Whatever you do to protect your interests, there is risk in this business. It could be from potential overcrowding, noise, liability, general damage and use of amenities such as hot tubs or pools, or any number of other issues.

Mitigating those risks is an important element in your business plan and isn’t something that you just do at the start of the business. It should be revisited annually. Whether it’s updating an emergency plan, rewriting guest contracts or sourcing new products to make the process more efficient and effective, working on the plan is an ongoing task.

One of today’s guests talks about it as being like the advent of the Model T Ford. At the time of its production, there were few vehicles on the road, there were minimal safety measures, and no licensing for would-be drivers. Yet, over the years the industry changed dramatically and the function and design of vehicles had to change too, to meet the demands of rapidly advancing technology.

When I first started out in vacation rentals, it was all simple. A few lines in a classified ad would get some interested people on the phone to talk about their wants for a vacation. Now, online booking is wiping out the element of personal relationships and we have to trust that what we are being told on a profile is an accurate representation of the guests' motivation to rent.

This can lead to the types of stories that both guests on this episode have to tell and why they were driven to find a solution to some of the problems they encountered. Amanda Mills from Party Squasher and David Krauss from Noise Aware have both developed products that can help in mitigating risk from overcrowding and neighbor issues when guests get rowdy and the noise gets out of hand.

Amanda and Dave talk about their respective journeys to the development of Party Squasher and Noiseaware, and how these devices are a part of responsible ownership.

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Party Squasher

Noise Aware

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