PoolPilot: pool heating automation for vacation rentals
POOL HEATING OPERATIONS · VACATION RENTALS
Decided by data. Run without a hand on it.
What changes when the pools run on data
Most managers run heated pools from memory, a spreadsheet and a drive-by. Here is what that costs, line by line.
| Line | By hand | With PoolPilot |
|---|---|---|
| Seeing every pool | One pool at a time, in whichever brand's app it lives | Every pool on one screen, live, every brand |
| The record | No log of what the water did or when the heater ran | Temperature and heater state recorded through every stay |
| Watching | A person cannot watch 40 pools at 2 am, so the guest wins | Watched around the clock; unpaid heat goes back off |
| Who should be heating | Memory and a spreadsheet | The reservations decide. Paid stays heat, nothing else does |
| Guest requests | “Can you turn the spa on?” at 9 pm, every stay | Guests get exactly the controls you allow; nobody has to message |
| After checkout | Heater runs until someone notices | Off at checkout, every time |
| Gas | Turned on days early to be safe | Turns on just in time for arrival, tuned for gas instead of guesswork |
| Owners | Surprise gas bills and awkward calls | Heat was paid for, and no more was burned than needed |
At one pool, you can do this by hand. At fifty, nobody can. The gap between those two numbers is what PoolPilot is for.
What your team sees
Every pool, every brand, one screen. Renderings below are illustrations with invented properties and figures.
| Property | Pool | Spa | Heater |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casita VerdePentair | — | — | — |
| Desert RoseiAqualink | — | — | — |
| Sunset RidgeHayward | — | — | — |
| Palm Court 7Raypak | — | — | — |
| Mesa VistaPentair | — | — | — |
| Lantern HilliAqualink | — | — | — |
Casita VerdePentair · Pool mode
Stays and heating on one calendar
Reservations arrive from your PMS. Stays that bought heating are marked, so the question “is this pool supposed to be warm right now?” has a visible answer for every property on every day.
Your branding, your rules
Guests get a page with your company name and logo on it, and it does exactly what you allow and nothing more. You decide the temperature range they can pick from, which features they can touch, and whether that means the pool, the spa, or both.
Heating controls stay locked until the guest has paid. The link arrives in the welcome message your PMS already sends, payment goes through Stripe into your account, and only then does the heater take instructions from the guest.
The page is white-labeled. Your guests see your brand, not ours.
Find a broken heater before the guest does
PoolPilot watches every pool and spa heater against what it was told to do. A heater that is on but not warming the water is flagged with the property and the hours left before check-in, so you can send a tech and front-run the complaint.
Mesa Vista spa heater not warming
Heater on 3 h, spa still 84° with 102° set. Guest arrives in 19 h.
Lantern Hill heater off
Checkout confirmed. Heating stopped.
Casita Verde heating started
Pre-arrival warm-up for Friday's stay.
Every stay, on the record
A guest tells Airbnb or Vrbo the pool was never warm. Instead of a refund, you send the stay record: timestamped water temperatures and heater state from check-in to checkout. The dispute ends there.
The same record shows what the heater actually cost to run for that stay next to what you charged, so you know whether your heating price is covering it and what to charge next season.
Diane · 3 nights
Pool and spa heating, whole stay
- Heating purchased
- Pool + spa
- Nights
- 3
- Heater ran
- 41 h
- Cost to run
- $164
- Charged
- $225
Heating this stay cost about $164 to run. $225 covered it. Every reading above is timestamped and kept with the stay.
Five steps, one onboarding call
Connect your PMS
Reservations start syncing on the onboarding call.
Add your pool logins
The same accounts you use today for each brand of equipment.
Set prices and temperatures
What a stay pays for heat, and how warm the pool and spa should be.
Guests tap to add heat
A link in your welcome message. Stripe pays you directly.
PoolPilot runs the heaters
On before arrival, off at checkout, and an alert if one misbehaves.
