Swimply Inc., based in West Hollywood, is making waves in the sharing economy by facilitating short-term rentals of private pools. The company, which started with pool rentals, is now expanding its offerings to include courts for sports like pickleball, basketball, and tennis. The idea for Swimply was born from the mind of Bunim Laskin, who was inspired by his neighbor’s approach to pool usage. Laskin started an informal rental business in 2018 and officially launched Swimply in 2019. The company now boasts around 25,000 listings across the U.S., Canada, and Australia, including 300 pickleball and tennis courts.
Swimply’s expansion into court rentals is driven by the rising popularity of pickleball, with the number of players in the U.S. nearly doubling from 4.8 million in 2022 to 8.9 million. Laskin believes that private courts can help meet this growing demand. Despite not securing a deal on the reality show “Shark Tank” in 2020, Swimply has raised $51.2 million in funding and reported over $25 million in revenue last year.
The company operates by allowing customers to rent a homeowner’s amenities by the hour, with Swimply taking a 15% commission from hosts and a 10% commission from guests. Rental prices vary based on location, features, and demand. While the COVID-19 pandemic initially impacted the company’s profits, business has since rebounded, with demand spiking during heat waves.
However, Swimply’s business model has raised some legal and safety concerns. As the company operates in the private sector, hosts are not required to provide the same safety protocols as public pools. To address this, Swimply has a protection guarantee that offers hosts up to $2 million of coverage for guest injuries or lawsuits, and up to $10,000 of property damage protection. The company also heavily invests in education around pool safety.
Despite some communities raising concerns about noise and land-use violations, Swimply has implemented a “neighbor friendly” policy and maintains a portal for neighbors to report hosts if guests violate behavior policies. The company sees itself as providing a unique income stream for homeowners, allowing them to offset the costs of owning a pool or court. Looking ahead, Swimply plans to expand its business model to other activity areas.
I’ve actually heard of this concept before. Before fully out of COVID, it was created. Concerns are minimal because home owners don’t want their pool and house to suffer from too many people.
I think the City Council is VERY WORRIED … How can The City Make Money for themselves!
All the existing local pot shops had bigger tax revenue potential when it became legal.
The city didn’t protect existing business and opted for a bidding type of scheme over now limited number of pot shops licenses for WeHo.
Coming soon to a City Council meeting near you, how the Counciltwits control your pool, Poolbnb restrictions 101,
For some reason, this doesn’t sound like a moneymaker.
The fact that insurance rates are partly based on zip code and renters and home owners insurance is sky high already we can thank Bunim Laskinfor our rate increases. It’s nothings different than AirBNB. Get out of town.
What a stupid idea. Who wants a bunch of strangers in their pool?
Maybe the Marxists in weho who don’t believe in private property rights aren’t happy about renting pools. Do they want rent control on renting pools too? Is there some god give. Right to have an affordable pool? Maybe this company should only be allowed to charge 1975 pool rental prices.
Why do you live here again?
why do you? you’re clearly in the minority.
Because I love living in West Hollywood. I like the rent control policies, the minimum wage increase, I like my neighbors, the walkability of my neighborhood, etc.
How am I in the minority? In what respect?
How do you like the prices of everything?
Well obviously i’d love to be paying Topeka, Kansas prices but that is not reality. I don’t typically eat out at $$$ restaurants often so that hasn’t affected me too much.
And I actually do make a point to do as much shopping as I can at local stores instead of Amazon (if I can).
You aren’t fooling yourself into thinking that the conservative part of the Wehoville comments section represents any majority offline, now are you? If anyone here is doing that, they need to get out more.
You’d be surprised how many times people think this echo chamber is representative of the 35,000 residents who live here.
Luckily that is not reality! 😊
Cause I can make money and contribute to the economy here. I like doing both. But I should be making lots more money. Now let us know why you live here. Is it to freeload?
“Cause I can make money and contribute to the economy here. “
Okay but according to you, you would make more money in a city without rent control or “marxist policies”…so why not move there? Almost all of your comments are complaining about the environment in this city. You only live here because you make money here? Couldn’t you make money somewhere that makes you happy? What is stopping you?
I live here because I love West Hollywood! The people, the buildings, most of the policies, the LGBT+ culture etc. 🙂