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

[00:00:09] Annette: I am Annette Grant. And together we are–

[00:00:10] Both Annette and Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:00:11] Sarah: And this is the–

[00:00:12] Both Annette and Sarah: Hosting Hotline.

[00:00:13] Sarah: Today we have a question, a question from a repeat Hosting Hotline–

[00:00:18] Annette: Caller.

[00:00:18] Sarah: Caller, which reminds me to share with you, listen, if you want your hosting questions answered, all you got to do is call the hotline. Go to hostinghotline.com. It’s as easy as pressing a button, recording your question, pressing send, and we’re going to answer it here in the podcast.

[00:00:34] Not only are your questions going to get answered for your own knowledge and wellbeing, but then you’re going to help everyone else who’s listening if they haven’t crossed that bridge yet. You’re going to help so many other hosts, and it’s all about helping each other so that we can strengthen our industry. So hostinghotline.com to get your questions answered. Today’s question is from Samantha.

[00:00:50] Questions: Hey there. My name is Samantha. I own Coops Vacation Rentals down in Gulf Shores, Alabama. And you girls answered a previous question of mine about dogs at our rentals, and we definitely took your advice, and we’re so thankful for your help. I’m here with another question to pick your brain about. What’s your take on grills at a short-term rental?

[00:01:07] I always wanted to stay away because I’m terrified someone will burn down our brand new beach houses. But we recently had an upcoming guest ask if we had a grill, and they were pretty bummed out that we didn’t offer that, and then asked us if we could provide one for them. Are we missing out on potential clients? Is it worth it? We would love your insight on this. Thanks.

[00:01:28] Annette: Yes, you are missing out on potential clients. Yes, you should offer it. And I want to offer to you, Samantha, and everybody else listening, if one guest has brought it to your attention, there are a multitude of other guests that wanted to bring it to your attention and just didn’t ask.

[00:01:47] Or there are a lot of guests that noticed it and just went the other direction to find that amenity with another host. Yes, we want to be safe with this. So we’re going to dig into the safety aspect of it. But Samantha before we do, Sarah, do you have any relationship with the Gulf Shores?

[00:02:04] Sarah: I hate you. I do, Annette. I do. I was there once. I flipped a beach house.

[00:02:12] Annette: Samantha didn’t ask this question, but you might have cried a couple of times. Still have never watched the episodes. I think I just want to hold you in this high esteem that I have for you, not see you break down on national TV, but let’s share with the listeners your Gulf Shores. What is that one hosting hot tip when you were doing a renovation on a beach home? What is that top lesson you learned?

[00:02:33] Sarah: Okay, so everyone, in 2015 I was on a HGTV show called Beach Flip. You can get it for a dollar on Apple.

[00:02:40] Annette: But just listen to the podcast for free. I’m just joking.

[00:02:43] Sarah: And we were one of four contestants flipping a beach house on Gulf Shores, which, first of all, introduced me to Gulf Shores, Alabama, which it’s no longer a secret since then. But even then, Nick and I, my husband and I were like, this place is amazing. This is incredible. We renovated this beach house that’s literally on the beach, and the price point was amazing. So anyway, it was hosted by three HGTV superstars.

[00:03:09] Annette: Brian? No.

[00:03:11] Sarah: Josh Temple, David Bromstad, and I can’t think of Nicole’s last name.

[00:03:15] Annette: Nicole Curtis.

[00:03:16] Sarah: Yes, Nicole Curtis. I love her. She’s the real deal. They all are the real deal, but she’s incredible, and she’s real sassy, and she’s very knowledgeable. Anyway, the first episode we renovated the primary bedroom. She was incredible, but she was like, girl. We had a budget.

[00:03:31] It’s the whole competition thing, and I put a big chunk of our bedroom budget into optimizing the closet space with a closet system. Because I was this New Yorker coming into this beach house, had never managed a vacation rental on a beach. All I thought was like, we got to optimize these closets. We got to make sure the guests have plenty of room to put their stuff away. No, they just need a place to draw your suitcase down.

