Hotel Industry Pool Safety Risk: FEMA To Enforce “No Glass Zone” Rule That Prohibits “Glass-Enclosed Pools” In Florida

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, doesn’t allow oceanfront hotels to close off their pools with glass walls for the winter. This year, the agency will make sure that rule is enforced, whether the city and the hotels like it or not.

In response to FEMA, the manager of the Myrtle Beach Hampton Inn isn’t sure what to do to close off his outdoor pool to make it an indoor pool this winter.

If he puts up the same glass walls the hotel has been using for years, he’ll be in violation of the FEMA rule. But if he doesn’t, the hotel will lose customers.

“It’s too cold to swim in the wintertime, even though the pools are heated. It needs to be enclosed,” said manager Tom Moore.

The hotel could buy Plexiglas or vinyl enclosures that FEMA allows, but Moore says that would cost up to $20,000 the hotel hasn’t budgeted for.

A couple of years ago, FEMA first became aware of the glass walls used by oceanfront hotels and decided they were hazardous, but the rule wasn’t enforced.

Then this summer, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce announced it had pushed a bill through the U.S. House of Representatives to allow the enclosures. Hoteliers thought the problem was solved and that was the end of it.

But the bill never came up for a vote in the Senate, the Senate has adjourned until mid-November and FEMA has now told the city of Myrtle Beach: time’s up, enforce the rule or else.

“We’ve sent letters to all the hotels that are affected, saying November first is when the rule takes effect. You will not put up your temporary pool enclosures that violate FEMA’s regulations then or expect the consequences,” said city spokesman Mark Kruea.

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