The Vacation RentalistNatural Disasters are a part of life. Whether flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes or wildfires are your local issue, it’s important to be prepared for all eventualities in your home life and in your rental. The three main factors of disaster preparedness in a rental are; insurance, guest communication, and emergency supplies.
Insurance
Make sure your rental is insured in every possible manner available for both guest issues and natural disasters. If your area has hurricanes, get insurance for hurricanes. If your area has earthquakes, get insurance for earthquakes. Check with local companies and other rental owners to see what the best insurance in your area is. Make sure your rental is insured so that any and all damages can be paid for without sinking your company.
Guest Communication
In the best case scenario, you won’t have guests in your properties during a natural disaster. However it’s always possible that something will happen to a guest when you’re unavailable. Always be sure to have local emergency and non-emergency numbers, as well as the location of the nearest hospital, posted somewhere easily accessible. You can even commission it as part of a lovely sign on display in your rental.
Even if you feel like everyone knows to call 911, it doesn’t hurt to post it for international guests who have different emergency numbers.
If an unexpected emergency comes up, and your guest is there, be sure to offer a refund for evacuations, and even offer to give them a hotel room at a safer location.
Emergency Kits
Hopefully in an instance of emergency, there won’t be any guests or employees at your rental. However, some disasters are unpredictable and, should someone be there, you want to give them all the tools you can to help them survive as comfortably as possible, even in an emergency situation. Our basic emergency kit includes:
- Rechargeable Flashlights
- Batteries
- First Aid
- Water Jugs from the local grocery
