Episode 159 - BED BUGS! It's Not A Question of If, But When. Be Ready.

In this episode our two fearless rental managers talk about the subject of bed bugs.  Don't pretend you don't think about this or haven't had this happen to you.   What do you do when you get them?  How do you handle them?  Will I catch them just thinking about the subject?   The answer to these and many more questions will be revealed in this episode.  

In the News segment Tim talks about the wildly successful ExploreFest 23 conference that VRBO and Expedia Group just hosted in Las Vegas.  Another can't miss episode with lots of takeaways to help your business!  Detailed show notes below: 

 Bed Bug education - all from the great Durk Johnson who explains it better than anyone.  

- First, a fun fact - we are seeing a rise in bed bugs the past 10-15 years because DDT is outlawed. That's a good thing, but DDT used to kill bed bugs and they were going down in numbers of outbreaks.  

 FACTS about BB's 

- size of a tick

- nocturnal

- attracted to our CO2 we breathe

- they can live for 365 days without food! 

- They like to live in wooden footboards, headboards, wall (check baseboard)

- Often the way to find them is to check for poop and blood stains on mattress or mattress pad. 

How are they transported? they are hitchhikers

- luggage (in other words guests bring them.  Guests don’t want to believe it, but it is true!  It is not a commentary on the cleanliness of a rental property)

- clothes (eggs are sticky)

HOW TO IDENTIFY: 

Teach your housekeepers to do the following BEFORE start cleaning every single time not just when reported: 

- Take flat sheet off & look at fitted sheet (look for long line of blood spots) 

- Then get down to the mattress 

- BTW, you need to have tight fitting mattress pad b/c they will live in the folds if loose. Yes, ALL beds should have mattress pads and even better, full encasements. 

- Blacklights will show them up or flashlight on phone - looking for poop & blood stains & exoskeletons! 

- then check box spring (between cover & spring) 

- check under the nightstand

- check behind the bed

This training also goes to your maintenance staff, inspections team, and of course you need at least one manager who can verify before you get to treatment because the treatment is EXPENSIVE.  

HOW TO TREAT

- Pest control. - With Heat thru entire house- generator, wires thru house - 120 degrees 

- Sprinklers need to be covered so they don't go off. (there are also bed bug sniffing dogs?)   Yes, there is.  

And How to Treat Your Laundry you bring out of the property AFTER treatment complete:  

-Bagging up all of the impacted linen in an airtight bag, keeping those items separated from your normal laundry, and the process of laundering those items, then getting the appropriate items back to the property after sanitization – bedspreads, mattress pads, etc.).  

- Trash the pillows

- Consider trashing the mattress if there is a sizable infestation. 

2) Have a Process Documented and Explained to all before it ever happens (this should also be part of new hire training!) 

- So, Tim is perfect as we all know, so he actually has a flow chart for this. I'm talking decis

Find all of Sarah and T's content at www.sarahandt.com
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Special thanks to our podcast Partners:
Intercoastal Net Designs www.icoastalnet.com
KeyData www.keydatadashboard.com
Sojo www.getsojo.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_04: 0:01

You're listening to the Vacation Rental Managers Podcast with Sarah and T.

SPEAKER_02: 0:10

Sarah stands for me, Sarah Bradford, a 15-year vacation rental company owner in Colorado who sold the company for big bucks last year.

SPEAKER_04: 0:20

And T stands for me, Tim Cafferty, who's still moving and shaking with two companies, Outer Banks Blue and Sandbridge Blue in North Carolina and Virginia, respectively.

SPEAKER_02: 0:30

Between us, we have managed over 700 properties, making lasting memories for over 100,000 guests, and produced over 150 podcast episodes and counting, sharing all of our secrets to growing a profitable, long-lasting vacation rental company.

SPEAKER_04: 0:48

We like to call those secrets pullover moments, and it wouldn't be possible without support from our pullover partners, ICND, Keydata, and Sojourn.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01

We're back and better than ever. I'm Sarah.

SPEAKER_04: 1:04

And I'm Tim.

SPEAKER_02: 1:05

And Tim, before we get started today with the lovely topic of bedbugs, let's talk about some happier topics. It was recently brought to our attention that we had a shout out on the popular say no to VRBO fee. Facebook private group. Are you part of that, Tim?

SPEAKER_04: 1:23

I was not, but I have been checking it out.

SPEAKER_02: 1:26

Okay. Well, it's quite highly attended and discussion all the time of people doing this on their own or even professional managers. I popped in there and I said, thanks. And some great discussions started about some of the things we've said on the podcast about video cams as well as some decor advice. So here's a few shout outs and comments. Mark Schwebel, I think is how you you say it, he calls himself Mark Schwebe in that forum from Big Bear in California. He said he realized he needed to listen to us with pen and paper in hand, which I liked him.

SPEAKER_04: 2:02

As long as you're not driving.

