Guests pay for warm pool, you pay the gas bill. How should you be evaluating this Considering the competitive nature of the business and the harm raising fees does to your conversion?
Understanding Pool Heating Utility Costs and Level Pay Pricing
Keeping a pool heated when guests request and pay for it, ensures a comfortable swimming experience, but it also comes with fluctuating utility costs. This article explains how these costs vary with seasonal temperatures and how you can think about our level pay pricing system, especially in the coldest months when your bill might balloon and overtake the revenue.
How Pool Heating Costs Change with the Seasons
The cost of heating a pool is directly affected by outdoor temperatures. As the weather cools, more energy is required to maintain a consistent water temperature, leading to higher heating costs. Conversely, during warmer months, less energy is needed, reducing overall expenses. Factors such as wind, humidity, and pool covers can also impact heating efficiency. If you have solar power, you may be able to add in a heat pump, in order to use excess production during the day, to raise the temps up enough to level out the costs a bit more for gas usage.
PS: Other items use natural gas. During colder months, remember that water heaters, gas fire features, and home heaters, are also subject to the higher rates and increased use due to the temperatures. Keep in mind as you review your bill, this could equate to a larger portion of your bill during those times, not all usage is for pool heating. Just like the pool heating reduced cost when it is warmer, these items will decrease as well.
Level Pay Pricing: A Balanced Approach
To provide a predictable and fair pricing structure, we implement a level pay system for pool heating. This system works as follows:
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A fixed fee is charged to guests year-round for pool heating.
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This fee is based on the average annual cost of heating the pool.
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During colder months, the cost to heat the pool may exceed the fixed fee, meaning guests benefit from the difference.
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In warmer months, the heating cost can be lower than the fixed fee, allowing the property to recover some of the higher winter expenses.
- All year, your pool heating fee does not deter people from booking, which is what you want when market demand and competition is fierce.
Why Level Pay Pricing Benefits Guests & Owners, why not just charge more?
Our level pay system provides guests with consistent pricing, eliminating unexpected spikes in heating costs. For owners, maintaining competitive rates is crucial for maximizing rental income and conversion rates. Adjusting fees without considering your competition can negatively impact your ranking. High cart abandonment rates indicate that while your property is appealing, something deterred potential guests from completing their booking. Just as reputation is vital, so too is the algorithm that determines your home's visibility based on booking behavior and reviews.
Can you raise my pool heating fee?
The pool heating fee has been described as an offset, it would be great if it always covered the costs, however with the highly competitive nature of this business, high fees harm conversion, so we do not support non competitive pool heating fees. The Short answer is, we support raising the fee only if we mis classified your pool size. We charge rates based on small, meduim, and large pools. Click here to view the knowledgebase to ensure we got the pool size right. However if your pool is costing more than the fee to heat, we should be looking into other things, such as why it is using so much, is there anything you can do to mitigate the heavy usage, and if there is nothing to be found and it is just a function of how the pool is designed, will a small increase in nightly rent during pool heating season, offset the cost?
Pool and Spa Sizing: How we Classify?
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XS (Extra Small) pools typically represent small spas or plunge pools (<5,000 gallons).
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S (Small) pools typically include small residential or above-ground pools (5,001–10,000 gallons).
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Med (Medium) pools represent standard-sized residential pools commonly installed in backyards (10,001–20,000 gallons).
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Lg (Large) pools are larger residential or moderate commercial pools (20,001–30,000 gallons).
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XL (Extra Large) pools are large residential or typical commercial-sized pools (30,001–40,000 gallons).
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XXL (Double Extra Large) pools are very large residential or significant commercial pools (>40,000 gallons).
If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact us, thank you!