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448. Hosting Hotline

Sarah Karakaian: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] Hi, welcome back to the 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 want to get your hosting questions answered here on the hosting hotline, all you have to do is go to hosting hotline. com, ask your question, and then we will answer it here on the podcast and you’re gonna help so many of their hosts, if they haven’t had this one challenge yet, one, they most likely will eventually, or two, they’ll get something out of that they can bring to their hosting business. So your questions are so important and we love answering them. And today we have a question from Francesca.

Hosting Hotline Caller: Hi, from Aldo Puerto Rico. I’ve just contacted like three other hosts in the east area of Puerto Rico, and we’ve noticed that there’s some. bed bug scams going on with some past guests. They sent pictures about the bites, [00:02:00] but there’s no evidence that it’s from, that they got it from our properties. And also our properties have some high standards, uh, protocol, cleaning protocols. Do you guys have experienced that? What do you guys suggest us to tackle these, uh, these issues with a fraudulent guest.

Sarah Karakaian: Thanks for calling in, Francesca.

Annette Grant: Sarah, let’s dig in. Can you get very vulnerable? Yeah. Let people know your history Yeah, I will. with this very famous bug in hospitality. And I think sharing this will really be helpful because you are an expert on where they come from, what happens if you do get bit by them, the before, the during, the after. All of it.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah, so first of all, I’m an expert on having them. But I do want to give a shout out to entomologists, like people who [00:03:00] truly study all insects and like how they affect us.

Annette Grant: Can you explain when you say you had them so people understand the city?

Sarah Karakaian: So I lived in New York City, and it was 2005 and I was out bartending.

And my roommate texted me and she was like, I am so excited for you to come home, I did something really awesome. And I was like, and I’m not lying to you, I got a feeling in my stomach of like, I don’t actually love this surprise. I don’t know what it is, but I am not here for it. So I remember going outside and calling her and being like, What, what, what’s, I can’t wait, like what’s the surprise?

And she said that they found a really lovely couch that looked really nice in the lobby of our apartment building.

Annette Grant: So it wasn’t outside, it was in the lobby?

Sarah Karakaian: In the lobby.

Annette Grant: Okay, okay, okay.

Sarah Karakaian: And I need you to understand, 2005, bedbugs have not quote unquote come back yet. Okay. So what happened is bedbugs were a real issue, um, uh, around like the mid 80s, um, they stopped the use of [00:04:00] DDT, which for good reason, it’s cancerous, like it’s, it’s a really harsh chemical, um, deadly, it’s not, it’s not good.

But it did. Eradicate the bug and whenever people so for a long time there weren’t many cases. I don’t I can’t say none I don’t know but like I think it’s like we all know what bedbugs are now, but I don’t know about you guys But when my mom When I was growing up in the 90s, you know, I was born in 82, so growing up in the 90s and my mom would say that, you know, goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.

I had no idea what a bedbug was. I had no idea what a bedbug was in my high school. In college, I had no idea. I didn’t know it was an actual bug. Um, once I got my first case of bedbugs in 2005, as you can guess, that couch was infested. The reason I didn’t like the couch is because I don’t want I’m not a girly who loves like fabric that’s been used from someone else who I don’t know.

Annette Grant: Actually, this is a hosting pro tip right here. This is why when you hear Sarah and I chat about Facebook marketplace, uh, [00:05:00] secondhand stores for these like items, we are adamantly against it because of the potential of bedbugs. Now, if you want to like source some things from, let’s say Facebook marketplace or, um, a vintage or antique store that aren’t fabrics, you know all day long, but still I just yeah, I do it.

Sarah Karakaian: I agree with you now I won’t do it, but I do understand how sustainable it is to reuse good furniture and furniture from bygone era Are made so much better than today’s furniture is so I I don’t want to not support the people who We’ll find a second hand sofa from a reputable source or from a home if you go to the home and the home Looks like the person would care if they had bed bugs or not

Annette Grant: But like but like Francesca said cleaning standards do not matter.

