In famously drizzly Portland, Oregon, the idea of renting out your swimming pool might seem a non-starter. But a combination of record heatwaves and lockdown has led to a surge of interest in listings on Swimply, an app described as the “Airbnb for pools”, in even the most unlikely parts of the US.

“I didn’t know Portland had such a pent-up demand to do the swimming pool thing,” Jim Battan, an IT consultant, said. He has had 900 bookings — comprising 2,700 users in all — since last September, making him more than $100,000 (€85,000).

“I thought we’d just get a few bookings on weekends. A lot of the time it’s small families with young kids. People have been cooped up at home and public pools have been closed.”

Mr Battan’s “pretty normal” pool is one of over 13,000 being rented out through the app across America, and there have been more than 120,000 bookings since the start of last year.

Revenue for the company, which takes a cut of bookings, grew 4,000pc last year. Pools can be rented from $35 an hour.

In Oklahoma, Steve Borden named his pool ‘Fort Bordendale’ and started renting it out. “We’ve seen the number of bookings skyrocket over the last week,” he told The Oklahoman.

A large part of that is likely being driven by the heatwaves that have been hitting the US. The most extraordinary one occurred in the Pacific Northwest in June, when normally Seattle and Portland saw temperatures of 46C, leading to hundreds of deaths.

Another “heat dome” is expected to settle across central America this week, bringing temperatures of 43C to states such as Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

© Telegraph Media Group Ltd (2021)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]