SPEAKER_02: 2:04

Yeah, don't be driving. And he mentioned that there's HOA fines in some of the neighborhoods where he manages properties for too many cars. So these critter cams, he calls it. Paula Elliott on the forum called them bear cams. He has them to make sure that he doesn't get thousand dollar fines for parking violations. And she uses them to make sure there's no hot tub hopping, which is apparently a thing where she is. So they really feel that cameras are needed for the exterior. And they said they do let guests know.

SPEAKER_04: 2:38

So on that, as you know, coming up a little bit later, I'll talk more about the Vrbo conference, which was known as Explore Fest 23 happened in Las Vegas last week. But during that conference, the head of Vrbo's Marketplace Trust made sure the attendees were aware that if you have a camera, even an exterior ring camera, that needs to be disclosed to any potential guest as the property is under video surveillance.

SPEAKER_02: 3:07

And I think it means it should be disclosed before they book?

SPEAKER_04: 3:11

Absolutely. In the description of the property.

SPEAKER_02: 3:15

All right. Mark and Paula, let us know what you think about that. So let's get to it, Tim.

SPEAKER_04: 3:19

Well, it's not a question It's a question of if, but it's a question of when. The dreaded phone call from the guest.

SPEAKER_02: 3:25

Oh yeah, it's like this. Hi, yes, my three-year-old and five-year-old has a lot of red bites on their tummy in a line. They really are itching them. I think there's bed bugs here.

SPEAKER_04: 3:39

That may be the worst impression of a guest I've ever heard, but there may be another way we hear about it, Sarah.

SPEAKER_02: 3:45

Oh yeah, I have another one for you. Sometimes the guest isn't the one that calls, the housekeeper calls. And let's just pretend the housekeeper's a male and it's like this.

SPEAKER_01: 3:55

Oh, yeah. These sheets have a little blood on it. It looks like the mattress has some dark spots on the sides too. I think you might have bugs in here.

SPEAKER_04: 4:05

Maybe worse than the first impression. But I'm going to go on international airwaves here today to admit that we've had this happen at my companies. And Sarah, I think you have too.

SPEAKER_02: 4:16

We have had it not once, not twice, but we had it at least once. three times in my 15 years owning those companies. And as disgusting and horrifying it is to say we did have them. And I think Tim and I saying this publicly to the entire world is painful. Listeners, do not ignore this. This is going to happen to you. I'm so sorry to tell you that. But it is. And it doesn't matter how well you create a property. So you have to listen up today. You have to take action today to be ready for when it happens. And the experience of when it does happen will be a heck of a lot better if you're prepared.

SPEAKER_04: 4:59

On a side note, before we get into more content, have you ever had it happen as a guest?

SPEAKER_02: 5:05

I haven't, but funny enough, this lady I go to works kind of on my body to make it not hurt. She told me that she was in France at a fancy place with white, just beautiful sheets and everything. And she, in the middle of the night, saw Red dots everywhere on the sheets. She started feeling bites. And she left in the middle of the night. And of course, the hotel owner was like, Zutala, there is no way we have the bed bugs. But she left. So no, I have not had it. But funny enough, I told her we were recording about bed bugs today. And she told me this horrible story. Have you, Tim?

SPEAKER_04: 5:42

I've had almost the exact scenario, except it was in Austin, Texas. And I called the front desk. They sent someone up. They told me everything was clean and clear. I could not get past it as a guest. You tell me it's good. I'm sure you know what you're doing. All I know is I am itching like crazy.

SPEAKER_02: 6:02

You know, Dirk Johnson, the king of bed bugs, says that he checks a bed every single time, whether it's a vacation rental or a hotel. And I got to be honest, after listening to this episode, I think you all will be too.

SPEAKER_04: 6:14

I do now. Yeah. That was before I knew Dirk really well. And I carry my little blue light flashlight. Really critical. that creeps my wife out. But we may gross you out a little bit in this episode. We also may be bursting your dreams tonight, and we apologize for that. But we both believe it's not discussed enough, and boy, will you regret it if you don't have a plan. So let's get started. Today, we're going to give you a brief education on this nasty little critter known as a bed bug that invades hotels, homes, and yes, vacation rentals. And then we'll discuss how to create a process to handle them when they do arise. Plus, of course, Sarah's favorite, how to communicate with guests and owners when this happens so that somehow you avoid a public lashing.

SPEAKER_02: 7:03

Here we go. Number one, let's talk about some bed bug education. And if you've heard this before, it never hurts to hear it again so that you are in the know. And most of this information we got from Dirk Johnson, who explains it better than anyone. Let's talk about bed bugs and how to First, a fun fact. Did you know, Tim, that there's a rise in bedbugs over the last 10 to 15 years because DDT is now outlawed? And there's a lot of good reasons why DDT is not used anymore. But that was used to kill bedbugs. It would just annihilate them. And so they started going down in frequency. But now they're going up in number. So that's why, again, you're going to see these. So some facts about bedbugs. I'll take the first one. Bedbug is the size of a tick. And I think most people kind of can imagine how big a tick is. They're quite small. They're also nocturnal. So that's why you don't see them crawling all over when you're changing the sheets, possibly during the day. What else, Tim?

