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422. Hosting Hotline: Do You Need a Landline for Your Remote Rental?

422. Hosting Hotline

Welcome to the Hosting Hotline

Sarah Karakaian: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] Hello, welcome back for another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant. And together we are Thanks for Visiting.

Sarah Karakaian: And this is the Hosting Hotline. If you’d like to get your hosting questions answered here on the Hosting Hotline, just go to Hosting Hotline.com. Ask your question. We’ll answer it here on the podcast.

This is one of my favorite things to do is to hear your questions and then answer them here on the pod helps so many other hosts. And today Carol has a really good topic to bring up.

Listener Question: Do I Need a Landline?

Hosting Hotline Caller: Hi, I was wondering if I need to have a landline phone in our property. We have a cabin that’s located in the woods about five miles from town.

It does have Wi Fi, but we don’t have a phone on the property. We’re, newly getting started, so would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Why a Landline is Essential for Remote Properties

Sarah Karakaian: The answer is yes. And if you haven’t thought about this, everyone, especially those of you who have glamping sites, Those of you who are more remote. Yeah, if Wi Fi goes down or it’s spotty or the weather is really [00:02:00] bad, there is nothing like a direct connection to a landline so that people can call 911

Annette Grant: We are actually, We’ve discussed this ourselves, you know, with our land project, we will absolutely have a landline. We’ve even discussed, because we’re going to have multiple units, maybe having just a central location where the landline is almost like a telephone booth style for our whole development.

But. Carol, and this is for everyone. Of course, absolutely. Like our, our guest safety is, is number one. But if you’re thinking of skimping on this because of maybe finances, Truly, think about protecting your asset in your property, like equip your guest so they are able to help protect your home. You know, that’s, they’re going to need that landline most likely in case of an emergency, something happening in the home and you want to make sure that they can get in touch with someone.

And at the baseline also, it is just [00:03:00] for me overall, like being able to sleep well at night, knowing that. Maybe even if, like the Wi Fi went down out there, any of those worst case scenarios, you have that landline ready for them to call, or even if there’s something. You know, a medical emergency with someone in the property, being able to reach out and get someone, especially in those remote locations.

Expert Advice and Personal Experiences

Sarah Karakaian: I’ll take it a step further because we had Justin Ford out. I was managing a property that was remote, it is remote, and it was my first remote property because most of my stuff has been urban, metro properties. And I brought Justin Ford out to the property, which he will do, everyone, by the way. I don’t know what it takes to get him to come out, these days, but this was years ago.

But it was great because he just, Open my mind up to a different sort of thinking. He, he knows all the scenarios that can happen that I hope I never experience. And unfortunately that’s his job is to know what goes wrong so he can help us host, know what to do so that doesn’t happen to us. And one thing he recommended that I do [00:04:00] is go meet the Fire Marshall,

Annette Grant: introduce yourself.

Sarah Karakaian: And they actually came out to the property.

They’re like, let’s see what it would take to get an emergency vehicle to the actual cabin. Like, do we have concerns about getting water to it? And like, I was like, I would never. Have thought about these things.

Annette Grant: Yeah. And just making it known, especially like you said, in those remote areas, smaller towns, letting them know it is a vacation rental,

Sarah Karakaian: right.

Annette Grant: You know how many people can be sleeping there. It’s just, um, it’s worthwhile to take that time, but the answer is absolutely yes. On those remote locations, if you can get a landline, we would definitely

recommend

that.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

Sarah Karakaian: Thanks for asking Carol. Let us know, Carol. Um, feel free to, write into us and let us know how that process goes.

I know, especially if your land is untapped, you don’t have all the utilities yet, that this can be a little bit of an undertaking, but it’s definitely worth it for the safety of your property, the safety of the guests, the safety of the community. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

Annette Grant: [00:05:00] I’m Annette Grant and together we are, Thanks for visiting.

Sarah Karakaian: Talk to you next time.