Seats, loungers and jets: how to choose a hot tub layout

The two numbers on every hot tub listing are seats and jets. Both are true and both are misleading. A five-seat tub is a four-adult tub. Sixty jets on two pumps can feel weaker than forty on two pumps. This guide explains what the numbers actually mean, who loungers suit, how to read pump power, and how to pick a layout for the people who will actually use it.

Seats versus real capacity

Seat counts are measured by the number of moulded positions in the shell. They are honest in the sense that a 5-seat tub has five places to sit. They are optimistic about shoulder room. Adults are wider than the moulding assumes, and once two people are in loungers their feet reach across the footwell into the space of whoever is opposite.

A workable rule from installing them:

• A 3-seat tub is comfortable for two adults, three at a push.
• A 5-seat tub comfortably hosts four adults, or two adults and three children.
• A 6-seat upright tub genuinely seats six, because nobody is lying down.
• A 7-seat tub with two loungers is a six-adult tub.

If you regularly host, buy one seat more than the number of people you expect. If it is for a couple who occasionally have friends over, a 3-seater like the Cala 3 or Serra 3 is more than enough and costs a third less to heat.

Loungers: who loves them and who slides out

A lounger is a reclined seat with jets along the calves, thighs and back. Lying almost flat in 38 °C water with jets working the spine is, for a lot of people, the entire point of owning a hot tub. If you have back trouble, or you want the tub for recovery after sport or a long day on your feet, a lounger earns its space.

The catch is buoyancy. In a lounger you are close to horizontal and your body wants to float. Lighter people, and anyone under about 1.65 m, often find they slide forward and up, and spend the session bracing with their feet against the footwell. Taller, heavier people stay put. There is no fix for this beyond trying the seat with water in it, or choosing a tub where the lounger has a pronounced foot bar and a deep seat scoop.

The other cost is space. A lounger takes the room of two upright seats and lets one person use it. In the Serra 5, two loungers plus three upright seats in a 215×215 cm shell works because the shell is big. In a 200×160 cm 3-seater, one lounger is plenty.

Upright social layouts

A tub with no loungers, all seats upright and facing in, is a different machine. It is for talking. Everyone is at the same height, nobody has their feet in anyone's lap, and six people fit in a shell no bigger than a five-seater with loungers.

The round Rodona 6 is the clearest example. Six upright seats around a Ø210 cm shell, 900 litres, a central footwell. It is the tub for a family with teenagers, for a finca that sleeps ten in August, or for anyone who sees the tub mostly as a place to sit with a drink and friends. The Cala 6 does the same job in a square 215×215 cm shell, with more jets and a second pump.

Upright layouts also suit older users, who find loungers awkward to get out of, and smaller terraces.

Jet counts versus pump power

Here is the number that matters more than the number on the brochure. Each pump can move a fixed volume of water. Every jet connected to it shares that flow. More jets on the same pump means less pressure at each one.

A 3 HP pump feeding 20 jets gives a firm massage. The same pump feeding 35 jets gives a gentle one. So:

• 30 hydro jets on 1×3 HP, as in the Cala 3, is a sensible ratio for a small tub.
• 52 hydro jets on 2×3 HP, as in the Serra 5, is about 26 jets per pump and still firm.
• 76 hydro jets on 3×3 HP in the Mar 7 is roughly 25 per pump, which is why the big Signature tub does not feel diluted.

Be wary of any tub advertising 80 or 100 jets on a single pump. The jets will be small, the massage will be weak, and the pump will be loud trying.

Good tubs let you divert flow between seat groups with a lever on the rim. That means the pump's full output goes to the two seats in use rather than all five, which is how you get a strong massage from a modest motor.

Hydro jets versus air jets

Hydro jets push water, mixed with a little air, through a nozzle. They do the massage. Air jets, often a ring of small holes in the seat or floor, push only air and make the water fizz. Pleasant, softening, and useless for a sore back.

Listings usually give both numbers, 32+10 for example. Count only the first. Air blowers also cool the water noticeably in a long session, so on a winter evening you will switch them off.

Pump horsepower

Most quality tubs use 3 HP pumps. Two of them, on separate circuits, is the sweet spot for a 5- or 6-seater. Three is for the big shells. The Premium and Signature series add a small circulation pump that runs the filter quietly around the clock, so the big pumps only run when someone presses a button. That matters for noise on a terrace in Deià at midnight and it lowers running costs, which is why a Premium tub costs about €30–40 a month to run in summer against €35–45 for an Essential.

Ask how many pumps, not how many horsepower in total. One 6 HP pump is not the same as two 3 HP pumps, because you cannot split it.

Foot jets

Easy to overlook. A cluster of jets in the footwell, aimed upward at the soles, is the feature people mention most after the first month. Check that the footwell has its own jets and is not just a flat drain plate.

Seat depth for tall people

Seat depth, from the top of the seat to the rim, decides where the water line falls. In a shallow shell a man of 1.90 m sits with the water at his chest and his shoulders in the air, which is cold in January. Look for a shell height of at least 90 cm and seats that put the water line at the collarbone for the tallest person who will use it regularly. The Serra 6 at 92 cm and the Mar range at 95 cm are the deep ones. The 80 cm Cala 3 is comfortable for most but not for the tall.

The opposite problem exists too. In a deep shell, a short person may have their chin at the water. Most tubs include one shallower cool-down seat for exactly that reason.

Try before you buy

Nobody buys a sofa without sitting on it. Sit in the dry shell at least. Better, ask for a wet test. A dry sit will tell you about seat depth and shoulder room, and whether the lounger fits your height. A wet test tells you whether you float out of it.

Bring the tallest and shortest people who will use it. If that is not practical, send us your heights and we will tell you which models suit.

Families versus couples

For a couple:

• A 3-seater with one lounger, so one person lies down while the other sits.
• Two pumps if you want a serious massage, otherwise one is fine.
• Deep seats, good foot jets, and the lower running cost of a small shell.

For a family or a house that hosts:

• Six upright seats, or five with no more than two loungers.
• Two pumps minimum, with a diverter.
• A shell with at least one cool-down seat for children.
• A lockable cover and a cover lifter.

For a second home that friends and tenants use:

• Upright layouts are easier for strangers to understand and harder to misuse.
• Fewer jets of good size are easier to keep clean than many small ones.

Where to go from here

The model pages for the Serra 5, Cala 6 and Rodona 6 show the seat plan, jet layout and pump count for each. If you tell us who will use the tub, how tall they are and whether anyone has a bad back, we can narrow it to two models before you visit.