A friend of mine who works in the hot tub industry once made a comment after working the local fair for another hot tub company. His observation: “Look, we want everyone to go to the fair—it’s great fun. It’s a great place to pig out on cotton candy, Kettle Korn, elephant ears, ride the merry-go-round and the roller coaster. But, why on earth would anyone think you’d buy an elephant ear, ride a roller coaster—and then spend $10,000 on a hot tub??” Shortly after that comment was made, the company he worked for decided to stop contributing to the confusion of buying a hot tub at the fair.

A number of years ago, we followed suit. Why, you might ask? Well, if the common sense in the statement above isn’t enough, consider the following:

• Many hot tub companies focus only on selling at events like fairs, instead of creating a sustainable year round business. The end result? High pressure selling at all costs—which often leads to mistakes made in purchasing the wrong product.
• Often hot tub companies will hire a “show team” to work fairs and other shows. Many times their compensation agreement stipulates they only make money when something is sold at the event—and in some cases, the more money they secure at time of sale, the more of it they get to keep. To us, this allows less-than-reputable sales schemes in order to get a sale.
• Some hot tub companies travel from fair to show to fair to show…a different city every few weeks—in different states. Is the person trying to sell you a hot tub from Portland? From Oregon? From the U.S.?? You might be surprised by the answer if you pressed for it in some cases.
• There is a tremendous myth that “you have to buy at the fair to get the fair price”. In our industry, it has come to light that the opposite is now in fact true. Reputable hot tub companies interested in a relationship with you as a customer for years to come—and hopefully selling to others you know because you’ve been so pleased—don’t play these pricing games. They would certainly offer you the same specials in their store they would offer at a fair.

We could go on, but you get the idea. Oregon Hot Tub offers our Better than Fair specials at this time of year—and we do it in our showrooms. No need to feel you have to go to the fair for a great hot tub at a great price. And, more importantly, the right hot tub for you and your family. You can get a thorough education, take a test soak to make sure the size and seating is right for you—and buy with confidence.

We hope you’ll visit us this month and discover why our line of Hot Spring Spas is the world’s most popular tub brand. And—we hope you’ll take your family and go enjoy the fair, for exactly what it should be: great, good fun!