Hello ABB Colleagues,
i run an entire home with ABB. i don’t live there. I
m a new host starting up with reservations in Aug. for those of you who run a home and not living there, Do you offer a grill, is it charcoal or propane ? and why ? thank you in advance for replying.
propane. Less chance of accidents… pretty idiot proof!
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Where will you be putting the grill?
Well… I know an Idiot who wanted to pour coal on a propane grill…
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Not sure I would offer any grill. Like Kona I’ve seen some real grill-idiots. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
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Depending on what kind of place you offer, I wonder if you could find something similar to what parks offer where it’s basically attached so you have a designated place for it and it can’t be moved.
If you do have a grill, I would post rules nearby and make it clear that any damage will be pulled from their deposit. But especially in a whole house situation (which I offer too), you’re dealing with people cooking in your house too. So I don’t see the risk as much greater. Just make sure you make it as idiot and excuse proof as possible, with clear expectations and directions posted.
Guys love to grill, especially on vacations, so if you’re primarily appealing to families and groups, a grill is a great amenity. I plan to offer one as soon as we update the patio area for our guest-house. But at least in our case, we’re across the driveway and can see 90% of what happens outside. Maybe also have your number posted for questions/help?
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the BBQ grill will be placed in the backyard.
It depends on the kind of listing. If it’s a family vacation place then yes. It is a hazard though. A friend of mine, smart guy and an he’s an insurance agent, was grilling under his back patio cover and caught his house on fire.
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Oh yeah!! I had a set of guests do that! Ever since then, though, no problems.
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I used to offer both a charcoal grill and a gas grill. Multiple guests made use of them with no problems. But there were 3 occasions where the guests had no understanding of how to use them correctly/safely, and either just made big messes, required too much of my time babysitting them through the process of grilling a hamburger, and one guest left the grill on wasting all the propane in the tank and creating a safety hazard. So, I sold both of those, bought myself a portable Coleman tailgating grill that folds up, I can wheel around easily for storage. I don’t advertise it as an amenity and I haven’t let any guests use it because I discourage cooking in my home.
Edited to add: I do keep charcoal and grilling utensils in my shed, guests are more than welcome to use those things to grill at any of the 3 available parks within a 1-5 minute drive time that have grills for the public to use. But while some have asked about grilling, as soon as they find out they’d have to do it all themselves and God forbid eat at a picnic table in a beautiful park overlooking a lake or river, suddenly they are willing to be satisfied with pizza from the take out place.
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I don’t offer a grill although several guests have asked about one. We live in Southern California and are four years into a drought. The grass in our back yard is dry due to watering restrictions. I’m too concerned about fire hazard to allow our guests to grill.
On an amusing side note, we had some guests who really wanted to grill. They were cooking at about 2:00 A.M. (making food to take with them the next day). I showed them my cast iron grill pan. Apparently that wasn’t what they wanted as they used one of my cooling racks for baked goods as a grill.
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I ran our lakefront home as a VR for three summers and had a small charcoal Weber for guests (only because there were large grills provided on the “beach”). The house rule was to dump the ashes in the covered can and scrape off the grids with the provided tools. It was important because we also had a bear issue.
Do you think these high end renters would comply? Heck no. You should have seen the accumulation of baked on BBQ sauced crud every time we returned! It took some serious elbow grease to remove accompanied by a litany of colorful language. If I had a place to store the grill, I would have put it away.
Still have the place…but don’t rent it out anymore.
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I have had to put a time limit on barbecuing, otherwise I get nit wits trying to grille at midnight when the rest of the neighborhood has gone to bed.
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This was indoor cooking. They were trying to make my stove in to a makeshift grill.
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it does sound like a “headache” to keep a grill in the backyard whether charcoal or propane. forget it!!
Thnak you everyone for sharing your experience. i truly appreciate this great community of wonderful hosts.
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It’s really not too bad if you can keep an eye on things. Guests love being able to grill fresh island fish or island beef. Definitely has been a plus for my guests.
I have a grill, but i don’t offer it because people are so dirty and irresponsible.
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I have offered a Weber Q100 series gas grill in holiday let apartments in London and in Switzerland for some years. It is basically American guests who use them. Weber provides excellent after-sales service, but I have to say the self-ignitors tend to fail after a few years and are not worth trying to fix: I then provide Bic “Multi-Purpose” lighters. Fortunately no guest has run out of gas during a stay. I keep an old-fashioned (i.e. not electronic) scale on hand to weigh the gas bottle, and I mark it with the tare weight (the empty container weight).
I would not offer a grill at all. I do not think it will increase your bookings, it will be one more thing to clean and one more thing for people to complain about (such as the grill not being clean). My advice to new hosts is to pace yourself and as time goes on you may get a better sense of what makes a difference to guests in the quality of their stay. As time goes on you can add amenities.
One piece of advice is also not to set yourself up for something that is going to build some resentment. If you go out of your way to offer something, such as a grill, and it is misused (it only takes a few times) then I think that can quickly lead to resentment and burnout.
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You have to know your market. If I didn’t offer a grill in the Catskills I would most certainly be dinged in reviews. In fact, I once had someone book and when I mentioned causally that our propane grill was broken they canceled the booking. In fact, a lot of my Brooklyn hipsters want a charcoal grill option, which I am debating.
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