SPEAKER_04: 8:05

They're attracted to our breath. They love the air we breathe. They sense that we're nearby. Food is near. Where can I find it? Oh, there's a person. Let's go to that. They can live for up to 360 Now, that's

SPEAKER_02: 8:24

like the worst fact about them that you think, oh, well, if you just don't have people in there for a few weeks, maybe they go away. They don't. And they live in these wooden footboards and headboards. And honestly, it's why I get metal beds. I don't know about you, Tim, but they also live in the wall and the baseboards.

SPEAKER_04: 8:44

Yeah, they love that rattan and wicker stuff, which we hate that stuff anyway. but that's another reason to get rid of it. And the only way to find them is to check for poop and blood on the mattress, the mattress pad.

SPEAKER_02: 8:58

Yeah. And Dirk was saying that if your mattress pad is not tight on the corners, which many are loose, they get into that open area. So you want a really tight mattress pad, ideally an encasement. And when we say you're looking for poop and blood, this is not human poop and blood. Well, actually it is human blood in little tiny dots. But the poop is the bed bug's poop. And so it just looks like a little bit of dirt and a little bit of like a lot of blood in a line is what we see often because they're walking and I guess dropping some of their blood. They've sucked from our bodies. Okay, so

SPEAKER_04: 9:38

keep going. You're killing me. How did they get there? They don't just fly in. The house isn't infested with them automatically. It's not a relationship to your housekeeping standards. They're hitchhikers. They come in with the luggage. In other words, the guests bring them. Now, guests don't want to hear about this, but it's true. Again, not a commentary on the property. And I really would love to hear how you would explain to a guest that it's their fault they brought bedbugs because they point to us all the time.

SPEAKER_02: 10:07

We never would tell the guests they brought them, but I will say that at least two of the few times we've had them, there's been like one bedbug, maybe two. And to us, and the guy that treated it was like, this was recently brought in, maybe even by the guests, but they don't know because it's not infested. We've never had an infestation because you'll see it most likely before it gets that far if you're doing the things we're going to tell you about today. But also besides luggage, unfortunately, bed bug eggs stick to clothes. They're super sticky. So you might not see you have a bed bug on you that you're taking with you, but the eggs are on your clothes and then they hatch and you can imagine what happens. So that's why if you're ever in a place with bed bugs, you get all of your clothes off. before you walk in another place.

SPEAKER_04: 10:52

Okay, so now we've given you some fun facts. Let's talk about identification. You need to teach your housekeepers to do the following before they start cleaning every single time and not just when they report seeing. First of all, you take the flat sheet off and look at the fitted sheet if you use fitted sheets and look for those blood spots that Sarah gave us TMI on just a moment ago.

SPEAKER_02: 11:15

And to be clear, this is taking off the dirty flat sheet. This is not like... Going into a property that's already clean and then taking off the flat sheet. When you strip sheets, it is the best time to look for bed bugs. And then you want to get down to the mattress and you want to look at the mattress because you should be able to get that close when you're stripping sheets. You're going to look at the mattress pad and then pull it up to look at the mattress would be the very best thing you could do. And we talked about how to have a tight fitting mattress pad. All beds should have mattress pads. I am ashamed to say that there were times I into properties and strip sheets when our busy times and I found beds that didn't have mattress pads because the housekeepers sometimes strip those when something gets on the mattress pad, forgets to put a new one on, doesn't have one with them and just moves onward. So it really needs to be important, super, super something you check that you have mattress pads and even better full encasements.

SPEAKER_04: 12:12

Another pro tip on here, after you get down to the mattress and you're looking around, you can save yourself some time. If you go on one of those websites like Amazon and look for a blacklight flashlight. I have two. I don't travel without it. My wife thinks it's gross. It's really interesting to go in a bathroom, by the way, and use a blacklight, but that's another episode. But they shine up like Christmas lights when you put the blacklight on them.

SPEAKER_02: 12:37

Otherwise, you have to use your iPhone flashlight. We'll show them up. But yeah, I'd say blacklight and then go in the bathroom and realize how much the male species does not get their pee in the toilet. The other thing you're looking for is not just poop and blood stains, but something called exoskeletons. And that's when the bed bugs do die. They leave their skeleton. So you may find those as well.

SPEAKER_04: 13:00

Make sure you check the box spring, not just the mattress, between the cover and the spring. And of course, the spring itself, because they don't know what it is. They just know it's comfy.

SPEAKER_02: 13:10

Yeah. And that's another reason, Tim, that I go for non-box spring beds these days. The platform beds, metal platform beds. If you have an owner that's asking what kind of bed to get, that's what I suggest.

