Why US Hosts Left Swimply — and What Australian Pool Owners Can Learn

Swimply operates in Australia, and if you own a pool in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth or the Gold Coast, it may be the only pool-hire platform you have heard of. In the United States, where pool sharing began, hosts have been switching platforms — and their reasons come down to three things: take rate, transparency and trust. Pool Rental Near Me (PRNM) is now launching in Australia, and the offer to founding hosts is deliberately simple: 0% host fees, forever. Here is what American hosts learned the hard way, and why being early in Australia works in your favour.

The fee gap: the first thing US hosts noticed

Swimply's own published US materials put host commissions at 15–30% of every booking — its become-a-host page cites 15–25%, and its Help Center says hosts keep 70–80%. On a US pool earning $4,000 a month in peak summer, a 20% commission means handing over $3,200 across a four-month season. Those are US figures from US-facing pages — always check the booking breakdown Swimply shows you in Australia — but the principle is the same everywhere: a percentage taken from every booking, forever, is the single largest cost of hosting on a commission platform.

Now run that logic through an Australian season. Peak demand runs December to February, but in Brisbane, on the Gold Coast and in Perth the swimming season stretches far longer than an American host's four months — and a longer season means a commission takes more bookings' worth of cuts, not fewer. The more bookable your pool is, the more a take rate costs you.

PRNM's answer is a 0% host fee. Because Australia is a founding market, Australian hosts who list now keep that rate forever — not as an introductory special.

How the money actually works for Australian founding hosts

We would rather be plain about this than polished. PRNM is a US-built platform in the process of launching in Australia, so:

• Prices on the site currently display in US dollars. You still set your own price.
• Hosts are paid out in Australian dollars via Stripe — payouts land in your Australian bank account in AUD.
• You keep 100% of your price. PRNM takes no commission from hosts, and founding hosts keep 0% host fees permanently.
• There is no premium membership, no "boost" fee and no featured-placement upsell — in the US, Swimply's Help Center describes a $39.99 guest "Premium Pass" subscription; PRNM sells nothing of the kind to anyone.

List on both — and let the maths decide

Nothing about listing on PRNM requires leaving Swimply. There is no exclusivity clause. The sensible move for an Australian pool owner is to keep any existing listing, add a free PRNM listing, and compare what actually reaches your bank: every booking through PRNM pays you 100% of your price, while every booking through a commission platform pays you whatever is left after its cut. Across a long Australian season, that difference compounds booking by booking.

Australia is arguably the best-suited country in the world for pool sharing: backyard pools are a fixture of suburban life here in a way they are almost nowhere else outside the American Sunbelt, and summer school holidays, Christmas and New Year all land inside the peak swimming months. Supply and demand both live in your suburb. See the Sydney hosting page for city-level detail.

Founders you can actually reach

One thing US hosts consistently valued: the people who run PRNM answer their own email. The platform was founded by Derek Bowen and is run with co-founder Brandon Elias, and because Australia is a brand-new market, founding hosts here are talking directly to the team building the Australian launch — not to a ticket queue. That access is a launch-market advantage no platform can offer once it has tens of thousands of hosts.

What to sort out before your first booking

Being early does not mean skipping the basics:

• Insurance. A standard Australian home and contents policy may not cover paying guests using your pool. Before your first hire, ask your insurer about public liability cover for paid use, and consider a broker familiar with short-stay lettings. Get the answer in writing.
• Tax. Income from hosting is generally taxable, and the rules depend on your circumstances and state. The ATO is Australia's tax authority; talk to a local accountant about how hosting income should be reported in your situation.
• Pool safety compliance. Australian states take pool fencing and safety-barrier compliance seriously, and requirements differ by state. Make sure your fencing, gates and any required certification are in order before guests arrive.
• The off-season. Winter here is June to August. Unheated pools go quiet; a heated pool in Melbourne or Sydney can keep earning through the cooler months, and pools in Brisbane, Perth and the Gold Coast barely have an off-season at all.

The Australia hosting hub covers all of this in more depth.

Listing takes about 20 minutes

Photos, a good description, your hourly price, your available hours. That is the whole job.

List your pool

FAQ

Do I have to leave Swimply to join PRNM? No. There is no exclusivity requirement. Most US hosts who switched ran both platforms first and let the take-home numbers decide.

Why do prices display in US dollars? Because PRNM is launching in Australia from its US base and currency display is still being localised. Your payout is unaffected: hosts are paid in AUD via Stripe, and you keep 100% of your price.

What does "founding host" mean? You are in the first wave of Australian hosts on the platform. Founding hosts keep 0% host fees forever — the rate is locked, not promotional.

What kind of money do pools make? We will not invent Australian numbers before Australian bookings exist. For reference from the US market: top backyard pools in Southern California earn $800–$1,000 in a good summer week. Australia's long season and pool-dense suburbs are why we are launching here — but your results will depend on your pool, your suburb and your pricing.