Swimming pool for rent

Swimming pools, saunas and thermal baths have been closed for many months, but the high maintenance costs remain. An operator in Rhineland-Palatinate rents out his bathroom by the hour.

From Lucretia Gather, SWR “One two Three …!” The three-year-old Elian jumps again and again from the edge of the pool into his mother’s arms, turns a short lap in the water with his armbands and gets out again, ready for the next jump. His parents and a family friend rented a swimming school “Flip” in Meisenheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, and a whole indoor pool for themselves for two hours. “It’s really great,” says Elian’s mother Nina Köberlein-Bareiß, “not exactly cheap, but we’ll just take a break.” The water fun costs 75 euros per hour.

Pumps have to keep running

The swimming pool is operated by Stefan Nerbas, and in addition to the one in Meisenheim, he also runs a second one in Bad Kreuznach. Both are owned by the Kreuznach Diakonie Foundation. The pools have been empty for months, only water therapy for people with disabilities is still offered here from time to time. But the fixed costs remain. Nerbas calculates that the maintenance of a bathroom alone costs 10,000 euros per month. The water must be kept clean, the technology must continue to run. “I can’t just switch off the pumps,” says Nerbas.

By renting the swimming pool by the hour, pool operator Stefan Nerbas wants to pour some money into the empty cash register. Image: Lucretia Gather / SWR

Grant business swimming pool

According to the “Bäderatlas” published by the German Society for Bathing in Germany, there are around 9,000 swimming pools and public bathing areas. The majority of them, around 6,000, are run by municipalities. Sports economist Lutz Thieme from the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences is leading a federally funded research project that is collecting reliable data on pools in Germany for the first time. Almost every bathroom that is operated privately is dependent on municipal subsidies, according to the expert. “There are perhaps a handful of private investors in Germany who manage to operate a bathroom at break even,” says Thieme. Sooner or later, the high maintenance costs will bring every investor to their knees, and subsidies from cities or municipalities will be necessary. Thieme fears that the Corona crisis will further worsen the situation of bathroom operators in Germany. Because if the financial strength of the municipalities decreases, they are forced to make savings. Since the field of sport is not one of their compulsory tasks, the red pencil is often applied precisely there, says the sports economist. “And what’s most expensive in sports? The swimming pools.”

Many closings feared

Christian Mankel from the German Society for Bathing also predicts that many pools that are dependent on municipal subsidies could get into trouble. He fears that the direct and indirect consequences of the corona pandemic could lead to a large number of pool closures in the coming years. Mankel calls for an open perspective and would also like the municipalities to acknowledge that baths are an indispensable part of public services and that they are financed.

Many bankruptcies among sauna operators

Sauna operators are also suffering from the corona pandemic. The managing director of the German Sauna Association, Martin Niederstein, says: “We fear that a large number of the smaller, private sauna businesses will have to close permanently.” 45 percent of public sauna baths in Germany are run by the municipality, more than half are privately owned. The challenges in this sector are similar to those in the baths: Due to the personnel and energy-intensive cost structure, it is particularly difficult to run an economically successful sauna business without municipal subsidies. Well-known operators should have already closed due to insolvency. The second lockdown, which has lasted since November 2nd, falls in the middle of the main sauna season. Despite government economic aid, the financial reserves of many saunas have been exhausted. If they are allowed to reopen, it will be difficult to compensate for the loss of income in the summer. The bathing and sauna landscape in Germany will probably be thinned out after the Corona crisis. There are enough people willing to swim: The swimming pool rental in Meisenheim is well received. Operator Nerbas says he was surprised by the huge interest himself. “We put the call on the Internet and within 24 hours the whole of April was booked out.”