SPEAKER_04: 13:23

I'd also encourage you not to focus completely on the bed. Check out the nightstand right beside the bed. Check out behind the bed. Check out the footboard. I think you already said that. Anywhere in that area, they just love that. It's like, you know, Broadway show in New York. People just are attracted to it as the bedbugs like those bedding areas because, as we said, they sense we're there.

SPEAKER_02: 13:43

Damn little critters. So everything we just said is great for you to know, but I bet you're not not the only one at your company. So you have to train your maintenance staff, your inspections team, and of course your housekeepers on this, as well as your managers who are going to have to go in and verify before you get treatment. Because as we're going to talk about in a little bit, Tim, treatment is very expensive. Just because she called and said, I think there's bed bugs, doesn't mean there's bed bugs. Not that you should let her know you're questioning her, but some Sometimes these are other, they maybe went hiking and they got bites. I mean, people jump to bed bugs quickly. So your team needs to know how to identify them. So you're not at a loss of treating something that isn't even bed bugs.

SPEAKER_04: 14:33

Did you have a situation where you had like a bed bug expert on staff? Like, oh yeah, Dave knows. Let's make sure Dave gets a look at this before we call the pest control company.

SPEAKER_02: 14:42

Yeah, it was Al.

SPEAKER_04: 14:44

Of course it was Al.

SPEAKER_02: 14:45

How about you?

SPEAKER_04: 14:47

We have a few folks highly trained on this. And I like to get their eyes on it before we call the pest control company. Because as you said, we've had a lot of false alarms over the years. And who's going to make payment on that bill?

SPEAKER_02: 14:59

It's almost like a crime scene. As soon as someone thinks they've identified it, back away, leave it exactly as it was and get the expert in to look at the look of the blood, the poop, the exoskeletons. And we got one of them into a baggie and then it was dead. But we took a photo of it really up close And then we sent that to the treatment guy for him to be like, yep, that's it. We're going to talk about how to treat this when it happens. And we're also going to get into a little more about how to prepare for this so you're ready. But completely unrelated to this, we're going to hear some education about marketing from our partner, ICND.

SPEAKER_00: 15:44

Hey, everyone. Anna here, ICND's social media manager. When it comes to social media for your vacation I've heard it all. Trust me. Is it just a billboard? Do you really need it? Is it worth the investment? Long story short, yes, yes, and yes. Social media is another layer used to get in front of your guests. Building a presence on the platforms where your guests are spending majority of their time each day holds more value and revenue than you might think. With more and more guests using social media platforms as they would a search engine, staying relevant and up to date is vital. Whether it's posting quality content consistently or optimizing your ad campaigns to start generating revenue, social media marketing needs to be in your vacation rental marketing stack. It's not only a communication and branding tool, but a major trust signal and a yes of guests as well. Well,

SPEAKER_04: 16:33

that truly was a break from this topic. And so we appreciate ICMD giving us some great info there. And now we're back to bent bucks. We're talking about how to treat them now. Okay. First of all, call somebody who's an expert We talked about having an expert on staff. That doesn't do it. Don't do this yourself. Don't try to treat this yourself. Call in an expert. And I'll tell you, of course, you're thinking a pest control company, right? Not all pest control companies do this well. In fact, some say, I don't do bed bugs because it's very labor intensive. But get pest control, somebody that knows what they're doing involved right away. Right, Sarah?

SPEAKER_02: 17:13

Yeah, I mean, you need to have this person lined up before this ever happens. I want all of you to commit right now to putting put on your to-do list to figure out who does this in your area or who can drive to your area. We had to call someone from Denver to come up. That's how hard it was to find somebody. But we had a relationship with them. We knew exactly who to call and everyone had their number.

SPEAKER_04: 17:34

And what do they do when they treat? I have heard of some sprays that are used, but the most effective way I've heard, and it comes up every time, is heat. You got to get the temperature up because they don't like heat. They like it 98.6. They don't like it 125. You're

SPEAKER_02: 17:52

going to hear, if you get bed bugs and you haven't thought this through, you're going to hear that there's three ways to treat your bed bugs. There's sprays, there's this, or you can do the really expensive thing, which is the heat. I'm telling you guys, forget about the cheap ways. You have to go with the expensive way and nail this. Go with the heat. I've really heard from so many people, that's the only way to be sure you got the bed bugs. And if you have to deal with it again, that's another couple thousand. first of all, that you have to lose on refunds and moving gas, just annihilate those critters. You know, it gets to 120, so the sprinklers have to be covered. The pet control will do that for you, but just FYI, so that they don't go off. But I have heard, Tim, what's this about bedbugs sniffing dogs?

