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433. How Safe is Your Short-Term Rental? Expert Safety Tips with Justin Ford

Introduction and Listener Highlight

Sarah Karakaian: [00:00:00] Welcome back for the great episode. My [00:01:00] name is Sarah Karakaian.

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

Sarah Karakaian: Let’s kick this off episode off like we do each and every week. And that is sharing one of you are incredible listeners and your short term rental. If you go to strshare. com, share all the details about your rental.

We will celebrate you here on the podcast, on our Instagram account on Sundays. Annette who are we sharing this week?

Annette Grant: This week we are sharing at Wonder Wild Stays, Wonder Wild Stays.

Pivoting in Short-Term Rentals

Annette Grant: And I want to highlight, this is going to be a little bit of a pivot from what we normally share on STR Share. What I want to share about these hosts is, uh, Jeff and Sarah Harvey, in their Instagram, I love that they do, um, they have a About Your Hosts section.

really tells their story. And I want to highlight that they started their short term rental, uh, careers journey and they had a property in Florida and [00:02:00] they sold that property to purchase something closer to home to serve their family better. And I love being able to share that sometimes it’s, it is the right time to pivot your short term rental and potentially sell it.

And take those funds and buy something different because a season of life or an area, and I don’t think people talk. Um, we’re seeing it a lot inside our membership. We see some hosts that want to focus on different properties and they’re selling their properties. And I, I just want to highlight that this can be a really great decision for you.

I know in real estate, sometimes people want all the doors and all the places, but I love that I’m seeing hosts over and over, including the Harvey’s putting their why. Okay. First, and then letting the spreadsheet follow that, and I think that’s where you’re going to see that success. And so for all of you that are either getting ready to purchase, or thinking you want more, or are just really in this new [00:03:00] year trying to figure out what’s next, sitting down and looking at your long term goals, your long term why, is going to bring you that greatest success.

And I also love that Harvey shared that part of their story. So, the guests can know, hey, they’ve been doing this for a really long time. Maybe this particular property hasn’t been on the market for that long, but they have history of hosting hundreds of guests. And I love them sharing that, so it kind of gives us that know, like, and trust that this isn’t the first time that they’ve been welcoming guests and that they loved it so much they decided to move it closer to home.

So I just, um, encourage everybody again. Tell your story through your accounts. It’s so easy to just tell your story. And everybody has a story on every single property, whether it’s that one bedroom or that ten bedroom. Let the guests know who they’re staying with, and they’ve done a wonderful job of letting us get to know them and connect.

But again, take a look at your properties this year. What’s your why? [00:04:00] Is it still in alignment?

Sarah Karakaian: I love that. Congratulations, harvey’s. With that, let’s pivot to today’s episode.

Welcoming Safety Expert Justin Ford

Sarah Karakaian: We are going to be welcoming back international safety expert, Justin Ford. If you’re new here to the Thanks for Visiting podcast, don’t you dare press next or pause or listen to this later.

If anything, this is the most important episode that you can listen to, not just for your short term rentals, but for your personal life.

The subject of safety and vacation rentals, and you’ll learn this in today’s podcast, goes into our personal lives. Because we all live in a dwelling, and we all live in a home, if we choose to, and having those safety elements in our property, whether it’s something that we’re, you know, hosting to a guest, or our own families, or our extended families, or our family members homes, you, becoming an expert in safety yourself, Won’t only say the lives of your guests, but also yourself and your [00:05:00] family and your friends because you will start to notice the most incredible things when you’re out and about with your family and friends.

So listen to today’s episode.

The Importance of Safety in Rentals

Sarah Karakaian: Justin is a repeat guest. Our show notes today are going to be chock full of all things safety from safety things that you can buy for your short term rentals. Best investment you can make other episodes that really honed on specific safety elements within your short term rental ways to get safety certified for free.

With breezeway and Justin Ford’s safety course. I’m so excited for the content in this episode. The tips and and and there are some sad stories in today’s episode, but it is real. It can happen to any of us and I want that. I want there to be a little fear. Because there needs to be, because what we do, a healthy dose of fear, what we do and I mean, as much as we talked to Justin Ford, you better believe that I know that there are definitely things that we can do in our own properties.

I took notes today, I learned new things today. Yeah, like, we’re always, always on top of it, I’m always [00:06:00] living in a little bit of fear, knowing how, what we do, people, our guests depend on us to do this, they expect us to do this, and we want you to know exactly what it takes to be safety compliant in your rentals, so here we go.

Justin Ford, the most repeat guest on the Thanks for visiting podcast, and that is by design. Welcome back.

Justin Ford: It’s great to be here. I have missed you ladies. Now that you’re like famous and all over the place, don’t have time for little old me. Oh, not true . I dunno

Sarah Karakaian: about you, Mr. Globetrotter. And everywhere we go, people talk about Justin Ford and I will say so.

Listeners, we’re going to take a, a journey back into time to Justin’s first episode with us and kind of discuss what we chatted about all those years ago, almost five years ago now, over five years ago, because it’s still relevant today. It’s very relevant, but Justin, the five years that you’ve been, I mean that, and that wasn’t even like [00:07:00] you were on this mission before then, do you finally feel like people know who you are, the message that you’re bringing, like, do you feel like you’re finally breaking through?

Yeah. and making an impact the way you want to.

Justin Ford: Yeah, you know, I feel every day now. It used to be like once a month and I’d get all excited. You ladies know, I’ll text you and say, some listener on Thanks for Visiting just reached out to me because they did something and it prevented something and I’d get excited.

Now it’s like almost every day. I had, I’ve had two today already and it’s only 11 this morning. So um, people are getting it. It’s exciting.

Annette Grant: Tell us what those were today. Let’s share those.

Justin Ford: Yeah, one actually relates to a safety tip that I did today too for Breezeway and it, you know, it’s the hot tubs and I was talking about, hey, you got to put a, a railing in, um, at a hot tub.

They’re easy. It’s something new I’ve been talking about actually. Um, and it’s because I got injured in a hot tub. At a property that I went to go stay at to do some filming at back in [00:08:00] December. I still, the bruise is almost gone, but I like went down getting in and they’re like, Oh my God, the safety guy got injured there.

But anyway, I did a post about it. Someone installed it and it prevented a guest from an elderly woman from getting in a hot tub. She slipped and she said the only thing that kept her from going completely down was that handrail. So thank you. So, um, that was an exciting one. And, uh, the other related. to, um, some pool chemical stuff that I’ve been talking about with a rental property down in Florida.

So kids tried to get in and get access to some of the chemicals, but they were locked up. So that was cool.

Sarah Karakaian: Nice. I love that. And you’re also, you appear on all the podcasts now. I feel like you’re on everyone’s Instagram. Like it’s just great to see you getting the support that that you deserve. And you’re also Justin.

This is a little bit of an impromptu, but you are co hosting an event right now, aren’t you? A virtual event?

Justin Ford: Yeah, the Strive event Heather Baer and Mike Baer have put together. Um, [00:09:00] I was really honored that I kind of inspired that, that online event that, uh, they’ve started where it’s, you know, really getting into the background of the industry.

Let’s, let’s put aside ADR and. And the best place to list your property and who’s got the best PMS. Let’s talk about how hard it is to manage air conditioning units and, um, address smoke alarms and deal with all the different maintenance issues that we have in properties, as well as the regulations and insurance.

