Hot tub or spa?
The terms ‘spa’ and ‘hot tub’ have been used synonymously in the business since the early years of the industry. Originally they meant two different things; ‘spa’ was used to describe a therapeutic bath built out of acrylic or some other thermoplastic, while ‘hot tub’ meant a circular bath, or tub, usually wood. Wooden hot tubs were popular as recently as the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, but were soon eclipsed by the rapid advances of portable acrylic spas. Still, the term ‘hot tub’ stuck.