3 trends that change the perceptions of swimming pools
Glass bottoms, automatic sliding walls and invisible safety barriers – these are not futuristic visions, but specific technologies that are shaping the look of luxury swimming pools today and are being used in hotel wellness centres around the world. The global wellness tourism market reached a value of nearly USD 1 trillion in 2024 and is growing at a rate of 8–10% per year. Guests spend up to 175% more on wellness stays than regular tourists, and according to surveys, 80% of hotel guests choose their accommodation based on the quality of the wellness facilities. In this environment, manufacturers of swimming pool technologies – such as the Czech company Imaginox – are becoming key partners in hotel projects.
Glass pools create an experience that guests share
Transparent pools with glass walls or bottoms are among the most visible symbols of luxury hotels in recent years. One in six travellers chooses a hotel based on what they have seen on social media, and a glass-walled pool is exactly the type of architectural feature that generates thousands of shares.
Practical examples show how diverse this trend can be. The Alpin Panorama Hotel Hubertus in the South Tyrolean Dolomites has a 25-metre pool that protrudes 17 metres from the hotel façade and floats 12 metres above the ground – architects from the NOA studio describe the experience as “a feeling of weightless floating between heaven and earth”. In Hong Kong, the Hotel Indigo offers a glass infinity pool on the 29th floor, from which swimmers can see directly onto the street below. London’s Sky Pool at Embassy Gardens is a 25-metre, completely transparent pool suspended 35 metres between two residential towers – its 300 mm thick acrylic panel bottom is considered the largest self-supporting piece of acrylic in the world.
On an Asian scale, the Haitang Bay Hotel in Sanya, China, stands out with the world’s largest cantilevered acrylic pool, measuring almost 55 metres long and 22 metres wide, with transparent walls on all four sides. In Europe, the Clarion Hotel Helsinki offers a sky pool on the 17th floor, built from 1.7 tonnes of marine stainless steel and more than a tonne of acrylic. Guests repeatedly rate it as “the best pool they have ever been to” in their reviews.
Technically, these pools are made of two materials: acrylic (PMMA) is up to 17 times stronger than ordinary glass and transmits 90-92% of light, while tempered laminated glass offers higher scratch resistance and is used for smaller areas. Imaginox combines both technologies with stainless steel and offers pools where the glass wall also serves as an overflow edge – the water flows effectively over the glass into a hidden gutter. Imaginox boasts, for example, a glass infinity pool on a rooftop terrace in Tel Aviv, a pool with a glass bottom in Denmark, and many others.
Sliding doors connect the indoor and outdoor worlds
The second strong trend is the blurring of boundaries between interior and exterior: a concept that spa design experts refer to as a key element of biophilia in wellness architecture. Guests seek contact with nature, fresh air and natural light, but at the same time do not want to be dependent on the weather. The solution is automatic sliding glass doors that transform a closed pool area into an open terrace and vice versa at the touch of a button.
Sliding doors offer solutions that we are familiar with from the standard production of door systems. There is the option of a double-leaf solution, where two sliding leaves close against each other to create a symmetrical passage, or a single-leaf solution with left or right opening, which is advantageous for smaller projects. You can also choose multi-track assemblies (2-3 tracks with multiple fields), which allow the wings to slide behind each other, thus increasing the clear passage. This solution is practical for large projects where the passage to the outside takes up a large area of the pool.
Imaginox has three notable hotel references from last year in this segment. For the Fairmont Wellness&Spa at the Fairmont Golden Prague Hotel, the company installed a stainless steel pool measuring approximately 15 × 15 metres with an overflow on three sides, which offers the unique opportunity to swim directly from the indoor pool out onto the terrace without having to leave the water. The installation also includes an outdoor whirlpool for 5 people with 28 hydromassage jets and a decorative pool with a fountain.