Sarah Karakaian: Amazing. I will actually link to that in the show notes, Justin, because when people listen to this, they’ll still be able to participate in that and it’s free and it’s being hosted by some of the industry’s most veteran. Uh, property managers and hosts, and I think it’s a great event that people should attend for sure right now.

Justin Ford: Now I do, I want to quickly go back to something you said, Sarah, in the first year that I did the podcast with you, you guys said I was the most downloaded podcast for the year, and all the other podcasters saw that. So that’s why I get invited on other podcasts because of, uh, [00:10:00] what happened here with you guys first.

We’ll

Sarah Karakaian: take that. We’ll take any compliment that you’ll give us. And let’s talk about, so this is your eighth appearance on the Thanks for Visiting podcast. It is your fifth anniversary of your first episode with us, which aired on January 9th. 2020 and since then, your commitment to safety has not wavered and you have been accepted in this topic of safety has been embraced by more and more hosts, more and more property managers, more and more conferences, more and more influencers.

How do you feel looking back over the past five years? What are some notable safety incidents and lessons that, uh, you’ve experienced over the past five years that are, that you can share with our listeners who maybe aren’t familiar with you or want to kind of hear the impact of what, you know, five years can do to the vacation rental industry?

Justin Ford: Yeah, you know, when I, when I, The first incident that made public headlines about someone [00:11:00] getting hurt in Airbnb was actually the same year that Airbnb said, uh, Hey, you know, we’re gonna, we’re gonna go beyond just being a room in a house. It was, you know, right around 2015.

Real-Life Safety Incidents

Justin Ford: And it was that a guy had been sitting in a tree and the tree branch broke and the swing came down and he died and he he asked his question it was on the cover of the new york times i got injured my dad died in an airbnb who’s responsible and i thought that was like as far as it was gonna go And then, you know, after 2020, after my first episode with you, unfortunately, we just keep seeing some really bad events.

But one of the things that’s happened is it’s more accountability for those. Um, there was a fire in the outer banks. That happened, um, two summers ago, 2023. It killed three people. I think that’s had one of the biggest impacts on the industry, very similar and close. Also with the seven people who died at the Airbnb complex in Montreal.

Those were two strong examples where we saw within a market. If [00:12:00] there was a safety incident, people died in the news media really latched onto it. It actually had an effect on bookings and people coming to stay there. Holy smokes. Um, Not only is this horrible, not only did people die, not only was this preventable, not only all these things we can learn from it, but we’re going to lose business over this just for being in the same market where this happened.

And I think that that, um, has encouraged a lot of hosts to want to work with their neighbors and get people out. So yeah, lots of invitations to groups. Um, I’m coming in and doing some work with the Hocking Hills group in Ohio sometime soon, and it’s because they don’t want a safety incident in Hocking Hills, Ohio.

Annette Grant: Can you use the word in all of those incidents, preventable? And is that true from Outer Banks to Montreal to Long Island fires? Truly, those were all preventable.

Justin Ford: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. In all those cases, smoke alarms weren’t [00:13:00] working. I mean, it’s, I still don’t get that. I still go, um, you know, I actually stayed in a Hyatt hotel last night just because of travel and what I had to do.

Otherwise I would have preferred to have stayed in a vacation rental. But um, the smoke alarm in there was like 16 years old. I went up and opened it and there wasn’t even a battery in it. You can assure I was calling down to the front desk and getting that straightened out. But it just blows my mind.

Sarah Karakaian: In a commercial property? That’s insane.

Justin Ford: Yeah, but come on guys smoke alarm. It’s the single most important item in a rental those gotta work They have to work.

Annette Grant: I I want to share one of the things that we’ve been noticing because I think listeners You might want to go into your home immediately. Um, one of the things that we’ve been finding, especially about smoke alarms, Justin, is that we have so many co hosts or people that purchased a flip that they’ve changed, let’s say, um, primary closets into [00:14:00] bedrooms or, you know, rooms that were not bedrooms to begin with.

That do not have smoke alarms and do not have any egress and people are like wait, that’s right This wasn’t a bedroom and there’s no smoke alarm anywhere near it So and and it’s something that you know, let’s say you buy a home You just assume that the flipper put it in there. But this two bedroom is now a four bedroom And they never reinstalled them.

A co host, you take over a property from someone that was hosting, you just assume that all of the proper smoke alarms are in there. So that is something that I encourage everyone, if you purchased a flip, if you are co hosting for someone, and you haven’t had a chance to go in and look at every room that is a bedroom, or, because was it, A bedroom to start.

That’s where I see a lot of, um, issues where people are telling even Sarah and myself that oh my gosh, because this was, this wasn’t ever a bedroom and now it is a bedroom in, [00:15:00] you know, a closet or a basement or a garage and it’s just not safe.

Justin Ford: You know, I was with a host recently. I was meeting them actually.

Um, they were talking, they’re working on a book and they wanted to do some interviews with me and they were on their way to meet me and they texted me and said, Oh my gosh, I forgot. Um, I didn’t put the pillows back on the bed after I remade it. I’ve got to run back. I said, cool. Did you actually check the smoke alarms too?

And she said, No, should I? And I’m like, but that highlights something so important. We’re concerned about pillows being on a bed, but not concerned about making sure that the smoke alarms are going to work so that nobody dies. Come on.

Sarah Karakaian: Justin, I just had a conversation with, um, a company that we’re consulting right now.

They’ve got. You know, 80 properties, and they, they have Breezeway, but they weren’t really using it because they were a much smaller team, and now they’re growing. And when it’s, when it goes just beyond you and, and the things that are in your head of things that you need to do, and then you start introducing a team and everyone needing to be on the [00:16:00] same page, um, Breezeway can really make an impact.

But also, I explain to them that, obviously, my love of Breezeway, and, and, and you Obviously work with them too, because it is just part of our checklist, like we don’t have to like remember it or like be haunted by what could happen if we don’t check it because that is just a part of our inspection checklist after the cleaner is done, the inspector goes in, this is part of what they do, and it’s and it’s time stamped, it’s on the date that we did this thing and we actually do it and It’s second nature.

Justin Ford: It’s, it’s not easy for us to be humans. And we, we need to have tools that will help us. And obviously, you know, you’ve got to fully embrace breezeway. You’ve got to, if you want to lose weight, you got to embrace it. I’m going to do the right diet. If you want to embrace being a professional manager, you need task management software.

You need to document it. I was with a cleaner recently, and she was taking a picture of the thermostat before we’re leaking. leaving the house [00:17:00] and uploading it into Breezeway. And I said, why’d you just do that? And she goes, well, the last time I was here at the property, the thermostat apparently wasn’t set to the right temperature.

And so now I documented it. It’s in the report and it’s not going to be on me if it wasn’t. And I’m like, Holy smokes, that’s amazing. And something as simple as that, that type of task management is so important.

Sarah Karakaian: Well, and at night. Because we love promoting Breezeway. We just remind everyone that doctors use checklists.

Pilots use checklists. I mean, I don’t care how many years you’ve been a pilot. You have a checklist that you have to do before you take off. A surgeon’s

Annette Grant: not gonna go in and not go through the checklist. It matters. No, for sure. That’s right. Let’s, let’s move into something else. Um, Sarah was just schooling someone yesterday.

