The Vacation Rental Key with T and T

Episode 14 - When Superman Isn't Coming: How Your Disaster Plan Misses Key People

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Disaster preparation in the vacation rental industry typically focuses on protecting properties and communicating with owners and guests—but what about the people who make your business run? In this eye-opening episode, Hospitality Heroes co-founder April Burns joins hosts Tim Cafferty and Tiffany Edwards to reveal the five critical mistakes property managers make when planning for natural disasters.

Drawing from her firsthand experience during Hurricane Helene's devastating impact on Western North Carolina, April shares powerful stories of communities cut off from help, families separated during evacuations, and the extraordinary impact that proper preparation could have made. "Superman is not coming," she reminds listeners, underscoring that proactive planning is essential for survival and recovery.

From failing to help employees understand their evacuation options to overlooking the importance of digital documentation backups, these common mistakes can prove catastrophic during emergencies. The conversation explores innovative solutions like cross-regional partnerships between property management companies, creating expanded emergency contact networks, and establishing regional supply caches with specialized equipment beyond just water donations.

The discussion extends beyond theory to practical action steps, including how vacation rental managers can immediately improve their disaster readiness using resources available at HospitalityHeroes.org. You'll discover why expanding your emergency planning to include housekeepers, vendors, and community partners isn't just compassionate—it's essential for business continuity.

Whether you manage properties in hurricane zones, wildfire regions, or flood-prone areas, this episode provides crucial insights for protecting your team and business when disaster strikes. Remember: "It's not a matter of if it's going to happen. It's a matter of when."

Speaker 1:

You're listening to the Vacation Rental Key with T&T, the podcast for vacation rental managers by vacation rental managers. I'm Tim Cafferty and I manage two companies, one in Virginia and one in North Carolina. I'm one of the two T's.

Speaker 2:

And I'm the other, T Tiffany Edwards, born and raised in the vacation rental business. I help manage our family businesses from Key West all the way to Kauai.

Speaker 1:

In the next 30 minutes, we're going to give you our keys to success in the vacation rental business to success in the vacation rental business.

Speaker 2:

Welcome back everyone. I'm Tiffany and I'm Tim, and we are so excited. Today we have got something completely different and I know we teased it in the last episode, but, Tim, can you share a little bit about what we've got cooking today?

Speaker 1:

Yes, we're going to talk about some key mistakes. We see We've talked about the needs for processes and policies and how important those are during times of natural disasters, but how often are we thinking about the needs of our employees, our suppliers, our housekeepers, our community partners in those times?

Speaker 2:

That's so right, tim, and it really hit home for me last week when we were at the Women's Summit Shout out to Amy Hino for delivering on content that really gets an operator thinking not only about a professional solution but really about personal ones as well, and it made me think about the hospitality being an essential part of the culture and the fabric of how we recognize and take care of our employees. But we don't necessarily think of them in those really high stress times and our policies and procedures, sometimes in those natural disasters, go towards our owners and our focus towards our guests and not the people who keep our doors open.

Speaker 1:

And that's so right. A lot of people make these mistakes, but I think it goes back to being proactive in your planning and thinking outside of just those owners and guests. So you all are in for a treat, because you don't have to listen to us for the next 28 minutes. We have April Burns with us to help us go through the top five. Get ready five key mistakes we see being made when it comes to our members preparing and recovering from a natural disaster. Welcome, april.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm certainly excited to be on today and talk about something that I'm so passionate about and that we've worked very hard over the last 10 months to launch and get moving on, and April for those few, maybe handful of listeners that don't know you, if you could share just a little bit about how you've been in this hospitality industry?

Speaker 3:

from all sides?

Speaker 3:

Definitely yes.

Speaker 3:

So I have been in hospitality for 30 years and starting off in hotels and resorts, and then I've been fortunate to stay in the vacation rental space, working with IC&D.