What PoolPilot takes off your plate
- One dashboard for every brand
- Pentair, Jandy, Hayward, and Raypak pools sit in the same list with live temperatures and heater state. Nobody has to remember which app controls which house.
- Heat follows the reservation
- When a stay with heating is booked, the pool is warm before the guest arrives and off after they leave. Date changes and cancellations carry through on their own.
- Guests pay before the heater runs
- Heating starts once a guest has paid for it, so there is no chasing charges after checkout. Pools that are not paid for stay unheated.
- Works with the equipment you own
- No new controllers, sensors, or electricians. PoolPilot talks to the automation systems already installed at your properties.
- A broken heater, caught before the guest finds out
- PoolPilot watches every pool and spa heater against what it was told to do. A heater that is on but not warming the water is flagged with the property and the hours left before check-in, so you can send a tech and front-run the complaint.
- Overrides that still shut off
- Your team can heat any pool from the dashboard for a maintenance visit or a comped stay. It turns off on schedule like every other heat.
- Financials that reconcile
- Every heat purchase is tied to a reservation, a property, and a Stripe payout. Month-end is a report, not a spreadsheet hunt.
- Snapshots of every stay
- Water temperature and heater state are recorded with a timestamp all the way through each stay. When a guest claims the pool was never warm, you answer with the record.
- Heating cost guidance
- PoolPilot shows what pool and spa heating actually cost to run for each stay, next to what was charged. You can see whether your price covers it and adjust with confidence.
- Built for hundreds of pools
- PoolPilot runs on more than 500 vacation rental pools today. Adding a property is a login, not a project.
What manual pool management really costs
This simulates a manager checking pools by hand and shows what slips through between visits. Move the sliders to match your portfolio.
Your situation
Monthly cost breakdown
Without PoolPilot
$0
lost per month
With PoolPilot
$0
saved per month
Annual savings projection
$0
ROI timeline
Immediate
Free for operators. Paid by the guest.
There is no signup cost, no subscription, and no per-pool fee to you as the operator. The guest pays a small percentage on their heating purchase at checkout, and that is how PoolPilot is paid. Pools that earn nothing cost nothing.
Get a quote for your poolsQuestions managers ask
Which pool systems does PoolPilot work with?
Pentair ScreenLogic, Pentair IntelliCenter, Jandy iAqualink, Hayward OmniLogic, and Raypak. PoolPilot uses the equipment and logins you already have. No new hardware.
Which property management systems can you connect to?
Streamline, Guesty, Hostaway, Hostfully, Hospitable, Escapia, Track, and VRWorks. Reservations sync automatically, so heating follows each stay without anyone re-entering dates.
How do guests pay for heating?
Each guest gets a link in the welcome message your PMS already sends. They see the dates, the price, and one button. Payment goes through Stripe directly into your account.
If you sell heating as an add-on inside your PMS instead, PoolPilot can import those add-ons so the heater still runs on schedule.
What happens if a guest turns the heat on without paying?
It goes back off. Pool features like lights, waterfalls, and jets stay available to the guest, and your team can always override from the dashboard if you want to comp a stay.
Can my team heat a pool without a payment?
Yes. Anyone on your team can turn a heater on from the dashboard for a maintenance visit or a comped stay. It still shuts off on schedule, so an override never becomes a heater left running for a week.
What if a heater fails?
PoolPilot watches every pool and spa heater against what it was told to do. A heater that is on but not warming the water is flagged with the property and the hours left before check-in, so you can send a tech and front-run the complaint. The guest finds a warm pool, not a problem.
How long does setup take?
One onboarding call. We connect your PMS, add your pool logins, and set your prices and temperatures with you on the call. Most managers are live the same day.
What does PoolPilot cost?
Nothing. There is no signup cost, no subscription, and no per-pool fee to you. The guest pays a small percentage on their heating purchase at checkout, and that is how PoolPilot is paid. A pool that earns nothing in a month costs nothing that month.
See it running on pools like yours
A 30-minute demo on a live portfolio. Bring your pool list and your PMS and we will show you what the first month looks like.