SPEAKER_04: 18:41

Yes. In one of my areas, Sandbridge, Virginia, dogs are amazing animals. I'm a dog lover. You can train a dog to do just about anything. One thing you can train them to do is sniff out bed bugs and indeed in sandbridge there is a bed bug sniffing dog he's as cute as a button and he is a beast on finding these things

SPEAKER_02: 19:00

have you used him

SPEAKER_04: 19:01

i have he's great i even saw him at work one time and he nailed it there was only like three bed bugs he found them oh that is wild what was his name bingo buggy i think it was i think it was bingo which

SPEAKER_02: 19:16

kind of because he goes he finds one and goes bingo he knows he gets a All right. So that's a good way to identify them. But just remember that the treating needs to be the heat. We want to talk about how to treat everything in the home and how to communicate this to guests. Because put yourself in this scenario if it hasn't happened yet. There's a family staying in a house you manage. They've called and said there's bedbugs. Your team comes or bingo comes or whatever and says, yep, that's what they are. Okay. The guests can't keep staying there, but they also don't know what to do. They might be even leaving in the middle of this whole process because it doesn't happen in five minutes that you treat it. So it's a really complicated scenario. It's not the same as, oh, there's a leak. So you have to move to a home. Just move your stuff. The heat doesn't work. Move to a place. This is a problem now for them on their clothing, their luggage. It all could have bedbugs and they don't know what to do. So we're going to get into that. First of all, what do you do about how you treat treat your laundry after the treatment's complete. So just to repeat, nothing should come out of that house until it's treated. Correct, Tim?

SPEAKER_04: 20:28

We actually have removed linen in advance.

SPEAKER_02: 20:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 20:31

But it's tricky. You need to make sure you got your process down pat about making sure it's in a sealed bag and there's no chance those bed bugs are going to get out of that bag. But I generally would agree with you, but that's not always how it's done.

SPEAKER_02: 20:45

Why? Why would you take it out? Timing.

SPEAKER_04: 20:47

Because it's going to take you a get that laundry redone and you want to go treat the laundry as well. And my experience with our pest control person is that they're not going to guarantee product isn't going to be damaged or the fact is that they may not get everything that's deeply embedded in a pillow or

SPEAKER_02: 21:05

something. Oh, okay. Okay. To be clear, you're not wigging out about getting the sheets and the towels. You're getting the bedding, the, well, we were going to tell you to trash the pillows, but you're going to get the pillow covers like the decor pillows and all of that stuff because you want to deal with it. Okay, that makes sense. Don't worry about the sheets is the point.

SPEAKER_04: 21:27

Yeah, not as much. We're going to deal with them eventually as well, but the sooner you get that stuff out of there, the sooner you can be sure it is okay to go back in there.

SPEAKER_02: 21:35

Got it. Okay. If you don't have high season going on or somehow you've been gifted a month that the guest, there's not another guest coming, Dirk really encourages you to trash the mattress, especially if they're an infestation and not just one or two found. What do you think about that, Tim?

SPEAKER_04: 21:53

Yeah, I think it depends on the infestation. But yeah, it's also a great excuse to replace that old mattress that you need to get rid of anyway, right? So just tell the owner, oh, no, we got to replace this mattress.

SPEAKER_02: 22:03

There you go. There's a new way to get an owner to replace a mattress.

SPEAKER_04: 22:07

Okay, so we've covered the treatment of the room, which typically is contained to one room. Sometimes it could be the whole house or multiple rooms. So they're going to seal off that area. We're going to treat that. We're going to take the stuff out. We're going to treat that. But you need to make sure you have a process. We've kind of explained how we go through it. But do you know right now what you do? So let's get into that next.

SPEAKER_02: 22:28

Yeah. So Tim is perfect at this, as we all know. He's perfect at so many things at his company. You'll see him on video in our clips of him smiling so innocently. So he has a flow chart for this, you guys. I mean, it looks like a computer program is being developed. It has decision points, diamond shapes, yes, no, power. path to take. It looks like one of those choose your own adventure books, but it was impressive. And Tim lets us share it. We'll put it on social. Explain that flow chart and how you train people on that, Tim.

SPEAKER_04: 23:02

Well, it came from experience, unfortunately. So we know the failures we've had in the past and those decision points where maybe we made the wrong turn, like making sure the owner's completely on board with replacing that mattress. And we know exactly what we're going to do with those sheets and mattress covers and pillows and throws and all that. So yeah, it's very important and it is distributed. We do education on it with all of our staff, typically at the beginning of the season and then a refresher as is needed. And I'd love to have that thing popped out when we have bed bug scenario.

SPEAKER_02: 23:35

How about a new staff that joins you? Do you train them upon starting?

SPEAKER_04: 23:39

It is. We don't want to freak them out on the first day, but they do cover that, especially the frontline folks who are out there, our housekeepers, our quality control folks, our maintenance people. I I feel confident that all of them have a good understanding of the process. And many of them do have a three ring binder that they carry that they can flip to it if they have to, if they're in the field.