Speaker 3:

And last year, when Hurricane Helene hit my hometown area of Western North Carolina, and after seeing the devastation that hits Florida over the several years, I just felt this calling or desire to really step in and help those who maybe don't have the supplies, maybe don't have the education or the tools to be able to successfully survive a natural disaster, and it is something that I'm very passionate about, taking from my parents, of that servant leadership.

Speaker 3:

But it is something where I felt like we were able to be there first. So whenever Helene came in, we were actually able to be there, thanks to the generosity from so many people in our industry, to provide help and equipment and supplies to people that had been completely cut off, and that's whenever I had that aha moment of wow. We really need this in our industry. We need someone that, to your point when you open, that really looks out for their employees and not only looks out for them but provides them with the tools that maybe they do not have or they never thought about to be able to give to their employees and their teams in a time of natural disaster or crisis.

Speaker 1:

You mentioned it hit home personally and I did not realize you had a connection to Western North Carolina and the disaster there. Tell us more about what happened and what you saw.

Speaker 3:

Definitely so. My whole family's from Hendersonville, north Carolina and, as my sister, who still lives there, says, they're always supposed to support us in a hurricane. They never thought that we were going to have to support them in a hurricane. So to be able to stay in contact with her, thankfully, but to also just be able to help and be able to see the devastation that really happened live and in person is something you don't understand unless you actually see it. It is completely devastating.

Speaker 3:

Again, thanks to the generosity of friends in our industry, we were able to collect a lot of funds and get a box truck donated to us and myself and a friend of mine actually drove it up there. I think day five and we were able to be there before even some government officials had been activated to be able to come in to help and my sister. Actually, they lost all their power. We had a niece who actually lost their entire home, was completely flooded not in the floodplain, not anticipated at all and got out minutes before with young children. Right before it happened and after watching that, being able to see us come in and help provide these supplies, they were reaching out to my sister via Facebook Messenger because that was all they had. They had no power, but they could still reach, thanks to cell service, and reach out to her and say, hey, we've got 60 people down here in this in the mountains, holler, that is completely detached from everyone else. The only bridge we had is gone, so can you please come and provide us with supplies? And so we went down and set up pulley systems and pulleys, supplies across to them and we're able to really see again firsthand just that devastation.

Speaker 3:

It was truly heartbreaking. As I've said, it is where I grew up. Every memory I have, everywhere I went as a kid, was gone and that's hard to see. That's a tough thing to see. Especially I lost my parents six years ago. So especially losing my parents and then attaching that to their memory, it's a tough thing to go in and see. And then you, and then that's so small compared to these people who lost everything.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's incredible because I think in these times, people want to help but they don't exactly know where, and I remember when you put the link up for some funds and it just grew exponentially really overnight. But what's so impressive is that you want to help in so many other locations and the key mistakes that we're going to talk about today. There are things we can be doing is that you want to help in so many other locations, and the key mistakes that we're going to talk about today. There are things we can be doing proactively, and then Hospitality Heroes is creating even better solutions for us to address some of these mistakes. Should we go ahead and get started on some of these? Number one lack of preparation on safety. Do employees know their options or concerns based on where their home is located? Do they know where their shelter would be? Do they know if they're in a flood zone or an evacuation zone? And are you, as an owner, discussing some of this information with them?

Speaker 3:

Erin Brockovich came out with a book several years ago that's called Superman is Not Coming zone, and are you, as an owner, discussing some of this information with them? Erin Brockovich came out with a book several years ago that's called Superman is not coming, and I think that that's what's important to realize is that especially people who have gone through these natural disasters is Superman is not going to just show up at your doorstep or wherever you are. We've got to be able to have those holes, to be resilient and be prepared before a natural disaster happens. And one of the things I learned from the people that went through the fires in LA is that you know, not only do you have to have a plan A and plan B, but are you working with your team for them to have a plan C, d and E?

