KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers Johnson County. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of health care, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.
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Kansas City is facing extreme heat this week — but instead of rushing to a public pool filled with people, you can rent a private pool for the day. And yes, there is an app for that.
The app is called Swimply, and homeowners can rent out their pools to the public. Several dozen pools are listed for rent in the Kansas City area, most within the $30 to $70 per hour range.
Erik Abels has rented out his pool in Olathe, Kansas, since right after the pandemic.
"Very similar to the Airbnb, but just for pools," Abels said.
From birthdays and bachelorette parties to family reunions and more, Abels said the privacy Swimply offers renters is priceless.
"There's family members like grandmas and grandpas that wouldn't be able to attend the party because they can't get into and out of the public pool. Or people don't feel safe with their kids in big massive pools and things like that," Abels said.
For Abels, the financial benefits are just part of the bigger picture.
"It's really just covering our costs at the end of the day — making it so basically we can own a pool for free," Abels said. "We thought it'd be a good opportunity to kind of share some of the stuff that we have around here that we're blessed to have in our backyard, and it's really taken off."
Dan Prem and his wife Jenna are going into their second summer renting out their pool in Shawnee, Kansas.
"We actually heard about Swimply last summer watching the Today Show in the morning," Dan Prem said. "We thought, well, we have a pool. Maybe we could do this too and make a little side income."
Demand has been strong heading into this summer, with the Prems pointing to a notable boost from a major event or two.
"Holiday season is big, especially with the World Cup going on, so it's been a little bit more popular," Dan Prem said.
Both families hope summer pool goers will keep diving in.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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