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That’s the important issue. This thread shows pretty well that providing a barbecue grill for guests adds an unnecessary complication to our jobs as hosts.
The insurance and liability issue alone is a nightmare. Add salmonella from an improperly cleaned grill, the added expenses for the host for gas and specialist cleaning … it’s all too much of a faff.
I appreciate that Americans like to cook outdoors but as a non-American I don’t feel that it’s something I need to provide.
There are plenty of park areas nearby that provide grills, including some on the beach. It’s honestly nicer for guests to grill on the beach rather than in my yard so if asked, I recommend those parks.
Sorry, I went way off topic above. But the best way is to remove the grill altogether or lock it in a garage or shed.
If I were to adopt your suggestion now and maybe I will some day, I would have work to do, right? I’d need to sit down and write out that names and models, maybe give some context for the items (BBQ, Living Room etc). SO I would spend some amount of time doing that. Agreed?
THEN [BTW, will that capitalization get me in trouble with the capitalization police? Let’s see!] I’d have to change the guest communications. SO that would take some time.
AND the Host would have to make sure she doesn’t lose that document.
SO it would take time I just don’t want to spend right now.
It’s probably ‘unnecessary’ though a few Hosts here [in the U.S.] felt it would be expected in a whole-house listing.
I feel it’s a VERY ‘nice to have.’
Per CNN 75% of Americans own an outdoor grill or smoker.
When people are on vacation, some/many like to grill. This year – and this is unusual – every one of our guests in May through our current guest has grilled on our gas grill (none did the charcoal grill, saying it was ‘too much work’). [Maybe they meant the guide and the Weber book?] [I jest.]
Each Host will need to evaluate whether the time it takes to maintain the grill and any communications about it are worth it. Many housecleaners won’t clean it. So cleaning might well fall to the Host.
As for salmonella from an improperly cleaned grill, I’ve seen some lay articles suggesting that. But the same articles will say that the salmonella risk is from mixing raw and cooked foods usually by sharing plates or utensils. THAT is the major bacteria risk.
Preheating the grill for 10-15 minutes typically creates temperatures on the grates of 500F degrees or more. All the food-borne bacteria we know are long dead.
Having grills has not been an insurance and liability issue for us. The swimming pool has been much more of a burden in that way.
Grilling in a park or at a beach is certainly fun. I have considered buying a Weber Smokey Joe or Anywhere Go grill for that purpose.
See, that’s exactly what I mean about bizarre and convoluted. So you give her a hard copy, you put it on her laptop, you copy it to a flash drive and you save it to the cloud. Now it doesn’t matter a hoot if she looses the hard copy.
You remind me of my next door neighbor, who I quite like and is a friend of mine, but I dread having to do some project with him, no matter how simple, because he wants to discuss every imagined scenario, what ifs, buts, and whys before actually just getting the job done. It drives me nuts. One day we had a water crisis- the city’s wells were dry and we had to order a truckload of water. My system holds 3000 liters and my neighbor D’s holds 1000, which was perfect as the water truck is 4000 liters. So the guy starts filling my tank on my roof, and I say to D- grab my tall ladder and put it up against the back of the shed at your place behind where the water tank is on the roof . He starts in with, Yeah, but how will… and what if…
He’s just a renter there- I’ve been looking after the place for the absentee owner for years and have been through this water drill before.
I had to say, “Look, D, just go put the ladder up there. This water guy is not going to be pleased if he has to stand around waiting while you get every question in your mind about this process answered. It will all become clear as it happens, there’s nothing to discuss”. And it did all become clear. It didn’t need to be talked about, it required actions, not words.
I do understand that changing guest messaging, in your case, takes time that you might not want to spend now, though.
The guest just emailed and said that some of the metal bristles were coming off the grill cleaning tool and it could cause injury if the bristles ended up in- someone’s food.
I will be glad when Friday comes and they check out.
One more thing, to @jaquo 's point taken more generally, the more things you have the greater the burden.
For example, we have a pancake maker and a panini press. We don’t list them in the listing, but they’re there. Do they work? I don’t know. If a guest complained that they couldn’t get them to work I could say that we never listed them as an amenity (assuming I couldn’t figure it out) but they wouldn’t be happy with that answer. So the easiest thing to do would be to remove them until I KNOW they work and how. Haven’t done that yet.
You can link the speakers to Spotify or Pandora. I have Spotify. I went to link them and I don’t know what or how I did it, but they just linked up and work. What if a guest tried to link them with Pandora but couldn’t? Well, that would become my urgent project.
We had a guest a few years ago who wanted to know how each button on the clothes washer worked. Well, we never used the advanced features, and we did have the manual but they wanted a live tutorial. Going through the manual was like studying for a PhD dissertation defense!
I could go on. But that is the burden of having ‘things.’ For me the first step is to write down somewhere the brand and model, so I could research it remotely.
We had one guest a few years ago say that more of the sound from the TV projection system should come from the front speakers, not the rear speakers. I couldn’t figure out how to do that. As it was, our TV system required three remote controls to turn on and control, which worked fine. We had a guest last year whose son worked at a home theater company. When they left they said that the son reprogrammed the system to make it all work from just one remote control. I gave him $100 and he was thrilled. As was I.
The bigger question is how many things to have and to make sure it’s worth it to have them, know them, maintain them. For me a grill is worth it; maybe not for others.
The House Guide is actually as much for us as it is for the guests because we have read it, actually studied it. We put it together based on the manual that came with the device as well as things we’ve read on the web and our own experience. But because we tend to forget, especially from not using the devices for years, we make sure that the verbiage will help us guide the guest.
I like the Kona and have just ordered it. Thanks . I believe I will hire a young person who is up to date on all electronics/links etc.and have them go through the house and make certain all things are up to date and linked. Since it rained on the 4th there were very few fireworks so at least they did not mention that.
Well since the ability to charge a deposit has been removed from the platform, unless you are using a channel manager, that is going to be hard.
If you have a nasty, entitled guest….do you really think they are going to pay any attention to a sign? We know guests can’t/ don’t read!