Speaker 3:

Because a lot of times, what you think you have planned, or what you have kind of, is your family plan even is going to change. For example, they had evacuated to a shelter, and that shelter was then evacuated, and so then they got split up as a family. So you think about those items of, ok, hey, we're going to meet here, but if that doesn't work, this is our next step, and then, if that doesn't work, we're going to plan C and making sure that everyone is communicating with your team as well, because we've been through enough hurricanes on the coast that everyone just leaves. You know, just have to go at that time, and so you need to know that there's going to be traffic and just other situations where you might lose touch with your team. You need to know how you're going to be able to communicate with them once you all get to a safe location.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you mentioned this too but having updated to know exactly where your employees live so that if, in the future, if a water shut off or if there are certain roads that are blocked out, you know that you've got an employee in that area or a team you've got an employee in that area or a team member or a community member in that area, because it's going to be hard sometimes to get in touch with them and to understand what supplies they may need.

Speaker 3:

Completely agree. One of the things we're doing on our website is we're actually creating what we call the Hospitality Heroes Hub, and part of that is we're developing a map where we are going to pinpoint locations. So we want people to be able to go to the state, to their region and then to their town and area to be able to receive information, not only currently right now, it has a lot of after information who to contact in your local region but what we want to do is also be able to provide the before steps, because that's so important. Again, a lot of people don't think about. Again, I'll just use hurricane season as an example.

Speaker 3:

Until it's hurricane season and you need to sit down and talk with your team and work through, because not only are you going to help them as a business, you're going to help them within their own family and community, be able to help provide information to their community. Maybe people down the street that did not know that they were in a floodplain. So part of that map is to be able to provide a floodplain map level over top of it so they could see exactly where they are, because maybe where the business is is not, but maybe when they have to drive 30 minutes inland to their house, even if they're not in one. Some of the roads they're going to cross probably are in that floodplain.

Speaker 1:

Well, just thinking here as you're talking, I'm not sure my records are up to date. I'm thinking to myself. Of course I have everybody's phone number. I have their address. What would you recommend to an employer to put something in action to make sure you're covered?

Speaker 3:

Actually, on our website, we do have a prepared checklist, so that way businesses can go on. It is the first step. It's not going to be your most comprehensive, but it is to help get you started. We want to make sure that you are thinking about these items, or your employees, in ways that you've never probably thought about To your point. Are your contact information? Is it up to date? How do you have the new employees information that maybe they just got hired last week, right before you're having to evacuate? Do you have that available and in your hands? And so we wanted to have that on the website just as a first item for anybody to be able to download. And it is not just hurricane specific, it is all disaster, all crisis specific that we want people to be able to reach into Again, to be able to build out. That is that first step to be able to build out your true crisis plan.

Speaker 1:

And what's the website? We've teased it twice.

Speaker 3:

It's hospitalityheroesorg.

Speaker 2:

Tim and April. It's interesting because now I'm in the middle of permits and registrations and we have to do evacuation routes for a lot of our permits and submit it, and I do evacuation routes for most of our houses but I don't even think to have that conversation a lot of times with the people I work with.

Speaker 3:

It's so tough to be able to do that, not only whenever you're trying to have that conversation with them, but the other thing we're going to provide is we're actually wanting to partner. There are a lot of companies that maybe have already certain areas or certain aspects. For example, there's a great app out there called Watch Duty that handles pretty much the central US to the West Coast of all fire, and it will actually alert you when there's a fire. You can set areas. So we want to partner with them. We don't want to go in and recreate the will. We want to be able to partner with some people like that. So then, that way, we are truly providing. It is another nonprofit and it is somebody that we can truly provide the most up-to-date information with, because they've now been doing this for, I think, four years or so.

Speaker 1:

So that number one key is to be prepared, or maybe the lack of preparation in some of our cases. We move on to number two. How about the lack of preparation with documentation? Think of preparation as taking care of a home, but what about the personal necessities in a fire, flood or storm, necessities like an insurance policy, a lease, a mortgage, vehicle registration? Do you have a list of your valuables? How about legal documents, pet records, utility account numbers, bills that will give you proof of residency so you can get back in All these kinds of things? And do you have digital copies of these things? What do you have there?