SPEAKER_02: 23:58

And let's just state the obvious. It's kind of awkward to ask your staff to go in there once bedbugs have been reported. Some are super grossed out. Like, I don't want to go in there.

SPEAKER_04: 24:08

Exactly. I have one last week said, love you, Mr. Tim. I ain't going to it.

SPEAKER_02: 24:14

Yeah. So you got to find some tough people that are okay with it. And they have I think the more they're informed and trained, they'll feel okay going in because they have to know what to look for. Then they have to know who to call and how this is all going to go. And one of the biggest things that we did and Dirk talks about a lot is that if anybody does go in, when you depart, you feel disgusting. You feel like they're all over your body, even though they're not. So the process needs to be that you leave and you take all your your clothes off like in the garage and put fresh clothes on from your car somehow like if you can make that happen and even better you go home and shower hot shower and put all your clothes in the dryer on hot or a hot cycle of wash you just really take every precaution because one bed bug I don't know does there have to be two bed bugs to make another bed bug

SPEAKER_04: 25:14

I'm not sure but they do tend to multiply quickly

SPEAKER_02: 25:17

they do and the one bed bug that might be stuck on your clothing could be an egg right and then 10 oh anyway you get the point

SPEAKER_04: 25:25

please stop

SPEAKER_02: 25:27

okay so we talked about how you treat things when you're in there the all clear use long gloves to put anything in the washer and once the treatment's done Dirk says you really should trust the treatment I've never seen another bed bug after the three times I can remember we did the heat treatment have you I

SPEAKER_04: 25:46

would agree you know we didn't cover is how don't and expensive this process is in our area, I can't remember a scenario that was less than$2,000 for the treatment of one room.

SPEAKER_02: 25:57

Yes. So let's talk about the price and let's kind of gets us into how to deal with homeowners telling them and how to deal with guests. Not only does the bed bug price just to get rid of them cost you over two grand, but you now have a guest that knows you had bed bugs. And if Terry White, if you're listening, this is a moment to give money back. Okay. He doesn't like to give money back. But this is a moment. So you're going to be giving money back to that guest. If they're still in the middle of their stay, you have to move them somewhere. You have to be sure that they're not moving bedbugs to that new place. So a lot of times we had the guests leave their luggage, leave everything in the home to be zapped as well. So makeup melts. People start claiming you ruined some of their things. You got to be ready for all of that. And then you have to put them somewhere else, which during high season, you're not going to charge them for it. So then you're covering that too. So we're going to get to how to deal with owners. In fact, let's just do it right now. How do you handle this, Tim, proactively with your homeowners about who's going to pay for what of that possible$10,000 or more expense?

SPEAKER_04: 27:09

Well, clarity is important. And you have preached the relationship with the homeowner for, I don't know, how long we've been together? Seven years? Seven seasons of episodes? If you have not covered this with your property owners in advance, it's going to be contentious. It may be contentious if you have covered it, but at least you can reference back to the fact, whether it be through homeowner newsletters, monthly owner statements, annual owner meetings, probably not the best topic to cover at a big social event. But at any rate, some way you've told them this can happen and it is a cost of doing business and it's not my cost of doing business. It is your property.

SPEAKER_02: 27:49

You know, we just talked about on our last episode about having a great guest speaker at your homeowner meeting. Don't do this one. Okay. So do you put it in your contract, Tim?

SPEAKER_04: 27:59

I can't say that we have specifics about bed bugs, but we do talk about general categories of interruptions of stay and the fact it would be the responsibility of the property owner. But I have hammered this home through our newsletters and even our monthly owner statements.

SPEAKER_02: 28:15

Okay. So everybody has something to put in their monthly newsletter. If you're not doing a monthly newsletter to your homeowner get started. For everybody listening out there, what is fair to charge your owner? The treatment and the relocation and the money back? Like, do you not take any hit on this?

SPEAKER_04: 28:30

I do things a little differently. And I will also mention that there's a new product. I've not seen it before the last three years. It goes back to what you were saying about the bedbugs sort of showing up here recently. You can actually have bedbug insurance that you can add in on every reservation. Very inexpensive, but you call them and they can They cover it all.

SPEAKER_02: 28:50

Really? They

SPEAKER_04: 28:51

make the homeowner whole, they cover the cost of the treatment, and they make the guest whole. Not a bad idea.

SPEAKER_02: 28:59

Definitely. Okay. Well, you got to figure out what you're going to have as your approach, make it super clear to the owner. And the hardest part is contacting them to say, hi, we found bed bugs in your house. Because if there's a homeowner that's on the edge of possibly not wanting to rent anymore, this could send them over the ledge.

SPEAKER_04: 29:23

Into the abyss. In my home?

