50 an hour is touted as feeling like "a resort in the Italian Riviera." It comes with an outdoor kitchen, hot tub, limestone floors, and even a basketball court.

For $100 an hour, you and your crew can rent a pool in Cypress, complete with a hot tub, barbecue, trampoline, bounce house, pool toys, and a margarita/slushie machine.

Swimply says prices are based on size of the pool area, as well as amenities, rental time, and rental demand. The company also notes that each pool undergoes a safety inspection prior to being listed on the app. Pool owners can use the app to purchase services like pool cleaning and maintenance before and after a renter takes a dip.

"Whether you're stuck at home with the kids, tired from a long day of work (or homework), or just bored, we want you to be able to teleport somewhere awesome with a few clicks of a button,"Swimply says on its website. "We want mini-escapes to be as ordinary as visiting a café or [taking] a good nap. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, it should only take a moment from the time you want to be somewhere happier until the time you actually are."

The app launched with a pilot program in the summer of 2018 and is being rolled out nationwide this summer. Currently, there are also pools for rent in the Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio areas.

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This story originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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