We were doing some listing audits.

Bunk Bed Safety Tips

Annette Grant: Let’s talk about bunk beds.

Justin Ford: Oh, yeah. And all of the

Annette Grant: incidents that can occur there. And again, just this is this is stuff I never knew before I met you. So let’s go through some some points about bunk bed safety.

Justin Ford: Yeah, I love to do that. And you know, I got a [00:18:00] quick shout out to my friend, Diane, the queen, she and I share messages all the time of crazy, unsafe bunk beds we see on Airbnb and vacation rental listings on Facebook.

And it’s mind blowing.

Sarah Karakaian: What, like what are hosts doing? What do you guys still see?

Justin Ford: They, it goes back to what you were just talking about before, you know, where that extra bedrooms added, you know, or they’ve converted the garage into the bunk, you know, this room with a bunch of bunks or they have this space and they don’t look up and go, holy smokes, we got to change out that ceiling fan to it becomes a head lopper 3000 children went to to emergency rooms in the year 2023 in the United States for getting lopped on the face by a ceiling fan.

3, 000. It’s insane that people don’t look up and think, gosh, yeah, I was at one recently. I mean, it cleared the bed by a foot. I mean, you’d have to turn the fan off to get out of the bed. I’m like, what are these people thinking?

Sarah Karakaian: And let’s talk about, I know, Justin, you, you talk about [00:19:00] how like thick mattresses that take the sleeper up to the top of the guardrail.

So now it’s no longer a guardrail and we can just roll out of bed.

Justin Ford: When I was a kid, I had a bunk bed. I was above my brother. He used to throw stuff down at him. He hated it. But if there’s one thing I don’t remember is how comfortable it was. It didn’t matter. I was a kid. It was probably a three inch thick mattress.

That’s what top mattresses on bunk beds should be. Stop making these super deluxe plush mattresses for people who really don’t care or remember what Type of sleep they’re gonna have in it and I can assure you my six foot five adult body isn’t climbing to the top bunk So I don’t need it either. So yeah, so there’s a special mattress for the top bunk

Annette Grant: ceiling fan Mattress the last thing I want to talk about bunk beds.

I feel like the ladders How can we ensure that the ladders are safe? Are there parameters there?

Justin Ford: Yeah federal law requires that they are fixed They got to be attached. Oh Yep. And I, I’ve, [00:20:00] I see this problem a lot where like the cleaners will lift them up and put them on the top bunk so that, um, when they’re vacuuming, it’s out of the way, but there’s also some mentality out there.

And I don’t understand it where if it’s on the top bunk and the kids show up, they won’t climb on the top bunk if they shouldn’t. What? That makes no sense to me. Um, kids are going to climb up no matter what they’re going to do. So you’re not stopping that from happening. It’s more important that it’s a fix than you’re preventing them from getting up there.

Annette Grant: Okay. So those are three, those are three tips just on bunk beds alone. So go check out your bunk beds. And again, I know there are so many people that you either buy a pre existing short term rental, or you had someone design and stage it for you. You’ve got to go in and check on. Check on these things.

And then also, just let, with the beds, um, with egress in any bedroom, I know that we see so many photos all the time, either a bunk bed or a regular bed, [00:21:00] Justin, where they are jammed up against the window.

Fire Safety Essentials

Justin Ford: One of the things that’s evolved a lot from, you know, I listened to that very first podcast that we did recently.

I just wanted to have a little nostalgia and I missed you ladies. So I decided I’d better listen to this. But one of the things that really wasn’t in my mindset as much then as it is now, is this whole idea that you need to go into every single bedroom in your rental property, turn the lights out, pretend you’ve had a glass of wine or two, maybe even have a glass of wine or two, and say, That’s a fire.

I got to get out of here right now. What do I do? And if you can’t figure it out in the dark, and it’s difficult for you, then trust me, it’s going to be difficult for your guests who have no idea what they’re doing. And you know, you go back to that Outer Banks fire, or even the Airbnb fires in New York, um, or the ones that were in Montreal.

In all those cases, people couldn’t escape because bedroom windows were blocked. And so you’ve got to make sure not only that they’re not [00:22:00] blocked, but think about like the curtains or the, um, the blinds that are on them. There was six people who died in Wisconsin this past summer. In a vacation rental there.

And one of the issues was that the blinds were like those super heavy wooden ones. A kid can’t like pull those open and get out. Once they get access to the window. You’ve gotta understand and go through all these processes. Another one that was recently, and I, I think back to that house that uh, you got, you and I went through in Hawking Hills where it’s a casement window and there’s the latches on it.

I’m seeing hosts now that are leaving the top latch undone because a kid couldn’t reach it. And they actually leave a note, and they’re saying, leave the top latch undone because this is a kid’s room, and if a kid needs to open this window to get out in a fire, all they can reach is the lower one. And I like that idea.

So there’s different things we’ve got to go through and really analyze. Who’s going to sleep in here? What would they experience? How do we get out?

Annette Grant: I’ve never, I, I [00:23:00] love the, um, pressure testing, if you will, you know, having a glass of wine getting there because again, it’s a lot of people on vacation. Might not be just one glass of wine, then you layer on not knowing the property, then what, like, I can just say, I personally, you know, knock on wood, I don’t even know the terror and the emotions if something was, if there was a fire in the home, just escalating that trying to be of sound mind and get out, I can’t imagine that additional pressure of again, not knowing The home at all and being able to be level headed, especially if you have your whole family in different rooms.

You know, you’re probably with your your family or your best friends and trying to navigate that. So that’s a really good tip. And I think one of the things that you’ve brought to my attention the most Justin is also just thinking about younger children and then older adults. Like, I think about it all the time, like, [00:24:00] my dad, if he has his hearing aids out and, like, there was a fire in a house and he was in a completely different, like, again, he probably would not be able to maybe hear.

Secondarily, I don’t know, like, the height of the windows, the heaviness of the windows, just strength, depending on, and then also, like, Second floor, third floor, like, Oh my gosh, goodness. Uh, and someone, an older adult or a child being able to actually get out of the home. How can we prepare? Let’s, I want to talk about the interconnect.

I still, this is one thing I’m still trying to understand is the interconnectedness of smoke alarms. I still don’t think I really understand that. And then just ladders. Justin in bedrooms to help people get out of the house. Can we go through those two actually? Cause that is, that’s some purchasing of some things, but I think important.

Justin Ford: Well, and I’m going to make sure we get this link in the show notes. Um, I’ll get, I’ll send this over to you. My ideal design is whenever you’re setting up a property. And I [00:25:00] worked with a professional manager in Steamboat, Colorado recently. They went with an alarm company. Ultimately that’s. I think the best setup, it’s not always affordable for everybody to do it.

People don’t want to do it. If you don’t want to work with a professional alarm company, now we’re stepping down into consumer grade products. Um, I love first alert. I don’t get any money from them. I don’t think you guys do either. Um, I wish I could, cause I know that they. I help solve a lot for them, but my ideal setup right now is they make, and they’re about 120, so they’re not cheap, these interconnected smoke alarms that only have photoelectric sensing, but they have a super bright strobe in them.

