$9,400 for a hot tub. Bookings, or a second job?

Question

Finished framing out the deck on a two-bedroom I'm setting up for nightly stays in a small lake market, and the contractor left space for a tub because I told him to six weeks ago. Now I have the quote. $9,400 for the unit, the pad, and the electrical run, and that's before a cover lifter or the fence the county wants around it.

What I keep hearing from people already operating there is that in that market a hot tub is close to mandatory in the listing filters, and the ones without it lose the fall and winter weekends entirely. The number I've been quoted informally is 20% to 30% more nights in the shoulder season, though nobody can show me where that figure comes from.

Against it. My cleaner already told me she charges an extra $45 per turn to drain, test, and refill, and she won't do chemicals at all, so that's a second person or a service contract. There's a water heater's worth of electricity running year round. There's a real chance a guest does something stupid at 1am and the neighbors call somebody. And I've built enough decks to know that the thing sitting in standing water is the thing I'll be repairing in year four.

I've got the same $9,400 sitting as an alternative. Better beds, a genuinely good kitchen, and a bunk room that would take the place from sleeping six to sleeping eight.

So which one actually earns its money in a lake market, and does the answer change if I'm two hours away rather than local?

raj_mehta14 · Answer

I can't help you on the bookings math, I'm here reading about notes and I've never turned over a room in my life. The part that jumped out at me is the fence the county wants. That tells you there's a written standard for it somewhere, and where there's a written standard there's usually a matching line in an insurance policy about whether the tub is covered and under what conditions. Attractive nuisance, barrier height, that sort of language. I'd want the carrier to confirm in writing what they need before you pour the pad, since a $9,400 amenity that voids something is a much worse deal than a $9,400 amenity that doesn't book. Your agent and whoever writes the policy are the ones who can actually answer that.

$9,400 for a hot tub. Bookings, or a second job?

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