inflatable hot tub hire business

themightymunch

Hey

I've reserved a lay z spa Miami hot tub from homebase which I will pick up this weekend. I thought it'd be a nice starter business for the summer/autumn if I could rent it out for hot tub parties, etc. It seats 4 adults and I paid 240 pound for it (discount on sale last weekend). I can't find many reviews on this model, although I know its not going to be amazing for the price. I've got some money left over for other costs like public liability insurance and cleaning products.

There's a local business that seems to be doing really well hiring hot tubs for parties and they are charging between 80 and 120 pound for a weekend hire.

I know I need to research costs, who target market is and what profit margin.

Pros - relatively cheap to start up. Can work it around my day job. Sounds interesting.

Cons - never been in this kind of business. Might turn out to be an expensive outdoor bath tub if it breaks (one year warranty).

Obviously I will speak to friends and family but,

What are your thoughts on........
A) this kind of hot tub for a hire business (size, reliability, quality etc)
would you or people you know hire one for birthdays/special occasions?
C) any points I should consider before investing my hard earned cash

P.s I've looked online and can't find much information on setting up a hot tub hire business so I'm asking the friendly members of MSE :-)

Many thanks for your help in advance.
Ste

Stevie_Palimo

I would not hire one that's for sure due to hygiene reasons and whilst you may do your best to keep it clean I'm afraid that most rental products tend to have a lack of respect by people that use them.


Also at just £240.00 why would people want to pay £90-£100.00 to rent this when they could simply go out and buy one ?


With the same in mind regarding the actual cost I think this item will be of very poor quality and not last to long therefor meaning a replacement is required within a short period of time.


For me I couldn't see this working at all unless you can take a deposit that covers the full cost of a replacement in which case the people renting it would be mad as they may as well just purchase there own one.

Lomast

I run a hire business and although completely unrelated to hot tubs the basic principles are the same.

Firstly i would not suspect that a product purchased from homebase would last very long in a hire situation, the products we hire are around 10 times the price of a domestic equivelent and they have to put up with an awful lot of abuse.

You need to factor in, cleaning, repairs and write-off of equipment which will get to the end of its life considerably quicker then if just used at home.

Although 80-100 a weekend sounds good on an investment of 240 by the time you have factored in, travel, setup time,breakdown time, cleaning, Insurance both Public liability and also you will need business insurance for your vehicle, National insurance and Tax liabilities not to mention advertising, administration costs and all the other bills that go with running a business i suspect you will end up doing a lot of work with very little at the end of it.

Bantex_2

I would wear heavy duty rubber glove for cleaning it.

Takeaway_Addict

If I could buy the hottub for £240 I wouldn't pay a third of it to rent it.

For me its only worth renting if the cost of renting is around 10-15% of buying it outright

Savvy_Sue

themightymunch wrote: »

Cons - never been in this kind of business. Might turn out to be an expensive outdoor bath tub if it breaks (one year warranty).

The warranty is almost certainly only for 'domestic' use. The first time you put it in the back of your van to take it to a hire, all bets are off as to whether you'd be covered.

themightymunch wrote: »

would you or people you know hire one for birthdays/special occasions?

No. As far as I'm concerned, you need to shower before getting into one, and after getting out. I don't want a trail of dripping wet people in and out of the house between bathroom and hot tub.