And it will really wake somebody up. So you don’t know if you’re going to have an elderly or kids that can’t wake up easily. Those should go in all the bedrooms. Then the dual detection ones should go in the regular rooms. And then something else we didn’t talk about five years ago, and that was heat detectors.

I’m a huge proponent now of those going in garages. And that is because of all the fires. I was at a fire in Maryland. Um, just last month, and it was [00:26:00] started in a vacation rental by a battery charging in the garage. I don’t know, what

Annette Grant: is a heat detector though? Slow down, I don’t even know what that is.

Justin Ford: Yeah, heat detector looks just like a smoke alarm, and they detect, um, in our trip two different ways. Either by a rapid increase in temperature, or once a temperature hits 135 degrees. And, um, The reason you want those in a garage versus a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide alarm is because obviously exhaust from a car, um, would, would trip a smoke alarm.

So a heat alarm is going to trip, um, when there’s a fire. Some people like to put them in their kitchens. I have one in my kitchen. Some people like to put them in their attics. Um, that’s a good location for them as well. Um, but they can tie into your smoke, um, alarm system that you already have in your house.

Doing what I said before, ultimately, if you’re working with a commercial company, um, they use a lot of heat alarms and commercial properties.

Sarah Karakaian: We’ll have to have you send us the link to that, the heat alarm that you like, Justin.

Hot Tub Safety Concerns

Sarah Karakaian: And then let’s switch the topic then [00:27:00] to the last point that I know has been a big part of your efforts over the past five years, which are hot tub rashes and diseases.

Talk to me about that.

Justin Ford: I got the whole world fired up the other day because I said so and we’re not going into politics here But we all know based on the current presidential administration. The CDC can’t send out warnings right now So the only way words getting out are through people like me that hey, guess what?

We’re seeing an increase or an uptick in Legionnaires disease and rashes from hot tubs and they’re not only coming from cruise ships and hotels, but they’re coming from Airbnb short term rentals vacation rentals and Some people can argue with that and say how many and all that stuff, that doesn’t matter.

Right now, the general public who’s reading the news is going, holy smokes, I don’t know if I want to use a hot tub anymore at a short term rental because I might get Legionnaire’s disease. So we need to reassure them. And I’ve been very active with trying to get people to understand, there’s no more of [00:28:00] this, tell the guests to put two scoops in, um, and maintain their own, I see this.

I, I, it blows my mind, uh, I was at a rental in Sunday River, Maine, um, last month and that’s what they had. The chemicals were in a bucket there and it said, Hey, just pour this in one of the labels. One of them was even labeled. You can’t do that. There’s too much involved, and when this stuff gets to court, these are considered public use, and that’s how lawyers, you know, are arguing.

You paid money, you paid a tax, and now you used a hot tub and you got a rash? That’s not okay. And so, we’ve got to, you know, make sure that they’re set up, and then promote that. Hey, come stay at my house. We have professional certified maintenance of our hot tub. The water’s good.

Sarah Karakaian: All right, because Annette and I are getting ready to put hot tubs in our three new.

Do we have to? We, you, you do have to. It’s like. You do. Hocking Hills guests, they’re gonna be like, but we just got to make sure that they’re safe. Yeah.

Designing for Safety

Sarah Karakaian: Justin, how do you [00:29:00] feel about how safety design has become an integral part of rental aesthetics? Yeah.

Justin Ford: Because I

Sarah Karakaian: know back in the day like we would, we would admit to you like, Justin, We’re trying to encourage people to put fire extinguishers, you know, near the kitchen so they can put out a fire, but like I’m having a tough time getting my clients to put a red fire extinguisher, you know, in their beautiful short term rental.

Things of that nature. So how are these things becoming, um, how are they becoming friends?

Justin Ford: You know, That’s probably one of the most exciting things I think in the past year that’s happened in our industry is really the emergence of vacation rental design. I give you both a lot of credit for bringing that forth.

And now all of a sudden we have designers that are out there. These people make a living doing this. And what’s really exciting is they’ve embraced safety as a part of it. And I’m seeing so many different designers now that are incorporating a lot of my, uh, safety suggestions into things. Um, someone in Florida, you know, had a mural of a scuba diver [00:30:00] and they implemented the, uh, fire extinguisher into that mural.

So that it looked like the scuba tank, but in fact it was there in case, you know, someone needed it right away I’ve seen people using shelving going downstairs to also, you know integrate and become part of Handrail to make it easier for people to get down So, um, I think that’s probably one of the most exciting things as I said that’s going on in the industry right now

Annette Grant: I want to share that is probably um our number one, um besides the the smoke alarms is the Uh, fire extinguishers.

We hear so many hosts. We see it. We hear it and see it. We see it in their photos where I never saw a fire extinguisher, um, five years ago. And one of the things I want to applaud everyone here. I have heard host after host say they are now in. All of their short term rentals, their long term rentals, Justin.

So you’re changing, you’re changing that landscape. [00:31:00] They’re like, it’s in long term rentals. And so many people have them all in their personal properties, too. Like, I can’t, I can share with you. If I see a family member that has a non white, um, like it looks like a little cream smoke detector or a smoke alarm, they are getting new ones.

And so what I love about that is everyone listening to this, this is an opportunity for you to. Look at your all of your properties in your portfolio, not just your short term rentals, but the midterms, the long terms and your personal. I went to a friend’s house the other day and they had their smoke detectors down because they kept going off.

And I’m like, you guys have two little kids like you can’t have that down off the wall at all. Like, I don’t care if it keeps going off. We got to put it back. I was I was going, I was like, I was putting it back up myself. So I do love that. Listen to these episodes and you there is information that you can take into your personal property.

Um, yeah. And, and, and your whole entire portfolio, just so that the, the, the fire extinguishers are huge, huge.

Justin Ford: [00:32:00] Real fire extinguishers too, by the way, not that stuff, that bug spray from that guy that’s on Instagram. Exactly. Not a little stuff. And, you know, Annette, you and I were in Vermont once, remember we shot those off?

Um, you know, Yes, because I used

Annette Grant: to buy the little hairspray ones and, and I used to, Clearly, I bought them and I put them underneath my sink and it’s like, who’s going to rummage around there underneath the sink to find the hairspray bottle of, to put nothing out. Yeah,

Justin Ford: but

Annette Grant: we’ll

Justin Ford: put the link in. We’ll, we’ll make sure people can see it if they’ve never seen it.

But Annette shooting that fire extinguisher, that five pounder, she like, she like blew the skin off of the, off of a kid from 20 feet with that thing. It’s awesome. There were

Sarah Karakaian: no kids harmed in the making of these safety

Justin Ford: videos. No kids were harmed, but it was definitely pretty awesome. But it was

Annette Grant: a good exercise for me to see that like, those small tiny ones are not going to put out any sort of fire at all.

So, don’t even waste your money on that. Just get the real deal. And I’ll repeat it.

Justin Ford: This is my slogan. The fire [00:33:00] extinguisher is a tool that you’re giving your guests to save your home. Right. This isn’t something, like, for them to have fun with. This is saving your home. It’s, uh, it’s the only way to go.

Sarah Karakaian: Justin, before we Move on from how design and aesthetics are actually becoming intertwined with safety You’ve also been doing a lot of work with interior designers of short term rentals And let’s talk about the work that you’re doing with slips trips and falls with rugs and things of that nature to in the industry What’s going on there?

