Ramblings

"Mystery" rashes, staph infections, Legionnaires' disease ... not the kind of souvenirs anyone wants to bring home after a relaxing stay in a vacation rental home. I'm not  a hot tub aficionado, so I admit I never dipped even a toe in a hot tub in any of the homes I've reviewed for Renting Paradise. Turns out, even the cleanest-looking hot tub (and even whirlpool bathtubs and private swimming pools for that matter) can easily become a petri dish for some of the worst kinds of bacteria.

I had my eyes opened wide after chatting Stacy Intille. A healthy 44-year-old Registered Nurse at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. iN 2001 Stacy contracted Legionnaires' disease after soaking in a non-permitted portable above-ground hot tub at a hotel in Monterey,California. She almost died. In October 2006 she settled a lawsuit against the hotel for just under $1 million.

This puts vacation rental home owners and management companies between a rock and a hard place. In many areas, home that have tot tubs are more desirable -- easier to rent. However, owners cannot be on site to properly maintain the hot tub 24/7. I'm not going to wade into the slimy "guts" of the issue here. But suffice it to say, health/maintenance regulations vary by county and management companies tend to take a "soak at your own risk" approach in rental contracts.

How do you protect yourself -- especially if your party includes vulnerable children, pregnant women, elderly people and/or anyone whose immune system has been compromised?

When in doubt, stay out. Don't mean to be a party-pooper. But how else can you be sure?

Insist on safe practices. Thanks to Stacy's advocacy, the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health (CCDEH), has taken a closer look at the infection risks and potential hazards of above ground portable hot tubs and jacuzzi bathtubs commonly found in rental properties across the state.  Their warnings and recommendations are outlined in a new guideline posted on their website in October 2007 titled Guidelines for the Installation and Operation of Fill and Drain Spas and Hot Tubs.  You can use the guidelines in this document to personally vet a vacation rental home owner's maintenance practices.

Bottom line: The CCDEH has determined that most of the portable hot tubs commonly found in vacation homes are designed to be used by private families and their invited guests. Once an owner begins to offer their home as a vacation rental, they are required to upgrade these residential hot tubs to commercial grade, obtain a permit and follow the daily maintenance requirements and logs as outlined in the code. The guideline estimates as many as 1,000 owners are currently in violation of the code. 

If you have your own hot tub and this seems like a real pain, you're right. But remember, you KNOW exactly who you invite into your tub.You can't be sure what happened (how many people used the tub how many times) before you arrive at even the best vacation home. That's just the facts.