Sarah Karakaian: Well, no Francesca said that she has high clean I would let me stay on track real quick though 2005 couch bed upstairs. I don’t like fabrics From homes that I don’t know what else is going on that home, right? Like I don’t know what that person is doing in that sofa. Anyway, she [00:06:00] brought it up the apartment and it’s tough when I had two roommates and they both were so obsessed with this couch because we were like starving artists and Long story short our it was infested with bed bugs.

And so obviously the bed bugs then eventually moved to our bedrooms

Annette Grant: How quickly does that happen? It actually took a while.

Sarah Karakaian: So our friend Neil Kept sleeping on the couch because when you’re an actor, he kept getting bit and we had no idea why. It got so bad though that eventually I was up late, I was a night owl, and I saw this bug crawl across my bed, and I freaked out, put it in a plastic baggie, I couldn’t find like an extra, I don’t know, don’t ask me why, it was pre like, I hopped in a train, I went all the way to Queens, this entomologist like, location, and I had a look at it, and they’re like, yes, that is a bed bug, and I got, I started getting educated.

Annette Grant: But they’re teeny, teeny, tiny.

Sarah Karakaian: They’re very small, they’re like the size of an apple seed. I forget why they started becoming, like, they started coming back again. Um, obviously the heightened travel, people are traveling a lot, they’re very transient. Um, they can get, they can hitch rides [00:07:00] on your shoes, on your pants.

What they like, though, and this is where Francesca, I think, might be, um, I don’t want to assume, but it sounds like Francesca’s not fully understanding that, it’s nothing about dirt. It’s not about food, they’re not like cockroaches or mice who are looking for food. They’re food, they are looking for food. The food is your human blood. And actually I learned this, back in the day in novels, if you had, and they’d bite in threes usually, whether it’s a triangle or in three, um, in a line of three, uh, it was a sign of wealth back then, because not many people had a warm bed to sleep in. And so if you had bed bugs, it actually was like, you’re a boss.

Annette Grant: So it really doesn’t have to do with cleanliness? I mean, obviously like once you find them, we need to remedy and clean.

Sarah Karakaian: That’s the thing. They are expensive to get rid of. So there’s that issue of societal whatever’s that not whatever’s, but like, not everyone has the means to get rid of them.

Annette Grant: Okay. Because they don’t technically hurt you. They’re not like a [00:08:00] tick or a leech or anything.

Sarah Karakaian: My understanding, I’m not a, you know, entomologist is. No, like they don’t pass diseases at this point. Um, I don’t know that any, like, the thing is, is people react to them differently. Right. So I reacted, like my bites were like huge welts. Like I got these giant welts, where I learned that not everyone, it could look like a mosquito bite. Okay. You really, it’s the three, the betting in threes, that can really tell you if you, if it’s a bed bug bite. Um. So anyway, I got them again in New York at our apartment, and then I got them when I was on tour.

Not at a hotel, at a friend’s house. So there’s that. But I think it’s important to know that everyone, is that it has nothing to do with like, now Francesca said she had high cleaning protocols. She could have meant. That she has trained her cleaners on how to find them. You know what I mean? And that’s what I remember having this realization that I need to have a talk with, but the cleaning teams I work with and make sure they know [00:09:00] what to look for.

Annette Grant: I didn’t know what they look like until you showed me.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah. And, or where to look for, like in your mattress, if you have a mattress protector, um, and your bed is wood. They can hide, you know how like beds connect to each other, like at the different joints? They like to hide in there, um, if you don’t have a mattress protector on, they can hide in the tuft of the, of the mattress.

They like to hide during the day, and they come out at night, they bite you, it doesn’t hurt, um, they do suck your blood, and that’s what they feed, and they go back. Here’s where, it, it gets psychologically, tough because you feel like you’re being violated in your bed. That’s where it really, it’s tough and they’re very expensive to get rid of properly and back in 2005 my landlord didn’t know what to do. So he came and brought like flea bomb, you know, whatever and so people still try to do that or people will pack up and move because they don’t know how to get rid of them.

Annette Grant: But they’re gonna move with you.