Justin Ford: Yeah, I, you know, I think a lot of designers are starting to embrace this idea to get rid of rugs, and I know it’s really hard, and I know they look really good in your home, but going all hardwood floor, wall to wall carpeting is really the best case scenario to have. Um, I look, I have so much fun when, you know, I’m gonna pick on Expedia or Airbnb, and they put out these You know, articles and travel luxury magazine and all this stuff, the best rentals in the world.

And there are the carpets that are curled up on the corners. [00:34:00] Um, I call those talkers. It’s talking to you. It’s gonna get you. It wants to trip the guests. Um, you’ve got to stop doing that stuff. It’s just in your own home. I get it. You know how to navigate your house in the dark to get a glass of water or how to get around, but when it comes to designing and setting up these properties, we’ve got to remove as many potential trip hazards as we can.

It’s the number one cause someone’s going to get injured. Everyone over at Proper Insurance will tell you that.

Top Safety Concerns in Vacation Rentals

Justin Ford: Their top claim is slips, trips, and falls. We’ve got to eliminate them as best we can.

Justin’s Journey in the Vacation Rental Industry

Sarah Karakaian: What are, even though you’ve done, you know, over five plus years, Uh, I mean, have you been doing this for a decade now, Justin?

How long have you been championing safety in vacation rentals?

Justin Ford: I wrote the first safety checklist in 2013, um, so I’ve been in the industry since 1997. I’m really, you know, I was talking to someone the other day about setting up their Airbnb and she’s like, I wasn’t even born in 1997. I’m like, holy smokes, I’m getting old.

I’m getting old.

Annette Grant: I think let’s do [00:35:00] a refresher to Justin share with the listeners. How many homes? Vacation rentals you used to manage also and own so they know that you’ve been there done that you’ve gone through So, you know, you’ve been a part of so many properties also.

Justin Ford: I’m excited. Actually, I just became aware that my very first vacation rental just went back on the market.

Um, so it’s kind of cool to see that first property I listed in 1997 is for rent on Crawford Lake in Union, Maine. But, um, from there I went to 600, managed as many as 600. I managed event properties. I had a boat rental company, rented kayaks, canoes, watercrafts, speedboats, all of it. You

Sarah Karakaian: get us. That’s what I love about working with Justin is that he understands that everything he’s telling us to do, it’s possible to weave this into your one property, your 600 property, your 10, 000 properties.

Like whatever it is, wherever you’re at, it’s not an excuse to not put safety first. [00:36:00] And you know that’s true because you did it.

The Importance of Proactive Safety Measures

Sarah Karakaian: But Unfortunately, Justin, all the hard work you’ve done, there’s still so much more work to do, so what are some, what’s missing? What’s, what’s a part of your unfinished agenda here as you move forward in your efforts?

Justin Ford: I think a lot of people are still waiting to be told they have to do this from a legal point of view. I think there’s a lot of people that may have just listened to everything we said and said, Yeah, I get it and I’ll do it. But if you had to listen, you know, if you had to do all this stuff because it’s the only way that you could continue to accept a guest that’s coming next week, trust me, you’d go out and do all this right now.

And unfortunately, a lot of you don’t have that pressure. Your city or town wants to collect a fee from you, but they’re not coming over to inspect and make sure your property is safe. That’s changing. I just spent some time in McCall, Idaho, with the fire marshals up there going around the properties.

They were doing some stuff that was more aggressive than even I would do. I’m like we were going into bedrooms that were like. [00:37:00] Taped off like a crime scene. I’m like, what’s going on with this? Like, we’re not permitting this room. I’m like, well, I mean, it’s okay if you do this and this, but, um, there are more strict regulations that are coming.

So here’s what you need to do. You need to understand it is going to happen. And those that who have done what I’m telling you to do are going to have a marketing advantage. They’re going to be ahead of the game and be prepared. You’re adding more value to your property by making it safe. Now, okay.

Before you’re told, because before the end of this decade, mark my words, we’ll come back and listen to this episode and in, uh, 2028 or 2029, we’re going to talk about, remember when, when we were telling people to do this and they weren’t required to, um, and now they all are, it’s coming, I’m in meetings with, with the government organizations, ICC, IRC, NFPA, they’re trying to add this to building codes and when it happens, it’s going to happen fast.

Challenges with Current Safety Regulations

Sarah Karakaian: Do you happen to know, so you said, you know, an expensive, um, smoke [00:38:00] alarm, it could be 120, but you, you love it, it’ll wake people up with the strobe light, 120, you got a three bedroom, whatever that math is, 200, 360. Compared to, do you know of any sort of cost that a current short term mental host has had to face because of, Uh, liability issues.

Justin Ford: Yeah, yeah, you know, the Gatlinburg market right now has had pigeon forage that area, um, Sevier County has put in heavy restrictions. And in fact, if you’re, if you’re looking around, you might have seen that there are properties that are being offered for sale down there with all these, um, extra You know, seller bonuses and people are like, wow, that’s cool.

I could buy this house and their sellers giving me a 60, 000 bonus. And then you look and realize now you need to install a sprinkler system. So there there’s a market that’s getting heavily regulated, um, because of all the safety incidents they’ve had. And it’s not easy to address it all when everybody’s suddenly trying to do it all at once and waiting your [00:39:00] turn For the inspectors to come around and then they have to come back because you didn’t do what you needed to do So great example right there of what’s happening and people who have houses in that market know what i’m talking about

The Role of OTAs in Promoting Safety

Sarah Karakaian: Are the otas have they improved in the past five years?

Justin talk to me about like let’s just talk about the big one airbnb. Are they providing adequate tools to highlight safety in your opinion?

Justin Ford: They haven’t changed a thing. And it’s very frustrating because the safety page on Airbnb’s website is still the same thing. You click five things. Yep, I got smoke alarms.

Yep, I’ve got carbon monoxide. And there’s no proof. Why? There’s nothing that says you’ve done that. They still are, they put up a good fight. They’ve put up a fight that it’s not their responsibility. They’re just a listing site. And I’ve got to tell you, I can’t even imagine how much money Airbnb spends fighting lawsuits.

Um, you just plug in Airbnb and Google it. They are sued every day. Not like. Once a week, once a month, they are getting sued [00:40:00] every day for safety related incidents, um, that are happening. A lot of it, you know, some of it’s the shooting related ones, but it’s carbon monoxide, all this stuff. Um, for whatever reason, I guess they’ve decided it’s easier to fight those lawsuits than to For the business, they would lose by saying, you can’t put your property on here until we verify that you have smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms and all that stuff.

And, you know, Brian got up there on the news last summer and said, it’s not possible for us to validate it. And I’m like, dude, have you ever looked at Breezeway? This is all we do every day is validate this stuff. Um, so Brian, if Brian’s listening to your podcast, which I’m sure he is, sure he is. Let’s have a one on one, dude.

I, I, I’ll, we’ll solve this tomorrow. I know that sounds like another politician, but day one, we’ll take care of this.

Carbon Monoxide Detectors: A Must-Have

Annette Grant: You, you just said carbon monoxide. I have a question for you. I see so many hosts that that is actually a amenity to check, safety amenity. And we hear so many [00:41:00] hosts say, well, I don’t have one because I don’t have anything.

any gas in my home that would set it off.

