Whirlpool Baths vs Jacuzzi® Baths: What's the Difference?

By Benjamin Clarke | Published on 4th April 2019

A very common question that we hear over and over again from customers who are new to the luxury spa bath arena is 'What is the difference between a standard whirlpool bath and a Jacuzzi® whirlpool bath?'

You can also throw the phrase 'hot tub' into the mix as well.

There is no difference

In reality, there is nothing to distinguish one from the other.

They're all large containers of hot water that have jets, bubbles and often different coloured lights and other accessories.

Whirlpool bath, Jacuzzi® and hot tub are, on the whole, different words to describe the same thing.

So where does the word 'Jacuzzi®' come from?

To quote Alan Partridge, "It's like people who say 'Tannoy' when they mean Public Address System. Tannoy is a brand name."

Just like Hoover (vacuum cleaner), Jet Ski (personal watercraft) and Speedos (budgie-smuggling swimwear), Jacuzzi® has become a 'proprietary eponym'.

Or, a trademarked brand name that has become the go-to term to describe a generic object, product or service.

The Italian Jacuzzi Brothers

The Jacuzzi Brothers were a large Italian family who emigrated to America in the early 1900s and set up a company that initially operated within the aviation industry.

After the son of one of the brothers developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, he regularly visited a hospital where he was given hydrotherapy treatment to ease his symptoms.

The discovery of the son responding well to hydrotherapy led the Jacuzzi family down the path of finding a way for hydrotherapy to be replicated in the home.

Multiple developments later, the first home whirlpool baths were manufactured by the Jacuzzi® Company, forever associating the name with the hot baths of goodness we know and love today.