[00:03:58] Annette: And put on their swimsuit.

[00:03:59] Sarah: Correct. So lesson learned on national TV.

[00:04:02] Annette: Don’t over–

[00:04:04] Sarah: Invest.

[00:04:05] Annette: In the closets. But Samantha, number one, before we get into safety, look at your competition. Are they offering it? Number two, think of yourself and the way that you vacation. I know so many people that, yes, they dine out often on vacation, but one of those things that they do is cook at home, and they might want to grill out, especially if you have an amazing outdoor area on your property. And what’s cool, it sounds like you have multiple properties. Test this. See what’s going on with the one. But I think we want to encourage you to get the grill.

[00:04:38] Sarah: Another tip is you could look at your competition, Samantha, and see if they are offering grills.

[00:04:43] Annette: And then get a better grill.

[00:04:45] Sarah: Yeah, get a better grill. And actually, everyone’s talking about the Blackstone. Everyone loves it. It’s a different kind of grill. You can make, obviously, pancakes on it, and you can do omelets on it.

[00:04:54] Annette: Pizza?

[00:04:54] Sarah: You can make pizza on it. It’s pretty cool. But anyway, yes, look at your competition, see what they’re offering. If they’re offering grills, like Annette said, get a better one. But then you know, like, hey, this is baseline.

[00:05:04] Now, I heard, I think you said the word, I’m afraid they’re going to burn down our new beach houses, or I am fearful they will– as long as you know how to safely offer the grill and have those safety protocols in place, you can take fear out of the equation.

[00:05:20] Knowledge is power, Samantha. But we could share with you about safety with grills because we’ve been taught by the world’s leading short-term rental safety expert. But why deliver it secondhand when we could just get Justin to answer this for us? So here’s Justin.

[00:05:38] Justin: Hey, ladies. It’s Justin with Breezeway, talking safety about grills. I hear that’s a hot topic, and of course, summer’s coming up on us. A few things to think about with grills, especially a gas grill. They need to operate as the manufacturer intended. They need to be at least 36 inches. I prefer 10-feet away from anything that’s combustible.

[00:06:00] Got to make sure you have the right grill, bristle, brush with them. They’ve got to have, not the toothbrush style, but the rolling style grill brushes, and those are around 12 bucks, so really important. You also have to make sure that they’re draining properly into the grease pan underneath that will prevent a fire from happening.

[00:06:19] So few important things there. I prefer the new Blackstone griddle type grills. It keeps open flame out of people’s face. It’s still using propane, but I certainly prefer those. And I was just looking at a great electric charbroil grill, and that’s what I would ultimately prefer to use at a short-term rental.

[00:06:38] Anytime we can keep away from the gas is important. I really don’t like charcoal grills at all unless the charcoal grill is something that is on a post or a stand that you’re using the charcoal bag into a stand, just like at a state park. So hopefully that’s helpful.

[00:06:56] Sarah: Okay, so here you have it, Samantha. So many great tips on how to safely offer a grill to your guests. And I’ll give you one last hosting hot tip here. Those safety protocols, you want to make sure you reset them during every turnover between guests. And I find the best way to do that and to guarantee and ensure, and have proof that those things have been done between guests is using a checklist.

[00:07:20] And so I do want to give a shameless plug to our partners at Breezeway. You can create an inspector’s checklist or your cleaner’s checklist to include making sure that these things have been done, and then you have proof that you have put these safety measures in place before the next guest arrives and stay on top of it, and just rest easier when those guests use your grill.

[00:07:41] So if you want to find more about Breezeway and their checklists and ways that you can improve the turnover process, check the link in our show notes. Samantha, thank you so much for calling in and asking that incredible question. You’re going to help so many other hosts dial in their grill safety this summer. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

[00:07:58] Annette: I am Annette Grant. And together we are–

[00:07:59] Both Annette and Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:08:00] Sarah: Talk to you next time.