Speaker 3:

So there's another great app out there called Trustworthy. You can upload and have digital copies that is secure of all your documents. Highly recommend them. They do give discounts to military and some other people. One thing we say is misplaced documents is creating the biggest vulnerability. We want to make sure people have those documents.

Speaker 3:

I myself, six months ago, was evacuated from my house due to a fire and it was in our backyard down our street. I was actually at a wedding, having to call my husband and say here's where this is, here's where that is, so to be able to kind of walk him through everywhere he needed to go. And you do realize how spread out, like your mortgages and where your registrations are, because think about the people in LA that had to abandon their cars with that registration in their car. Another one said that you know they didn't think about having the title to their vehicle. They left and then they had to fight to prove that they were the owners of that vehicle. So there are so many things that we just we take for granted. Before we left, I walked around the house and I videoed, because that was the quickest way to actually go through. All of our stuff is to video the entire house. So I would certainly recommend that at minimum once a year. So then that way you have the most up to date.

Speaker 3:

Obviously, if you go buy a big piece of furniture or clients, certainly make sure you add that to the list, Because those are some of the things. You just have to then go back through bank records or go through other items to be able to prove that you were that owner. The other thing you mentioned pet records. Certainly have pet records but have an updated photo with you with your pet. So if somebody finds them, it's a way to prove that you are the owner and you're just not somebody coming in and say sure, I'll take them. You know you. You are the owner of that pet because, again, things that maybe you haven't had, over the last few years that pet has gone from a tiny puppy to the size of a dog. So you want to make sure you have that updated photo for them as well.

Speaker 2:

This is so good. I'm now making notes of all the things I'm not doing, and this is so much more important because it's not again just for us to take in, it's for us to communicate with the people that we work with to do these things. So if we had the key sound Tim, there'd be five or six of those. I do know so.

Speaker 2:

Number two, then, was lack of preparation with the documents and necessary documentation. Number three we've alluded to this earlier, but not having emergency contact or knowing the best ways to communicate with people. So sometimes having that emergency contact being outdated or the emergency contact is maybe a spouse or someone that you evacuated with and you can't get in touch with that individual.

Speaker 3:

Think about people who are elderly, that have to evacuate quickly, that leave their phone that person, then you have no information who to contact on their behalf. So, to your point, you're leaving with your family, you're all together, all have the same. Obviously that is who your contact person is. So it's important to reach out and get a larger tree, like that thought, when you actually have, like that phone tree, you want to get a larger tree of who that contact, that emergency contact, is If you can't get in touch with their first one. Again, it kind of goes with that plan A, b, c and D. You have a list of people that you could reach out to and contact, because whenever I couldn't get ahold of some of my family members, I mean I was calling everyone I knew to be like, do you have access? Can you drive by? And of course trees were down so they couldn't.

Speaker 3:

Those are things that you're just you become panicked and wanting to make sure that they're okay, and so that's something that you really do want to have a lot of communication with, but not only with that emergency contact.

Speaker 3:

The other thing you want to do is, once somebody is evacuating, it would be great for you to find out from your team members where they're planning to evacuate, to, where are they going, and then also setting a timeline when everyone should be back, Because, again, we know that there's going to be cleanup, there's going to be, everybody's going to need help, everybody's going to want to see their own house, make sure everything's okay, but talk to them about whenever you hey, okay, if you're evacuating to here, when are you planning on returning? Just so I have in my mind when you're coming back, so then I can help you or be able to anticipate, provide you with some supplies if they didn't have it. You know it. Just really, there's such a variety of things as a property manager or a property or company owner that you can do to help that team member once they do return back.

Speaker 1:

I think you need to set expectations as well that when we are back open for business, I'm going to need you, and communicating that to them, I think would be critical as well in advance.

Speaker 3:

I agree. We used to do a 48-hour return Once the all clear was done from a hurricane. It was not till the all clear, then you got it, because a lot of times I'll wait 24 hours, so then you get the all clear. We used to have a 48 hour return back to the hotel, so then that way we could all have all hands on deck to help get everything back up and functioning and working. And that is very important to them to have that kind of expectation as well.

