Cost to maintain and operate hot tub

[Justin Knighten]

We're getting ready to open our first STR that is a cabin in the mountains by the river. It has a hot tub on site, but it's currently drained. It sits on a little patio in the yard, not under a roof. This time of year, it's pretty cold out, and I don't know how much use it would get, I don't really expect too many bookings until March. I've never dealt with a pool/hot tub before, so I don't know what I'm getting into. The property is about an hour away. How much is involved in maintaining one and how much cost am I looking at? Is it worth turning it on and heating it for low occupancy months? I assume most people hire a company that'll come by every so often and perform whatever maintenance it needs, whats a general guideline on what that should cost?

[Paul Sandhu]

I've got a hot tub.  It costs basically nothing to maintain.  I built a wood fired heat exchanger from some piping and a water storage tank for an RV.  The tub itself is something some tenants left behind.  I use a sump pump and 2 garden hoses to circulate the water through the coils of the heat exchanger.  I build a fire under the coils to heat the water.  You might be a redneck is your hot tub looks like mine.  The thing behind the hot tub is a squirrel launcher.  The beer and Glock are for entertainment while soaking in the tub.