Airstreams and Inflatable Pools: Inside the Cutthroat Staycation Economy
Product shortages, clogged supply chains, and stir-crazy parents have left companies scrambling to keep up with surging demand
When stay-at-home orders forced Melissa Rooke, her husband, and two kids, ages four and eight, inside their Los Angeles home last spring, she attempted to buy an aboveground pool for $300. Seven weeks later, the pool had not arrived. After getting her money back from PayPal, she ordered another one on Amazon. Two months later, that pool hasn’t shown up either. “It’s so annoying,” Rooke says. “I really hope the pool comes. There is only so much of this lockdown that my kids can take before they lose their minds.”
Cherie Finch, a student in Los Angeles, found herself in a similar situation after deciding to buy a $500 aboveground pool for her two children, ages five and seven. By April, the price of the pool she wanted had quickly climbed to $1,800 before selling out. Finch found a similar pool for $300 with ladder, cover, and pump on an unknown website. For the next month, she received no updates from the company — and the seller’s website disappeared. Amazingly, the pool finally did arrive, but it excluded the accessories — which Finch wound up paying an extra $800 to buy separately. It’s been more than frustrating. “We were just trying to make life a little more comfortable here,” she says. “The kids love it, but I wouldn’t go through that again.”
Welcome to the hypercompetitive, cutthroat summer of the staycation economy. The coronavirus upended summer travel plans, imposing international travel restrictions, canceling summer camps and sporting events, and closing public pools. For months, starting in spring, people were already planning for a long, hot, childcare-free, landlocked summer under house arrest, tricking out backyards into mini amusement parks and country clubs. With cabin fever ensuing, others are getting their hit of wanderlust by hitting the road in an RV, camping…
