Undoubtedly your pool has a policy for guests. Almost every pool requires members to pay for their guests. Usually, it’s a nominal fee – between $3-5.

So why do so many people neglect to actually pay when they bring guests?

No one is enforcing the policy. If members are still signing in with a paper book, it’s too easy to simply not sign your guests in. If your pool uses wrist bands, chances are the season starts out with everyone wearing them and gradually compliance tapers off as the season progresses. If you’re not enforcing the wristband policy, then there’s no way to distinguish guests from members, and it’s easy for people to bring guests without signing them in or paying for them.

Fees don’t have to be paid before entry. If you have a paper sign in book and require members to sign in their visitors, the assumption is that members will pay for their visitors at some later date. Which brings us to the next point:

There is no clearly defined method for payment. Are they simply billed at the end of the season for all the guests they brought? Are they supposed to keep the tally themselves and simply add the price on to their next year’s membership? Are they supposed to put cash in some box on the day of their visit? Are they supposed to pay online each visit? If you don’t make it easy for members to pay, they simply won’t pay.

Pool Dues is working on solutions to this problem.

Our check in app makes it easy for people to sign in guests. By using the Pool Dues Check In App in kiosk mode, members can check in themselves and add an icon saying they brought guests. The system will prompt members to pay for their guests via a PayPal link, and the “who’s here” tab on the app will show whether a member has paid for their guests or not.

Prepaid Guest Passes are coming! Probably the easiest way to get members to pay for their guests is to offer prepaid guest passes. There are a number of different options here, but the two most popular options are paying for a number of guest passes in advance and paying for the right to bring an unlimited number of guests for the season. In the first option, members can purchase a package deal (like 10 guest passes) in advance and use the passes over the course of the season. In the second option, members can purchase an unlimited guest plan. For a given price (like $50), members would be allowed to bring up to 3 guests (or however many your club chooses) each time they come to the pool during the season. Look for this new feature on PoolDues.com soon.