SPEAKER_02: 29:25

What? Yeah. They don't ever want to go there again. And let's talk about the hardest thing. And that's the third part of this is talking to the guest, communicating with the guest, making this work. Tim, it sounds like you have this nailed. So can you lead us on how to approach the guest?

SPEAKER_04: 29:42

You know, recently I just traveled and I am always amazed when I travel through airports to see the different mindsets of different travelers. And I really empathize with those desk clerks who have to deal with them because everyone is different, right? And I think that's the case here as well. You really have to reach out to that guest. Make sure you have a spokesperson who speaks for all. And then where are they mentally? I've had guests like, yeah, no big deal. It's only one bedroom. We got another bedroom we're not using. Have at it. We're good. You didn't take away the view. I'm still good. You have others who are like, this is the worst thing that's ever happened in my life. I want to have someone quartered and flogged at noon and a full refund. And if you can shoot the homeowner, that would be great too. You need to work a little harder on those. But I think it's so trite, but it depends. It depends on the mindset of the guest. Some are going to be good. Some are going to be bad. Just hopeful that you can reach a compromise that does not sink you on social media.

SPEAKER_02: 30:49

And do you have them leave their things in the home?

SPEAKER_04: 30:52

Again, my experience has typically been related to only one bedroom. I can remember a scenario where we had two bedrooms affected, but never the entire house. But it's basically like a plague has happened in that room, almost like the yellow tape, do not enter. And yes, everything in that room needs to stay.

SPEAKER_02: 31:11

And you can't have the guests stay there though, even though that's being, so you have to move them, correct?

SPEAKER_04: 31:16

Well, not necessarily. Like I say, in the one scenario I remember, It was only one room affected. They weren't using the whole house. They stayed in the property. They didn't use that room. I think we may have given them some money for some clothes. Because, by the way, they didn't have anything else to wear. It's all in that room in that suitcase. Again, it depends. Most people want to go. But there are some who will say, if it's only that one bed in that one room, you know, this is a six-bedroom property. There's only eight of us. We're good. I'll just move to this other room.

SPEAKER_02: 31:45

I would not be that person.

SPEAKER_04: 31:47

On the communication, again, you handled the game. You've handled the property. And one thing we didn't talk about that might want to make the owner turn and run, but respect you in the future is on the onboarding process, make sure you cover this as a checkpoint. Hey, by the way, we do have a bed bug policy. Here's how it works. And you're going to be paying. So just to make sure that's covered.

SPEAKER_02: 32:07

And honestly, it makes you look like you know what's going on. The fact that you have a relationship with a pest control that will do this and you have a procedure, you look professional. And it's another reason that a homeowner might be like, oh, I don't want to manage this on my own. So use it to your advantage. All right. Isn't managing homes fun, Tim? This

SPEAKER_04: 32:27

is great. So there you have it. Bed bug 101.

SPEAKER_02: 32:31

Just to review, learn and teach your staff the facts about bed bugs, how to identify them, look every single time before you strip sheets. We've talked about how to treat them, create that relationship with pest control company in your area. Make sure you understand how long it'll take for them to come and deal because these will all be emergency situations. Have everything documented, explained. Be sure you've explained it to the homeowner and you're very clear on who's going to pay for what. And then be sure that your guest communication staff is comfortable and understands how to communicate with guests and what the procedure is. Good luck. I hope you never have them. But unfortunately, I think you will.

SPEAKER_04: 33:15

So now time for not so hot off the press, but Definitely happening. It's been a minute since we talked about something, and I want to talk about my trip last week to Las Vegas, Nevada, to Explore Fest 23, which was the Expedia and Verbo Users Forum. 350 people attended. It was an invitation-only event, and it was fantastic, Sarah. Our friend Tim Rosolio gave a keynote speech. He was awesome. Ari Nair, who's been on our podcast as well, the head of lodging for Expedia. Expedia also spoke at a keynote and it was so user centric. I'm telling you, VRMA, you could learn a lot by going to an Expedia conference. These folks have it down pat, Sarah. I had the opportunity to lead a session. I actually had an employee of Expedia assigned to me in advance of the session. We had three pre-conference meetings to make sure we had the content covered. We had a rehearsal on site before the event And then when I walked in the room, I was handed a script of the points that we had spoken of prior.

SPEAKER_02: 34:24

What? What did you talk about anyway?

SPEAKER_04: 34:26

I did a panel discussion on the state of the vacation rental industry. It was a 30-minute, I mean, and 30 minutes, not 31. It was 30 minutes in and out. And I had the panel of Marilee Carr from England, who is an expert on European travel, and Ben Edwards, another friend of ours who represented the domestic end of things. And we got into some really good stuff. We got high ratings. And by the way, I got my ratings right away. I know how people felt about the session. That's

SPEAKER_02: 34:59

amazing. Didn't you say that people had to reserve a spot?

SPEAKER_04: 35:02

They did on the app. You get on these conferences and they have the app and you're like, why do I have this thing? Well, you need to reserve a seat because they had limited seats in each session.