Justin Ford: Right.

Annette Grant: Does it make sense, Justin, to just go ahead, even if you don’t have anything that would trigger, you don’t have any gas, to go ahead and just put the carbon monoxide detector in and check that box. So

Sarah Karakaian: that on Airbnb, it doesn’t have it as like, you don’t have it.

It’s like, right. What are

Annette Grant: your thoughts on that?

Justin Ford: They’re 30 bucks. There was a fire in Philadelphia a couple years ago where the carbon monoxide alarm went off before the smoke alarms did. The burning of carbon fuels creates carbon monoxide. That’s wood, that’s the chemicals in the couch, all that type of stuff.

It’s, it’s not just from natural gas or propane gas, so. Okay,

Sarah Karakaian: that’s a, that’s a mic drop. So now, listen, TFE community, we’re not, we’re gonna lay down the gauntlet now then. So

Annette Grant: the carbon monoxide, if there’s a Let me

Justin Ford: get some stock in BRK, who owns First Alert here real quick. Alright, so, so you’re saying

Annette Grant: yes, absolutely, go ahead, get the [00:42:00] carbon monoxide detector, put it in.

Here’s my question, how many do you need, let’s do both. Yeah. If you, in a home. What is the ratio, like is it one carbon monoxide, like per, is it square footage? How do you know how many you need to have in your home?

Justin Ford: You want to have it in a space wherever that could happen, but let’s talk to the person who and this is where I always get the question the most.

Let’s talk to the person in Destin, Florida, who’s in a high rise condo that has a two bedroom Airbnb. They may say, I’ve got no natural gas, no propane. What are you talking about? Put one in the living room. It’s not a big deal. And if a guest falls asleep on the couch with a cigarette that they shouldn’t have had, I get it, or they’re smoking a joint, whatever it is, they’ve got the couch on fire.

It’s created some carbon monoxide alarm. Um, No harm, no foul. You had some extra protection. I love that.

Annette Grant: I did not know that.

Justin Ford: Yep. Okay. But, you know, if you’re in a market where, you know, you’ve got a six bedroom house and you don’t have, um, any natural gas in there, stick one in the hallway. You know, stick [00:43:00] one in each of the hallways where the bedrooms are.

Annette Grant: Okay. Thanks.

Future Trends in Safety and Design

Sarah Karakaian: Justin, so then where, where, where are we headed? What is the future? The intersection of design and safety, creating visually appealing yet secure spaces. Like, are we coming to a point where they’re able to be one and in harmony? And do you see this trend catching on that safety does sell that you can stand out as a as a short term rental host?

If you actually do promote, maybe Airbnb isn’t doing a good job. So what can we do in our listings to say, Hey, come stay with us. We’re actually safe. What are you seeing that’s working?

Justin Ford: You know, it is so exciting to see, you know, you guys probably see it too. You go on these Facebook groups. It used to be, if someone said, Hey, you know, there’s a ceiling fan over that bunk bed, that’s not safe.

You’d have like 200 people go, what are you talking about? Parents need to watch their kids. I don’t even have to do it anymore. Now you see 200 people saying, Hey, that’s not safe. That needs to come down and they’re all supportive. So the wave is happening [00:44:00] and we’re seeing that more and more. We’re seeing guests demanding it.

Put it in your listings, have a section in there. Airbnb isn’t going to do it for you. Do it yourself. Describe in there. We care about your safety when you come stay in your, in our property. Just so you know, we check all the pool alarms before and after you, you know. You, you come and go, we check the smoke alarms each time you arrive, um, it doesn’t have to be overblown, but do it.

It’s not hard to do, and it’s going to move that forward. What’s going to happen to those guests are going to go stay at the next home, not see that fire extinguisher on the wall, not see that type of stuff in there and go, Hey, and they’re going to reach out and go the last house we stayed in. They went above and beyond.

You’re not. And then they’re going to come back and stay with the people who do, do care. It’s um, it’s, it’s going to happen. It’s going to be a grassroots movement until legally we’re all just required to do it before the end of this decade anyway.

Sarah Karakaian: Talk to us, we actually have a host in the waiting room, Justin.

Breezeway’s Impact on Safety Standards

Sarah Karakaian: Talk to us about Breezeways work, your work. What would [00:45:00] it take to get you to come out? Either to someone’s property physically or to get on a zoom call with a host and go over some safety protocols or even the email you How are you working with hosts on the on that one on one basis to ensure safety? I mean you because you’re doing some really good one on one work there that isn’t necessarily scalable, but it’s making an impact

Justin Ford: You know, my, my kids are old enough now.

My daughter’s 15, my son’s 21. Um, I’ve got time in the evening. I don’t watch a lot of TV shows. Um, I respond to messages all the time. I had a, one of your listeners actually reached out last night. She sent me her listing. Hey, Justin, I’m going to go through your safety course. I want to do all that. Um, but in the short term, I’m trying, we’re installing a new fire pit.

What do I do here? And I, I respond to all of that. Um, because it’s really important and, uh, when hosts reach out to me and say, Hey, if you’re ever in, you know, Scottsdale or Phoenix, Arizona, you know, we’d love to show you our property. I go [00:46:00] visit that cause I am, uh, on the road quite a bit. Um, last year it was a lot.

Um, and so I always try and stop by whenever I can.

Sarah Karakaian: All right. Let’s bring Wendy in here. Cause you actually went to. Her property is in the Phoenix Scottsdale area and we just want to hear from a host perspective the impact you made on her and her business. Okay.

Justin Ford: Oh, that’d be awesome.

Sarah Karakaian: Wendy, hello. Hello. Welcome to the show, Wendy. Thanks for hopping on. Sure. Wendy. Um, you had Justin come out to your property, your properties in Phoenix, Scottsdale area. Can you tell us like how that, that visit, uh, transpired? Did you reach out to Justin? How, how did you guys get connected?

Wendy Doris: Um, well, for one particular house it was going to have a lot of amenities, which it does now, but we were setting it up.

And so I wanted to get his perspective on how to tackle all those amenities.

Annette Grant: What were some of those amenities, if you don’t mind sharing?

Wendy Doris: Um, at the time we didn’t have them, but we were going to have a [00:47:00] hot tub, a sauna, a cold plunge. Um, there were a lot of ideas in the works and we actually have most of those now.

So, um, it was good to kind of get his perspective before they come in so that we can know how to proceed once they arrived.

Justin Ford: I think I was in Los Angeles and you’re like, Hey, you ever come near Phoenix? I actually changed my flight and, uh, stopped off for four hours. You picked me up at the airport and we spent four hours together and you brought me back.

Annette Grant: Yep. When you, when you were with Wendy though, Wendy, are you taking notes, Justin, do you just start at the front door? Like, walk us through what goes on. Do you, I, I just have this, we’ve done this with you, but I have this vision of like, you just go into safety, you’re always in safety mode. But it’s like, does it start as you’re pulling up?

Like, take us through, so, so people can kind of do their mini Justin Ford safety inspections at home. Like, what happens when you lock in and are walking through the home?

Justin Ford: Yeah, I remember actually standing at the. There was gates, uh, metal [00:48:00] gates that were like sculpted at that property. We were talking about, you know, the people opening the doors of their vehicle.

