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Swimply, the so-called 'Airbnb of swimming pools' has found its niche in the coronavirus era

As summer travel declines, society is looking for alternative methods to relax outside of their homes.

Swimply is looking to offer people just that.

The company dubbed an Airbnb for the swim set allows customers to book local private pools by the hour — with 4,500 pools to choose from in the U.S., Canada and Australia — for an average of $45 an hour. According to the company, their customer base has swelled in the wake of coronavirus lockdowns, from about 20,000 last summer to 110,000 this summer, and 125,000 app downloads since last summer.

“It's really something that people are very used to. If you own a pool, you always have family or friends or neighbors using your pool,” Swimply Co-Founder Asher Weinberger told Yahoo Finance’s this week.

“People borrow pools all the time. So it's not a very new consumer habit,” Weinberger told “On the Move” in an interview. “The only difference is that there's a transaction involved.”

Surviving COVID-19

Swimly
Swimply offering in Las Vegas, NV. Courtesy: Swimply

Along with social distancing, rigorous sanitation has become a hallmark of the post-lockdown era. According to Weinberger, the company has made sure pool owners remain vigilant as the COVID-19 crisis continues to claim new victims.

The Centers for Disease Control has declared that pools are safe, as the chlorine mitigates the virus. Yet Weinberger said Swimply goes the extra mile.

The company still has “a whole entire host care team dedicated to working with our hosts, keeping them on top of their regular cleanings,” he said.

“Around 90% of our hosts never meet with the guests,” he added. “So it's truly a contactless experience.”

If there’s one thing Weinberger gets asked about often, it’s about what happens when nature calls, in an era when people are borderline paranoid about spreading the coronavirus. He assured Yahoo Finance that, indeed, a “vast majority of our hosts do provide bathroom access.”

McKenzie DeGroot is a producer at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @degrootmckenzie

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