SPEAKER_02: 35:13

Love that. I love that. They

SPEAKER_04: 35:16

were like, I'm sorry, this session is full. But good news for you, it's going to be repeated again in an hour. So each session was done twice. So you had that dilemma when you're there, especially if you're there by yourself as a small entrepreneur. I really liked that one, but I have really liked this one too. What am I going to do? I have to choose. Well, you didn't have to choose. Just so much good content for the people there who are users. And no offense intended, particularly for our partners that help us on the podcast, but there were no vendors there. There was no showcase where you had to go in and run the gauntlet to go get a cup of coffee. Oh, and the food. Oh my gosh, the food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks all the time.

SPEAKER_02: 36:00

Tim, though, you mentioned of the 350 people that you only really knew five to 10, although you had people running up to you saying they love the podcast. So who were all these people?

SPEAKER_04: 36:13

Well, first of all, no, they ran up to me and said, where's Sarah? Of course, of course. I'm looking for Sarah. Oh, gosh. It does get old.

SPEAKER_02: 36:23

I know. It's hard being the main squeeze.

SPEAKER_04: 36:26

Yes, it is. Actually, one of my staff went to a conference recently and Drake decided to go out to the pool. You know who Drake is?

SPEAKER_02: 36:34

Yeah. I know. I'm down.

SPEAKER_04: 36:36

Okay. And so he had like this SWAT team that went to the pool and cleared out the area so Drake could come out. That's what I'm expecting Sarah Bradford to have someday in the near future.

SPEAKER_02: 36:47

Okay. I'm going to have a pocket shirt and

SPEAKER_04: 36:49

black pants, clearing out a space so she can come through to get to the general session.

SPEAKER_02: 36:54

That would be so fun. Can we just do that? Maybe I could have like all those big dudes like Travis, CJ. They can all come around me and be my bodyguards. But anyway, back to this. Who are these 350 people?

SPEAKER_04: 37:08

Well, there are a number of people who use just the Verbo platform. Some smaller managers, smaller in that they only manage a few properties. There's some people probably listening today like Chris, Chrissy from Panita Beach, Florida, who promised me she's going to be listening to this episode that was there just to soak up so much. And I could see the lights going off in her eye about connecting with other people. I actually connected her with somebody that I'd met. It was near her area who also was fairly new to the industry and they were going to learn from each other. Just seeing that connection of individuals is great. A lot of folks looking at software for the first time, believe it or not. And of course, Expedia has Escapia That was a good connection for those folks, but also some old friends. And I want to tell you also this, you know, the Verbo reps, the account reps, you loved yours. They're all great. I have Mark Nomura, fantastic guy. So the head of all those folks is a lady named Tricia Boudreau, who listens to us every morning when the new podcast comes out, when she's getting ready for work. So, hey, Tricia.

SPEAKER_02: 38:12

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_04: 38:14

You know what she does, Sarah? What? She has all of her account reps listen to us. So shout out. To the Verbo account reps, Erica, Alex, Aaron, Andrea, Emily, Mark, all those folks I met. I know who you are. I listen to you every two weeks because Tricia makes me. So I'll take it.

SPEAKER_02: 38:31

All right. I can't help but say something snarky. Verbo, you are our favorite OTA. If anyone works at Airbnb that's listening to this episode, please contact us. And I guarantee you it's crickets. Sorry, but I know they're not listening while they get ready in the morning. Thank you, Verbo. for listening to vacation rental operators and a former operator about what our struggles are. So appreciate it. Really shows you're trying to connect with us.

SPEAKER_04: 39:01

And look for my takeaways from the conference in bullet form on social real soon. Boom. Okay. That'll do it, Sarah. Action-packed episode on bedbugs and the Verbo Expedia conference. I hope everybody enjoyed it. We got some great stuff coming down the pipe. Looking forward to that. Great job as always,

SPEAKER_02: 39:21

Sarah. By the way, we are not paid by Vrbo in any way, shape, or form. Thank you. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_04: 39:27

So long, everybody.

SPEAKER_03: 39:31

You've just listened to Sarah and T, the professional vacation rental managers podcast, hosted by Tim Cafferty of Outer Banks Blue and Sandbridge Blue, and Sarah Bradford, former owner of two vacation rental companies in Colorado, now advising other VR companies to thrive and grow. Today's episode was brought to you by their podcast partner, Intercoastal Net Designs. ICND is an award-winning web development and digital marketing agency that specializes in helping vacation rental companies gain more direct bookings. ICND.net is their website for you to find more information. Special thanks also to ICND for hosting Sarah and T's website. Sarah and T love to hear from their listeners. You can reach out to them on Facebook, LinkedIn, or their website, Sarah They always love to read a review on your favorite podcast app. Even better, if you like this episode, share it with a friend. Sarah and T will be back with a new episode very soon.