And, you know, could they scrape up against those? Could they get their car caught on it? We’re talking about where the address marker is. Where’s the nearest fire station? What happens when an ambulance comes? What happens when there’s, you know, six v, how many, and I think Wendy, I asked you how many people could stay here?

And, you know, maybe you said six. I said, is it possible all six could each have their own car? And it was like. Yeah, so there’s six cars here. Where’s the ambulance going to pull in to be able to get through these gates and get into the house with a gurney in an emergency when everybody’s trying to worry about that?

I mean, it’s we go into every detail.

Annette Grant: So it starts Before you, as you’re pulling up to the home or before you’re even getting to the home.

Practical Safety Tips for Hosts

Annette Grant: And I think as hosts, we forget that a lot of times. This is something that you taught us, Justin, a long time ago is, um, everybody like the, the check in process is the most nerve wracking for the guest.

And then if you have not [00:49:00] pulled up to your house at night in the evening when it’s dark, Most of us, either you know your property, or two, you’re there during the day and you’re always gone before it gets dark. That is just safety right there. Is it well lit? Can they find it? Are they going to be able to get themselves, their luggage, everything in the home?

And that, that’s what Justin taught us is like way before, um, they even get to the home. What are the directions getting there? How are, how are they leading in? And even are, is the path before your home, what’s, what’s that look like? So you can at least prepare them for what it’ll be if they do check in in the evening.

That was something you taught us too, Justin. So thanks for that.

Justin Ford: I do remember Wendy had a notepad. I think you were writing a lot of stuff down.

Wendy Doris: I tried. I couldn’t keep up and I’m like, can you slow down? And he’s like, no, we’re going. So I just absorbed. Um, and you know, I, now that I’m recalling this property, it, it is like a unique property.

It has this big gate and all these things. And I’m like, what am I [00:50:00] not seeing here? Gave me a lot of things that I wasn’t seeing, so that was good.

Sarah Karakaian: And Wendy, you’re a co host, so if you’re the owner or operator of a property, it’s one thing, because you’re the decision maker. And as a co host, you have an owner of a property to communicate everything that Justin is saying to you.

So, how did that conversation go with the owner, Wendy, of the things that you wanted to implement that Justin suggested?

Wendy Doris: Um, well, some of it, a lot of it, I really had, I explained what he explained to me, but it really fell on us. Cause it was a lot of signage, um, I guess the lighting was kind of her, in her, her responsibility, but even just communicating to the guests, like, this is where you can park and this is where you cannot park.

And um, setting those expectations with the guests beforehand so that we don’t even have that issue. Um, you know, we put potted plants in front of this gate so that people will realize it’s not a place to [00:51:00] park. Like.

Annette Grant: Oh, that’s a design. So that’s where a design, um, intersects with safety there. So you just put planters where you don’t want them to park, but it’s accentuating maybe the outdoor area.

Period. That’s, that’s good. Yeah,

Wendy Doris: and we have diagrams when we send a little like picture with, this is where you can park, this is where you cannot park. And, um, so a lot of it is just communicating with the guests. Setting expectations, putting signage where it needs to go, and so, um, yeah, I’m not really sure that much of it had to do with the owner, um, from what I can recall.

Wendy’s Experience with Safety Implementation

Sarah Karakaian: Wendy, you also onboarded several new homes in 2024, and I think that came with new owners as well. As a successful co host in a competitive market, how much are you leveraging your knowledge of safety and your connection with Justin Ford and your use of Breezeway, like how much do you use that to promote [00:52:00] yourself as a co host?

Wendy Doris: You know, I probably don’t do enough of that, um, but with the new owners, I, I am educating them with the information that they, that Justin has shared with me and with the Breezeway safety course, um, just the things I’m learning, like this could happen. Thank you. And we want to make sure that we are doing all the things that we can to make this safe for your guests because, you know, sometimes the owners will say, well, if they don’t do this, that’s their fault and yes, that’s true.

However, to have an incident is not an easy thing to stomach. So you just don’t want to have it to begin with, even if it is something that may be, uh, you know, a guest. I don’t know what the word is to say, but Justin probably has the right words. But, um, so we kind of, we educate the owners when they come to us [00:53:00] to say, Hey, you are used to having three or four people in your house.

Now you’re going to have 12. Or 10 or, you know, guests are going to take batteries out of the smoke detectors when they’re chirping or they’re going to disengage that self close mechanism. So we kind of tell them all the things that could happen because they’re not realizing it, you know, they’re going to come without smoke detectors and they don’t even realize that.

Justin Ford: Well, I think that that stands out for you then, doesn’t it, Wendy? Because I’m sure other hosts haven’t been saying that. And when you’re stepping forth with that, they must recognize that professionalism that you’re bringing to it.

Wendy Doris: Yeah, transparency with the owners has always been, um, something that has been really important for us.

And just to tell them what could happen or what we’ve seen happen, which maybe didn’t result in An incident, but it could.

Sarah Karakaian: Right.

Wendy Doris: So now we have these checks in place to make [00:54:00] sure that that self close mechanism is engaged and the door chimes are working and the batteries aren’t dead and, and, and, and. So, um, I’m going to take that note and put that on my mark.

Justin Ford: I have an example. I’m going to email you after this and we’ll, I’ll make sure you guys share it in the, uh, in the show notes as well.

Annette Grant: I want to share something that Justin, you, um, Shared with Sarah and I at the very beginning of our relationship, but Wendy, um, again, we just had the, uh, pleasure of being able to stay at one of Wendy’s properties.

And this is something that Wendy, we noticed at Wendy’s properties, and this is something hosts all of you can do today for pennies. And it is have on your refrigerator, your address of the home, and some key safety Uh, things to note there, and it can be super simple, um, it can be a magnet where you slide an eight and a half by eleven from your printer [00:55:00] into it, and Justin showed us this years ago as just a safety card with that, that information, and Wendy has taken it, uh, a step, uh, another notch of like design and hospitality and safety because Wendy gives.

Your address, the exact address of where you are and then other safety notes in, in that and then maybe some other surrounding things, but she makes it, um, safety and hospitality in one. And why we want to share this was with everybody is again, you know, the address of your property, you can rattle it off, but one person is making the reservation.

I know I, a lot of the, I don’t, I never know where I am, you know, and it’s like, I didn’t, if I didn’t make the booking and there’s something going on. If there’s an emergency with the person that booked, how am I supposed to find this, uh, maybe this digital guidebook or guidebook? Everybody knows where the refrigerator is.

And when your house is clutter free and there aren’t any magnet, you know, stuff on the refrigerator, most every person [00:56:00] Has a relationship with the refrigerator when they’re staying in the property. I have

Sarah Karakaian: a deep relationship with the refrigerator. But

Annette Grant: that is something, um, that I think is one of those things that we just, we’re too close to it sometimes and we overlook it.

And that is something super simple that everyone can put in, um, in their home today for each and every guest to, to, um, encounter. I have

Justin Ford: a You know

Annette Grant: Oh, go ahead, Jessen.

Justin Ford: Real quick, I just want to kind of give a shout out to I’m glad you brought Wendy on. Wendy’s done something that a lot of co hosts haven’t done that need to do.