In Livigno, Italy, Imaginox built a pool for the new premium “Adults Only” Hotel Damelis. The L-shaped stainless steel overflow pool allows guests to enter the pool inside the warm spa through automatic glass doors with a view of the Alpine landscape. According to the project description, “the glass passage not only provides convenient access without having to leave the covered part of the hotel, but also visually connects the entire wellness area into a harmonious whole.” In the same location, the company supplied a complete turnkey wellness facility for the Al Nin & Spa Hotel, where the stainless steel pool flows seamlessly from the interior (7.2 × 3.35 m) to the outdoor terrace (3.35 × 2.2 m) as a single unit.
Why do hotels require this feature? From an operational point of view, sliding doors extend the season to year-round operation, reduce maintenance costs (less dirt in closed mode) and allow flexible use of space for various events. According to analysts at BluSpas Inc., who published a trend overview in January 2026, “the most meaningful wellness experiences are not created by adding more elements within four closed walls, but by softening the boundary between interior and exterior. Sliding glass walls transform a private indoor space into a protected outdoor pavilion without sacrificing comfort or privacy.”
Retractable safety barriers solve a problem that costs lives
The third trend is less visually striking, but potentially the most important. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 300,000 people drown each year, nearly half of whom are under the age of 29 and a quarter of whom are children under the age of 5. The US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) reports that a four-sided isolation fence around a swimming pool reduces the risk of drowning by 83%. However, according to WHO findings from December 2024, 86% of countries worldwide have no legislation requiring swimming pools to be fenced off.
The situation is even more sensitive in the hotel industry – guests at hotel swimming pools do not expect the presence of a lifeguard (as confirmed by European standard EN 15288, which classifies hotel swimming pools as “type 2”, where users do not expect supervision). France has responded most strictly: since 2004, every swimming pool, including hotel pools, must have at least one certified safety feature. The penalty for non-compliance is €45,000. In the US, the federal Virginia Graeme Baker Act requires safety barriers at all public swimming pools, including hotel pools.
However, luxury hotels face a dilemma: traditional mesh fences are safe but aesthetically unacceptable. This is where the concept of glass sliding safety barriers comes in – barriers that slide out of the pool terrace floor at the touch of a button and disappear back below the surface when not in use. The principle is similar to that of a sliding pool floor, which Imaginox manufactures under the AquaFloors brand, but instead of a horizontal surface, it is a vertical protective element.
The current market is virtually unaware of this segment. Swiss company HIRT kinetics offers 1.2-metre-high retractable glass panels made of tempered safety glass that slide out of the ground and whose smooth surface prevents children from climbing over them. American company Guardian Pool Fence, the largest manufacturer of pool fences in the US, openly admits: “A true retractable safety pool fence that is reliable and protects children from drowning does not actually exist on the market.” This represents a significant market gap – especially for manufacturers who already have hydraulic sliding floor technology, stainless steel expertise and experience with automated systems controlled via a mobile application.
Imaginox’s AquaFloors technology – a hydraulically controlled sliding floor with a load capacity of 150 kg/m² and integration into smart homes – provides the direct technological basis for the development of retractable safety barriers. The same hydraulic systems, stainless steel materials and control electronics can power vertical barriers that meet safety standards while maintaining the design purity of a luxury wellness space.
What these three trends have in common
All three technologies – glass pools, automatic sliding doors and retractable safety barriers – share a common philosophy: the invisibility of the technical solution. Guests want an uncompromising experience – transparency without risk, connection with nature without dependence on the weather, safety without visual disruption of the space. The hotel industry is investing more aggressively in wellness: the luxury hotel market is expected to reach $118.5 billion by 2026, and wellness tourism is heading towards the $2 trillion mark by the end of the decade. In this context, advanced pool technologies are not a luxury – they are a competitive necessity. And manufacturers such as Imaginox, who can combine stainless steel construction, glass elements, automated systems and safety technologies under one roof, are becoming strategic partners in hotel projects around the world.
In recent years, hotel wellness has been changing from a “nice pool in a spa” to a key experience that guests choose a hotel for.
