{"id":188204,"date":"2026-06-12T07:21:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/?p=188204"},"modified":"2026-06-12T07:21:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:21:57","slug":"your-pool-is-an-asset-its-also-a-lawsuit-waiting-to-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/your-pool-is-an-asset-its-also-a-lawsuit-waiting-to-happen","title":{"rendered":"Your Pool Is an Asset\u2014It’s Also a Lawsuit Waiting to Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer contains the best three months of the year in <\/span>short-term rental investing<\/span><\/a>: occupancy and rates climb, guests book further out, and your calendar looks like the one you dreamed about when you underwrote the deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

They are also the three months when a <\/span>pool<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>hot tub<\/span><\/a>, or wet deck can turn a profitable property into a six-figure legal problem faster than you can respond to a bad review.<\/span><\/p>\n

This<\/span> is not intended<\/span> to be a scare piece. The numbers are what they are, and if you own a short-term rental with a water amenity, you should <\/span>know about<\/span> them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Data That Should Get Your Attention This Summer<\/span><\/h2>\n

The <\/span>CDC<\/span><\/a> estimates over 4,000 fatal unintentional drownings happen in the United States every year. That is 11 people every single day. Another 8,000 nonfatal drownings are treated in emergency departments annually, which works out to 22 per day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For children, <\/span>the numbers are worse<\/span><\/a>. Drowning is the leading cause of death for kids ages 1 to 4 and the second-leading cause of unintentional injury death for kids ages 5 to 14.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The number that should matter most to anyone reading this: <\/span>According to Pool Guard USA<\/span><\/a>, about 81% of fatal child pool and spa drownings occur in residential settings, not public pools or water parks. These are properties that look exactly like yours.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And all this peaks May through August, right on top of your highest-revenue booking window.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hot Tubs Are Not Safer Just Because They Are Smaller and Shallower<\/span><\/h2>\n

A lot of<\/span> STR hosts assume the <\/span>liability risk<\/span><\/a> is mostly about the pool. The hot tub feels lower stakes because the water is shallow and nobody is swimming laps.<\/span><\/p>\n

The data says otherwise. Hospitality safety resources <\/span>compiled from CPSC data<\/span><\/a> report that more than 300 people die from hot tub-related accidents in the United States every year, with children under 5 accounting for roughly one-fifth of all hot tub drownings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About half of all hot tub injuries <\/span>are caused<\/span> by <\/span>slips and falls<\/span><\/a> around the tub. Around 10% involve heat overexposure. The rest are near-drownings and entrapment incidents.<\/span><\/p>\n

That last category, entrapment, is what keeps liability attorneys busy. <\/span>Entrapment means a drain cover that has not <\/span>been inspected<\/span>, a child <\/span>who gets a<\/span> limb or hair caught, or a guest who did not read the posted depth or temperature warning.<\/span> These are the same mechanisms of injury that show up in wrongful death filings, just at a property that happens to <\/span>be listed<\/span> on Airbnb.<\/span><\/p>\n

What a Claim Actually Costs<\/span><\/h2>\n

Nobody publishes a clean “average drowning settlement at a vacation rental” number, but wrongful death data across premises liability cases gives you a range worth knowing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent wrongful death settlement <\/span>analyses<\/span><\/a> show that serious negligence cases typically land in the high-six-figure-to-seven-figure range. One review of 956 wrongful death cases found a mean settlement of around $973,000. <\/span>Other analyses<\/span><\/a> describe settlements ranging from $500,000 to over $1 million, with cases involving clear negligence and substantial lost earnings that reach several million dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even before you get to drowning, <\/span>the slip-and-fall numbers are significant<\/span><\/a>. A 2026 premises liability review puts the average residential slip-and-fall settlement on private property at around $105,000, with severe injuries regularly exceeding $500,000 and catastrophic cases topping $1 million.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A wet pool deck, a missing antislip mat at the hot tub steps, and an unlit path from the back door to the spa at 10 p.m. are not edge cases. These are Tuesday nights in a vacation rental.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before you scroll past that number, run your own property through the<\/span> BiggerPockets landlord insurance calculator powered by Steadily<\/span><\/a> and see what adequate coverage on your specific property actually costs. The gap between what you are paying now and what you should be paying is usually smaller than people expect, but the gap between your current coverage and a seven-figure claim is usually larger.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gap Your Standard Homeowner\u2019s Policy Leaves Open<\/span><\/h2>\n

This<\/span> is where many STR hosts find out too late that they were not actually covered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Insurance industry guides<\/span><\/a> treat a home pool as an “attractive nuisance,” which increases your premises liability exposure and leads standard insurers to recommend raising liability limits to at least $300,000 to $500,000, or adding an umbrella policy. That is for a standard residential property with occasional social guests. An STR is not that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Standard homeowner\u2019s insurance provides some personal liability coverage, but it is designed for the occasional dinner guest, not paying strangers booking through a platform three weekends a month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Multiple STR insurance guides, such as <\/span>Guesty<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> Uplisting<\/span><\/a>, are explicit on this point: Standard homeowner\u2019s policies typically do not cover any <\/span>sort of<\/span> rental activity, especially at an STR when the property <\/span>is regularly used<\/span> for paying guests.<\/span> Pools and hot tubs <\/span>are specifically flagged<\/span> as amenities that standard carriers often exclude or tightly limit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The practical risk:<\/span> If something goes wrong at your pool or hot tub during a guest’s stay and you are relying on a standard homeowner\u2019s policy, you may face a denied claim on top of the injury itself. Some carriers will cancel or <\/span>non-renew<\/span> entirely when they discover regular STR use combined with a pool on the property.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are not sure where your current policy stands, the<\/span> Steadily insurance calculator on BiggerPockets<\/span><\/a> is a fast way to get a real number on what STR-specific coverage would cost for your property, without talking to anyone or filling out a lengthy application.<\/span><\/p>\n

What STR-Specific Insurance Coverage Actually Looks Like<\/span><\/h2>\n

A dedicated <\/span>STR or landlord policy<\/span><\/a> built for vacation rental use treats the property as the business it is. That means:<\/span><\/p>\n