What do YOU call it?: a hot tub or spa? There’s a bit of confusion as to what we call this thing that brings so much relaxation and good feeling to so many people.
Hot tub or spa… today it’s pretty much the same thing. But hot tub once had a different meaning from spa. Adding to the confusion, the spa name itself has different meanings, from its reference to a hair salon, a luxury resort, or to a hot tub with jets.
The hot tub started life as a wooden vat, repurposed as a soaking tub, where skiers and other outdoor types liked to end the day. Spas were more elaborate than tubs, mostly square and made of fiberglass, with the added enhancement of water jets.
Whether you call them hot tubs or spas, today they are either custom in-ground installations or free-standing affairs. You still see spa used more frequently by companies such as Bullfrog® Spas, where the emphasis is on the rejuvenating benefits of well-crafted water jets. But these top-of-the-line providers also use the term hot tub interchangeably with spa.
Recently, the National Swimming Pool Foundation merged with the Association of Pool & Spa professionals. They named the new organization the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance. When the country’s biggest pool and spa association changes names, it suggests the industry itself has decided to settle the issue.
We’ll take that to mean hot tub is the hot name for the 2020s. If you’re looking for an alternative, at Budd’s Pools we like to call it the ‘spa…ahh’ tub. Visit our store to try out our Bullfrog® Spas and to customize JetPaks for your home unit.
