Really? “Let’s do away with hotel swimming pools”? We should be ashamed. Pieces like this:http://www.reflector.com/opinion/mark-rutledge-lets-do-away-with-hotel-swimming-pools-750882.html, printed in mainstream media outlets gives us all a black eye. The author paints a picture of overcrowded and poorly maintained pools that are passing infections to swimmers, his family included. His response; remove the pool, or don’t go in. What’s worse though is any pool professional with his or her weight often feels the same way. Ask me to go into a hotel pool? Uh-Uh! I know what’s in there. And then we typically ignore the problem. How many of us, that truly know better, do not complain to the front desk? How many follow up with a letter to the property management when we get back home. We are all at fault for allowing these small dirty pools to continue their practices. Attendance at our facilities suffers as well as a result of a negative experience in a pool.We need to be our own advocates, increasing positive aquatic experiences Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, I recently started bringing test strips along when I traveled with my family. Chlorine level too low? Call the property owner and request maintenance. What do you think? Shouldn’t we be trying to police our ranks together?
This just validates the point in my blog. We need to validate the value of what we do for a living. People need a pool professional to keep an eye on their pool. Nobody wants to leave a motel/hotel sick. Hire a professional.
Your average hotel/motel pool is operated by a person not very familiar with pools and his training has consisted of, "put chlorine tablets in that thingy over there, and backwash on Fridays". No fault to those operators, they just don't know. In addition to the whopping 30 minutes they are allowed to "maintain" the pool they are also required to change receptacles, unclog toilets, work on air conditioners, make van runs to the airport....etc. All this for the whopping sum of $8/hr. Then we get to talk to a 25 year old General Manager that is shopping for the lowest price, not the experience or quality of work. "$300 for a CPO class??? I'll pay ABC pools $50 and they'll walk my guy through it..."
Ha!.. I've done that before, too! Bring a test strip......so funny! I think the true problem lies within the following 2 issues: 1) It is a shame to say, but damn, there should be a pool "bouncer" allowing the acceptable people to go in, and refusing the "pigpens".......not likely whatsoever, and 2) Most importantly, hotels (or Public pools) need to pay for the true expense of the swimming pool.
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Your average hotel/motel pool is operated by a person not very familiar with pools and his training has consisted of, "put chlorine tablets in that thingy over there, and backwash on Fridays". No fault to those operators, they just don't know. In addition to the whopping 30 minutes they are allowed to "maintain" the pool they are also required to change receptacles, unclog toilets, work on air conditioners, make van runs to the airport....etc. All this for the whopping sum of $8/hr. Then we get to talk to a 25 year old General Manager that is shopping for the lowest price, not the experience or quality of work. "$300 for a CPO class??? I'll pay ABC pools $50 and they'll walk my guy through it..."
Sound familiar?