A Word About Hot Tub Safety

Hot tub safety tips for vacation rentals.

"Mystery" rashes, staph infections, Legionnaires' disease ... not the kind of souvenirs anyone wants to bring home after a relaxing stay in a vacation rental home.

I'm not a hot tub aficionado, so I admit I never dipped even a toe in a hot tub in any of the vacation homes I've reviewed.

Turns out, even the cleanest-looking hot tub (and even whirlpool bathtubs and private swimming pools for that matter) can easily become a petri dish for some of the worst kinds of bacteria.

I had my eyes opened wide after chatting with Stacy Intille. A healthy 44-year-old Registered Nurse at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. In 2001 Stacy contracted Legionnaires' disease after soaking in a non-permitted portable above-ground hot tub at a hotel in Monterey, California.

She almost died.

In October 2006 Intille settled a lawsuit against the hotel for just under $1 million.

How do you protect yourself -- especially if your party includes vulnerable children, pregnant women, elderly people and/or anyone whose immune system has been compromised?

When in doubt, stay out.

Don't mean to be a party-pooper. But how else can you be sure?

Insist on safe practices.

Thanks to Stacy's advocacy, the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health (CCDEH), has taken a closer look at the infection risks and potential hazards of above ground portable hot tubs and jacuzzi bathtubs commonly found in rental properties across the state.

Their warnings and recommendations are outlined in a new guideline posted on their website in October 2007 titled Guidelines for the Installation and Operation of Fill and Drain Spas and Hot Tubs. (Click here here and enter the title in the search box to find the PDF document.)

Bottom line

The CCDEH has determined that most of the portable hot tubs commonly found in vacation homes are designed to be used by private families and their invited guests. Once an owner begins to offer their home as a vacation rental, they are required to upgrade these residential hot tubs to commercial grade, obtain a permit and follow the daily maintenance requirements and logs as outlined in the code. The guideline estimates as many as 1,000 owners are currently in violation of the code.

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