Sarah Karakaian: That’s right.

Annette Grant: Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay.

Sarah Karakaian: So like this is where this and this is why it’s become just this like really big issue and they’re really hard to get rid of.[00:10:00]

So, francesca,

Annette Grant: these claims that you have felt, plus other hosts, we want to dive into, yes, them just sending, it sounds like they’re sending a photo of just the bites, um,

Sarah Karakaian: and here’s the thing, is that If you’re a guest, technically, if a guest stays at your property and they also go out to lunch or on the car ride to your property or the airplane to your property, or you know what, like you can pick them up and get bit wherever you are.

It’s more likely to happen overnight in a bed, but it can’t, there have been cases on airplanes. There have been cases on movie theaters. It took me a real long time before I felt comfortable going back to movie theaters. Um. So, and it’s tough, you know what’s really tough, is when these guests send these photos, Airbnb, and they tell Airbnb, Airbnb may unlist your property until you get it figured out. And that sucks, because if there’s no proof that it came from your property, [00:11:00] now you’re losing money, and this is why we’ll give a shout out to our friends at Proper Insurance, if your insurance policy has a rider that’ll support you should you actually have an issue, then that’s nice because they might help you with, um, loss of income.

But what I want to offer to Francesca is you need to have a bed bug policy. If you have a rental agreement, that’s a great place to put it. I would also put in your Airbnb house rules. I’d put it on your website, terms and conditions. And here’s what’s, I’ve never been a, a, a, a, a, a victim of a scam like this potential one is, but I have had guests who show me a picture of a bug. One actually freaked out and left. And so what I did immediately is I, I already had the guy that I call. He comes over, he’s an entomologist, well rated on, on, you know, Yelp and Google, he comes over, he does a proper examination of the property, he gives me a clean bill of health, meaning like, [00:12:00] I am this certified, you know, whatever, entomologist, there is no signs of bedbugs here, and then I send that picture to the Airbnb chat to prove that I don’t, you did not get them from me.

Annette Grant: Right, right,

Sarah Karakaian: and so what I can tell Francesca is right now, find someone in your community who does these sort of checks, Make sure they are vetted and they, you know, they are, um, they know what they’re looking for and what they’re doing and find out how much an inspection costs. And then the guest who’s claiming they got it from you, you say, I will be getting my property inspected by this reputable local company. If they find an infestation, I’m happy to discuss this further. I’m happy to XYZ per our house rules or per our rental agreement. If we do not, I am so sorry for those bites that you’ve incurred, but they have not come in for my property. I’ll be in touch as soon as possible.

Annette Grant: And that’s, that’s the key. This is any sort of claim always is speed matters. Speed matters.

Sarah Karakaian: So know who your vendor is.

Annette Grant: Know who your vendor is on, you know, we’re talking about bed bugs now, but let’s say your HVAC is down. You have a plumbing issue, [00:13:00] electrical, like have a plan for when a guest has some sort of Um, complaint like this or claim and so you, and you do have to take them seriously.

Sarah Karakaian: You do. It sucks.

Annette Grant: You know, but um, it is, we’re just, this is part of doing business and honestly having an entomologist come to your house isn’t a bad for them to say no, you don’t have any. I would rather that. Yeah. And pay for that. That say no.

Sarah Karakaian: Cause you could have them. Yes. Exactly. So I’ll tell a quick story of a friend of mine who has these big, beautiful properties and it was always a fear of hers that she would get them someday. And finally, a guest. said that, Hey, we woke up this morning to bites and she was like, that’s not great. Um, I will get an entomologist to the house as soon as possible to inspection. And the entomologist did come and they found, and it wasn’t like a new infestation. He said, these have, these bugs have been here for a minute. Now the cool thing is, not the cool thing, but he only found them in that one bedroom. They [00:14:00] had not, right, they have not spread to the rest of the property, which was great for, you know, for my friend. But she did, she did have them and it’s, I was talking to her, I was like, this is a great reminder that your cleaning team, you should train them because her poor cleaner has probably been cleaning in this home and then getting in her car.

