Hot tubs consistently rank among the top three amenities guests search for on Airbnb and Booking.com. If you own a holiday let in Hampshire, that fact alone is worth sitting with for a moment. A well-specified tub, properly maintained, can add £30 to £50 per night to your asking price. Over a letting season of thirty or forty weeks, that is a meaningful sum.
But holiday let hot tubs are not the same as domestic ones, and buying without understanding the difference can be an expensive mistake. The water gets changed between guests rather than weekly. Different people use it every few days, with different habits, different bather loads, and varying levels of care. The tub runs twenty-four hours a day for months at a stretch. The chemistry demands are higher, the wear is higher, and the regulatory requirements are ones most domestic buyers never have to think about.
This guide covers what you need to know before you buy, and what running one properly actually involves.
What to look for in a holiday let hot tub
The key difference between a domestic tub and a holiday let one is robustness. You are not buying for a single household with known habits. You are buying for a stream of strangers who may have had a glass of wine before they get in, who may not rinse off first, and who have no personal stake in the water quality.
Shell material
Acrylic shells are the right choice for commercial use. Rotomoulded shells (a cheaper manufacturing method, common in the sub-£4,000 market) are softer, scratch more easily, and are harder to keep hygienic over time. For a holiday let context, acrylic is not optional.
Insulation
A holiday let tub runs continuously. It does not get switched off between guests. You need full-foam or high-density insulation, not a partial-foam cabinet. Poor insulation means the heater runs constantly, and that shows up in your electricity bill every month of the letting season. The difference between a well-insulated and a poorly insulated tub can be £50 to £100 per month in running costs.
Controls
Your guests should be able to operate the tub without reading a manual. Simple, clear controls matter. A panel that requires a key code, three sub-menus, and a toggle sequence to adjust the temperature will generate support calls and bad reviews. Look for a tub with an intuitive panel, or one that pairs with a straightforward app. Before you buy, ask to operate the controls yourself from cold.
Drainage and refilling
You will be draining and refilling the tub between guest stays, or having someone do it for you. A tub that takes four hours to drain and reheat is a practical problem if you have a Friday checkout and a Saturday check-in. Ask specifically about drain time, refill time, and reheat time to usable temperature. For short-turnaround lettings, those numbers are operational, not just technical.
Reef Spas Coral and Ocean models
We stock Reef Spas specifically because they are built for this kind of use. The Coral and Ocean models are the ones we most often recommend for holiday lets and commercial settings.
Both are built on the same engineering lineage as the VitaSpa range: acrylic shells, full insulation, and a control system designed for simplicity. They are priced sensibly for what they are, and they are built to run hard without the maintenance headaches you get from cheaper tubs that were never designed for commercial loads. The controls are clear enough that most guests work them out without asking. The shell finish holds up over repeated chemical cycles in a way that rotomould does not.
If you are buying for a holiday let and you want a tub that can be genuinely low-maintenance once the processes are in place, these are the models we would point you toward first.
Insurance
Most standard holiday let insurance policies have specific hot tub clauses. Some exclude hot tub-related incidents entirely unless you have declared the tub and taken out additional cover. Some require compliance documentation before they will pay out on a claim.
Before you buy, call your insurer and ask directly: what do I need in place to be covered for a hot tub at my let property? Get the answer in writing. You may need a specific endorsement, a copy of your water testing records, or a current legionella risk assessment on file. Do not assume your existing policy covers it.
Health and safety: what is actually required
This section is worth reading carefully, because it is the part most holiday let owners underestimate.
When a hot tub is available for use by paying guests, it falls under commercial hot tub management guidance. The HSE publishes HSG282, which is the official guidance document for the control of legionella and other microorganisms in hot tubs and spa pools used commercially. It is not advisory. It sets out what you are expected to have in place.
In practice, HSG282 compliance for a holiday let hot tub means:
- A written scheme of control, which is a documented plan for how you manage the water and the associated risks
- A legionella risk assessment, carried out by a competent person
- A water testing log, maintained consistently between every guest stay
- Records kept for at least two years
- A responsible person named for the property
If something goes wrong and a guest reports a health issue, these records are what protect you. A holiday let without them is not just a regulatory problem; it is an insurance and liability problem too.
Maintenance between guests: who does the water?
This is the practical question that trips most new holiday let operators up. The tub itself is simple to buy. The water management is where the real work is.
You have three realistic options.
Do it yourself
If you or someone you trust is local to the property and available between every guest changeover, you can manage water testing and chemical dosing yourself. You will need to learn how to test correctly, understand the relationship between pH, alkalinity, sanitiser levels, and temperature, and commit to doing it every time without shortcuts. It is not complicated, but it requires consistency.
Use a hot tub service company
A local hot tub service company (we offer this for properties across Hampshire) can visit between guest stays to drain, clean, refill, dose, and test. You get a written record of every visit, which satisfies your HSG282 obligations. You pay a per-visit rate or a seasonal contract. For owners who are not local to their let property, this is the most practical arrangement.
Use a property management company that includes it
Some holiday let management companies now include hot tub maintenance in their service packages, or will subcontract it. If you are using a managing agent, ask specifically whether hot tub servicing is included and what their water testing records look like. Not all of them are across the regulatory requirements.
Running costs in a holiday let context
A hot tub in a holiday let runs continuously from the start of the letting season to the end. In Hampshire, that is typically March to October, sometimes year-round for short-break properties.
A well-insulated 6-seater tub in continuous operation costs roughly £50 to £80 per month in electricity at current rates, depending on the model, the ambient temperature, and how often the cover is left off. A poorly insulated tub in the same situation can cost considerably more. Factor this into your pricing and your yield calculations before you commit.
Consumables (chemicals, test strips, filter replacements) for a holiday let tub run higher than domestic equivalents because of the higher usage volume. Budget around £30 to £50 per month on top of electricity during peak season.
The return
A well-maintained hot tub in a Hampshire holiday let typically adds £30 to £50 per night to the achievable rate. At thirty letting weeks per year, that is between £6,300 and £10,500 in additional revenue annually. The tub, properly specified and installed, costs £8,000 to £12,000. The maths tend to work.
The caveat is the word “well-maintained.” A tub that generates guest complaints about cloudy water, unreliable controls, or a chemical smell does the opposite: it depresses your reviews and your repeat booking rate. The investment pays back when the product and the processes behind it are taken seriously.
What we can do for you
We supply and install hot tubs for holiday let operators across Hampshire. We stock the Reef Spas Coral and Ocean models specifically because of how well they perform in commercial use, and we can advise on specification, electrical supply, positioning, and cover options before you commit.
We also offer ongoing maintenance contracts for holiday let properties: scheduled visits between guest stays, written water testing records, and a number to call when something needs attention. If you are based away from your let property, that is often the arrangement that makes the whole thing viable.
If you are considering adding a hot tub to a holiday let, or you already have one and the maintenance side needs sorting out, come and see us at the showroom or give us a call. No pressure, no pitch. Just the information you need to make a sensible decision.