And she had all her staff go through our safety course and all got certified. Didn’t cost anything. The only thing it cost Wendy was probably just she had to pay them their time while they were doing the course, which is, you know, a few hours. But the thing that I want to highlight is she’s a leader and she did the course and a lot of.

Co hosts out there or managers will just say, Hey, I’d take this course, but then they don’t do it. Well, it’s really hard to lead if you don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to safety. So, [00:57:00] um, kudos to Wendy from, for doing it first, leading on it before she had her staff do it.

Sarah Karakaian: Share with us how other co hosts and hosts can do that.

Justin, talk to us about what you’re talking about.

Justin Ford: Yeah, so I developed a safety course, um, that is now the only safety course in the world. People like, like the Australians just reached out to me like, Can you put some metric stuff in that? And, uh, you know. We’ll put that in here down under and I’m like, yeah, we’ll get on that.

So, um, we do have a Spanish version of it as well, but it’s the only home safety course of its kind in the world. Before we did it, there was only some light stuff for, you know, like elderly people living on their own. This is geared specifically towards making sure that a short term rental is a safe and we cover everything that’s in there.

And, um, so it’s easy to get at. We’ll have links to it here in the show notes, but everybody can go through that.

Sarah Karakaian: Wendy, what was that like sharing that with your team? Did they, were they groaning about it? And then how was it after?

Wendy Doris: We kind of made it an incentive, [00:58:00] um, you know, and to have something that they can do at home and get paid for it.

They didn’t mind that at all. Um, however, I want to tell you a byproduct of this, which has been, um, scary and funny, is that They have gone out into the world and noticed some crazy stuff. So I’m gonna give you just a couple of items. First of all, somebody on our team went home for Christmas and noticed that their parents fire extinguisher was empty.

They had used it before, brought it to the new house, and it was empty. Like, Mounted on the wall. Another family, another person went home for Christmas and found that there were only two smoke detectors in their parents house. Another one went to an Airbnb that slept 26 people and they only had three smoke detectors and an empty fire extinguisher.

Um, so these things have [00:59:00] like, we keep getting more stories like this where they’re noticing like, oh, this place is, even their own homes, they’re like, okay, we need to, I just bought new smoke detectors for my house, um, because of it. So it’s, it’s had a ripple effect.

Annette Grant: Love that. No, that’s that’s I was at my sister’s house for Christmas and I’m like, I think you need, I think you need to clean your dryer vents.

I see it outside like that can’t be good. And that is something before like I never ever are. Are you joking me? I’m not looking at dryer vents. Really quick. Let’s talk about dryers because I do think that’s something else easy. Justin, what are like two tips for dryers?

Justin Ford: You gotta put a sign on the dryer.

People are in vacation brain. They’re not familiar with how the lint gets removed. They may not remember to do it. Um, we’re not trying to make some special 12 layer Indian blanket of dryer lint here. We need to get that. taken care of. So a

Annette Grant: simple sign.

Justin Ford: Simple [01:00:00] sign, and then you’ve got to have it in your task management system.

I know this is a shout out to Breezeway, but you’ve got to, to remind you to get the dryer vents, um, cleaned and the lint removed. I was just at a property with somebody and they actually said this. So like, our dryer doesn’t dry very well anymore. And it’s been very frustrating. We need a new dryer. And I said, come with me.

We went outside and sure enough, there’s a bird’s nest inside the dryer vent. So I’m like, that is what’s happened. It’s blocking it. It’s tripping the, um, the, uh, heat. Thermal, uh, sensor in the dryer and it’s trying to prevent a fire and eventually that’s going to be a fire. So you’ve got to clean your vents.

Sarah Karakaian: Wendy, do you guys do anything with vents in your business?

Wendy Doris: Yeah, we actually just changed this at the end of 2024, where we were kind of putting these individual tasks through the calendar, and then we decided to batch them all. So, um, every quarter we have, um, a safety check where we’re changing batteries in smoke detectors.

keypads, doing the, um, uh, [01:01:00] vent clean out and, uh, among other things, HVAC filters or whatever. So we’re batching it all together so it’s all getting done. I love that.

Sarah Karakaian: Amazing. Wendy, thank you so much for coming on. Is there anything else you want to share about your experience working with Justin in person or the, the safety course that really changed, uh, for you and your business and your clients and your homes?

Wendy Doris: I will say to everyone out there that, um, Justin gets a bad rap because the things he says is scary, are scary, but, um, in the end, it does help me sleep at night. So, do the course, and you are going to start noticing things all around you, and you might not only just be helping your guests, but your family, your own home.

I have a fire ladder now in my bedroom. Um. You never know. Uh, you gotta do it.

Annette Grant: Uh, it kind of goes back to, it just reminds me of like, you know, we should learn how to balance checkbooks and do, you know, budgets in high school. And it’s like, when do [01:02:00] you ever have learned home safety?

Like, Justin, you’ve taught me The amount of times this woman says egress in her life now. Egress? I am looking for the egress. I didn’t even know what egress was. And now I’m like, there is not enough egress. Where were we the other day? And you’re like, it’s fine.

Justin Ford: That’s a vanity. That is a vanity license plate right there.

Ohio vanity plate. You’re gonna go, there’s Annette in front of me.

Final Thoughts and Takeaways

Annette Grant: Listeners, please do one thing from the episode. It matters, even if it’s that magnet on the refrigerator, so everybody knows your address, if it’s the, if it’s the smoke alarm. Actually, you need to do all these things, but do, do one thing today, um, and then just make a list of the next things to tackle.

And if you haven’t, Listened to the other episodes that we’ve had with Justin. Please put that on your list for this year. Um, we’ve also had Wendy on the show several times. She’s probably up there with one of our most, um, welcome back guests. So make sure to check [01:03:00] out Wendy’s episodes too, especially if you’re a cohost, I’m listening to how she’s running her business.

Sarah Karakaian: Justin, any, any final words on your end that we didn’t cover today? Touch messages that you want to get out before we sign off.

Justin Ford: Yeah, just to what Annette was just saying, you’ve got to, it’s just got to be made a habit. It’s a routine. You check under the beds to make sure the cleaners got there. You check to make sure that there’s no hairs on the sheets when you put them out.

You just need to make this a part of the habit of what you do because your guests trust you. They assume you’re doing this. If Wendy went and interviewed any of her guests before they came and she said, do you think that I’ve checked the smoke alarms before you came? They’re all going to go, well, I’d hope so.

You’ve got to assume and live up to the trust that the guests have in you, because if you don’t, you’re failing them. And you, to have the ultimate trust from somebody who’s willing to come into your property and close their eyes and go to sleep, knowing. That you took care of things to make sure that in an emergency, they’re going to get notified and they can [01:04:00] get out quickly.

That’s the ultimate trust live up to that.

Sarah Karakaian: These show notes are going to be chock full of resources. Justin, you’ve got some homework. We’re gonna, we need some links from you. Um, but please check it out. Copy paste them into a document. Get Bree’s way. Make a checklist for yourself like Wendy does. Do some quarterly safety and maintenance preventative.

We don’t want to be reactive with safety. That’s the last thing you want to be. And with that, I am Sarah Karakaian

Annette Grant: and I’m Annette Grant, and together we are Thanks for Visiting. Talk to you next [01:05:00] time.