Last summer, Patricia Parra decided it was time for her Colorado family to take a vacation, so she went on the hunt for the perfect short-term rental home in the Phoenix area.
She booked an Airbnb with a backyard pool, a waterslide, and yard games, and in July, she set out on a road trip to Arizona with her fiancé and their children.
“(The rental house) looked kid-friendly,” Parra said. “The first day was so much fun. We went out to the pool. It was very open.”
The swimming pool in the backyard was so open — it did not have a fence or cover.
Two days into the family trip, the fun at that pool came to an end.
In the early morning, Parra's son, Prince, 2, slipped out of the home, unnoticed, and into the water, where he drowned.
A medical examiner ruled the drowning an accident.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Parra cried.
A Phoenix police officer reported the boy had been sleeping on a living room couch in the rental home. Around 5:00 a.m., he woke up a family friend, who was staying at the home, according to the report.
That friend gave the child some pizza and went back to sleep.
When the same family friend woke up later to go swimming, he found the child floating in the pool around 8:00 a.m.
A Scripps News review of autopsy reports, police records, child fatality documents, and lawsuits in Arizona and Florida shows dozens of children like Prince have died or nearly died at vacation homes in recent years after slipping into a backyard pool unnoticed.
A Scripps News investigation found at least 40 children in those two states alone have been involved in drownings or near-drownings at vacation rental homes since 2021. Several of those incidents involved pools that did not have fences, and others occurred at homes with a lack of functioning door and window alarms, according to police records, lawsuits, and other public documents.
In some cases, rental homes were equipped with removable mesh pool fences, which appeared to be open or partially taken down in photos taken by police.
Not every incident reviewed by Scripps News involved a child slipping out of the rental home and falling into a pool. Several of the vacation home drownings occurred while a child was actively playing in the pool area with family members nearby.
Look for a fence and alarms
“People say, ‘I watch my children,’ (but) the level that you need to supervise around water is 10 times higher than it is just in a home, I think, without (water),” said Michele Long, the former board president at the National Drowning Prevention Alliance.
In response to news about rental home drownings in recent years, NDPA released a Water Safety Checklist to educate families about important safety mechanisms that might help prevent drownings when they are at an unfamiliar home.
Those include looking for a tall, sturdy pool fence with a self-latching gate as well as audible door and window alarms. Often, local or state jurisdictions may already require these safety devices to be installed at rental homes that have pools.
“A fence gives you that extra time," Long said. “That Interior barrier is there to help you in case you lose track of a child.”
Long said NDPA would be interested in working with short-term rental companies to establish tools that would help consumers decide which homes with pools might be the safest for families with children.
“We would love to see them work with us and get that education out there,” she said. “Whether it’s a stamp – whether it’s, you know, a scale of ‘this is the safety standards that it meets.’ We’d be happy to work with them at any time.”
In July, Scripps News reached out to several short-term rental companies about our investigation.
When Scripps News reached out to VRBO, a spokesperson asked Scripps News to pass along the contact information for NDPA.
In August, Airbnb declined to participate in an on-camera interview, but days later, it announced a new in-app “feature to educate guests on water safety” that it had established in partnership with Safe Kids Worldwide. The company said the initiative was set to launch long prior to Scripps News reaching out to Airbnb.
“Safety is a consideration for all types of lodging by water, and incidents on Airbnb are extremely rare,” an Airbnb spokesperson told Scripps News.
According to the Airbnb website, the feature “will offer guests expert tips and example questions to ask their host about the listing’s water safety protections and considerations.”
“This new product is designed to help (guests) stay informed and feel better equipped to keep themselves and their loved ones safe around water,” said Tara Bunch, the global head of operations for Airbnb.
"The Airbnb moves last week are a huge step forward and the NDPA appreciates their leadership, alongside our partners at Safe Kids Worldwide in creating safer waters, homes and pools, and we hope that other vacation and pool rental services follow their lead. We fully support and hope to be involved with these efforts,” said Alissa Magrum, the executive director of NDPA.
A spokesperson for Casago said, “Every home we manage must comply with all applicable local, state and federal safety and other applicable regulations before it is listed for rent. Our local market teams guide owners through the required licensing and permitting processes, verify that all documentation is current, and require homeowners to carry appropriate liability insurance.”
Out of compliance
Scripps News discovered that some short-term rental homes that are listed on familiar sites are not properly licensed or in proper compliance with local and state ordinances.
According to City of Phoenix records, for example, the home Parra booked did not have a required short-term rental permit on the date of the drowning.
According to records provided by the city’s Planning and Development Department, an inspection that took place approximately one month after the drowning found the short-term rental property had “non-compliant pool barriers creating an imminent hazard.”
The inspector reported posting an “unsafe to occupy sticker” on the front door of the property, but a few weeks later, the sign had been removed.
In September, the inspector reported that they “reposted and took new (sic) picture of sign.”
In March, an inspector wrote that they re-posted another “unsafe” sign, but within minutes, the sign had been removed.
That same month, the city said it issued citations to the responsible parties, and in August, the City of Phoenix Municipal Court issued maximum fines for the violations.
Scripps News reached out to the homeowners via phone and email, but has not yet heard back.
For Patricia Parra, the emotional journey has been difficult, but she said she shared her story with Scripps News to make an impact on other families.
“I hope this makes a difference,” she said.
“Keep (your children) really close. Cherish every moment,” she said.