Annette Grant: Right.

Sarah Karakaian: And going home. And going to another house. Going to another house. So having our conversations and making sure you’re cleaning companies that you work with or if you, if you hire an individual, see if there’s any sort of trainings that entomologists in your area might offer.

Annette Grant: Or yeah, just anything even on YouTube, finding like what they look like, having the awareness for it. So really quick, let’s circle back again one more time with the house rules and the rental agreement. Essentially having that bed bug clause in there. Um, and it, and again, your house rule, you have many of them, so it’s not like you’re gonna, this is gonna incite fear or, you know, it’s just like, um.

Sarah Karakaian: I will tell you too, actually a little bonus for my midterm rentals.

[00:15:00] We have the lease agreement and now the state of Ohio, because they’re saying more than 28 days, I have to send them a lead awareness that the property was built before 1978. And then I also have a separate documentation about bed bug policy and they initial a bunch of statements and they have 24 hours to report that there is bed, there are bed bugs in our property because anything after that, they’re responsible for helping us get rid of them. Because, life, life. And you would hope at that point that their insurance, you know, their rental insurance would help you at that point. But midterm renters too, like, because your tenant, or your guest tenant, is lifing, and you can pick them up while lifing.

Annette Grant: And the last thing we want to offer here on, we’re just going to call it general scams.

Whether it be a bed bug scam, a, um, someone does a chargeback on your card, just a plethora of different quote unquote scams. We are business owners, refunds, returns are a [00:16:00] part of business. If you plan ahead, and, and, and I’m telling you, you could have done nothing wrong. Okay? Absolutely nothing. They enjoyed the awesome time.

But there is, refunds are just a fact of transactional business. But when you prepare for them, and Make sure that you have a buffer in your budget for them. They don’t hurt, they don’t sting as bad. It’s like, you know, there’s going to be, they’re going to happen. Prepping for them, um, being prepared and, and just knowing it’s not if it’s when.

Yeah. And it, it does, um, help lessen the, the blow there. And again, I want you to zoom out every host. Cause I know some of you are saying like, what if it’s a 10, 000 stay? What if it’s a, you know, my peak season? I get that, but. We have got to look at this long term, long term, and um, because we, we’ve talked to so many hosts from the [00:17:00] chargeback to the scams to the, we don’t, if, you know, don’t make this knock you out of the game.

Yeah. It’s basically what I’m saying. We’ve got to look at the long term investment, the long term gains, the long term profitability.

Sarah Karakaian: And when Francesca, you know, the, when she mentioned it being a scam, it might be a scam. Yes, absolutely. But if you, I think it’s actually better for you mentally. To just treat it like it’s not.

Mm hmm. Take it very seriously. Yes. Treat it like it’s not and do the thing now It sucks because like a hundred and fifty dollar bed bug inspection, but like Annette said you’ve got a budget Mm hmm every year for either a dollar amount or percentage of this kind of stuff happening, but you can’t let it knock you out

No for sure and then again back with that mindset is once we have that like or party mindset, then we’re just, we’re on edge with every single person that books a property.

Takes over. Yeah. And so you don’t, you can’t think clearly anymore. We want you to like, just kind of take a deep breath.

Yeah. I’ll tell you too. There are some things that I’m really good at being [00:18:00] tactical about. I don’t know tactical is the correct word, but I’m, I’m very good at kind of like, What, what are the protocols?

How do we just make this go away, not like go away, like cut corners, but how do we solve this issue? Solve it. Solve it. But there’s also other things that I know are harder for me to, uh, stay focused on in, in hosting. And so therefore I find the yin to my yang, right? So if you’re not the person, I guess what I’m saying to handle this, if you can, whether it’s your business partner or maybe it’s your team member, a team member who might be more equipped.

to handle things like this in a calm manner. Uh, I would empower them to create an SOP with you and then tell them like, Hey, I would love for you to take the lead when this happens because you’re better suited for it. Be supportive of them still. I’m not saying, you know, but I just know thyself, I guess.

With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant and together we are Thanks for visiting. [00:19:00]