Speaker 1:

Number four on our list would be these are mistakes. Again, mistake would be not including or not knowing answers for housekeepers, vendors and community partners in these discussions. What about that April?

Speaker 3:

That's part of that communication that you're having with your team. So not only do you want to look out for your stakeholders, your owners, because they're of course, going to be the ones calling you, but you want to look out for your team members. Now, in the situation in Western North Carolina, everything went down. So what we recommend is actually one of the goals we have on our website is actually to be able to connect property management companies with each other. So, for example, if I'm on the Gulf Coast and I'm evacuating, I could contact somebody in or work with somebody, maybe in New England or in Tennessee, and then they can we can actually forward our phone calls to their office and then they could help us go through the phone calls, because you know you have guests calling that are supposed to come next week and want to know, or for Christmas and four months from now they want to know if their house is going to be okay, and you need somebody to be able to answer that question for them. Part of our goal is also to have that agreement where they can sit there and work together and have just know that respect of hey, listen, once we're gone, if you guys ever need to evacuate again. It's going to come right back to us. We'll be happy to answer the phone for you and be able to help drive. It's going to be some education, obviously, but we all know enough that we can answer some of the questions for them and at least give them some security and knowing that everything will be okay, that we will reach back out to that guest as soon as we possibly can. I mean, I know on the websites we do banners across for announcements letting them know what's up, so then that way you can set that timeline as well.

Speaker 3:

Rochelle, one of the co-founders so Sue Jones and Rochelle Hobbs are the co-founders with me.

Speaker 3:

One of the things she did for she has a house up in Western North Carolina and one of the things she did is she reached out to a company up there and brought some of the painters down to help her at Hobbs Realty, because that way they kept an income, they were able to still work, and then she rotated them out and then rotated a few more in and it was only for a few weeks that they weren't gone a long time, like Sanibel Allen when it was hit twice right after each other.

Speaker 3:

You have people that have to close down for a significant period of time and then you lose a lot of the jobs. Well, what we want to do is help connect those people. So then you do know you're going to have people that could come back down the road. So if we're connecting them and they're going to work with somebody out in California for a few months or wherever it might be, then that way you know that they can come back and then continue to work for you, because again, it goes all back to that company culture as well. You're building that company culture by watching out for your team and helping them keep that income that they so desperately do need, and that's such a good point too, because to get back up and running you need all of those people.

Speaker 2:

So really, I think it's also incumbent on the department heads to make sure they know who are their preferred vendors. How are they evacuating? Is there an understanding that they can be back in a certain amount of time to come help? Same with the housekeepers and the check-in for that. So I love that Hospitality Heroes extends so much further across all industry stakeholders.

Speaker 3:

We have big, big plans, big goals, for sure, because we see that need and we know just, we've all lived through it. Sue is over in Idaho. They go through that fire watch, having to evacuate Very scary situations, and so we certainly have all been in situations and we've all worked with teams that we understand that need to be able to stay connected.

Speaker 2:

So, talking about big, big plans, number five being the mistake of insufficient supplies and I know Hospitality Heroes has a big plan for the future on this, but we've talked about this before where everyone just thinks, oh well, we just need water, but it extends so much more than that and making sure that your team members have other necessities, and then also what you can provide to the community.

Speaker 3:

I agree. I mean if you could see the amount of water that was donated and we brought water too but if you could see the amount of water that was donated to Western North Carolina or I saw pictures even from LA from the fires. It is so much so that they actually brought it back to the fire station in Western North Carolina and had it for people to come and get any time, because it was. It was just such a tremendous amount Because, again to your point earlier, people want to help and there are so many helpers in this world that you need to work with them and be able to give them clear direction on what that help is. It was one of the things I was telling Tiffany offline was that I loved it. When I met with a consultant back in December and when I was talking to her and sharing with her the idea because she's a nonprofit consultant one of the very first things she said to me was we need to get you connected with Starlink. We need to get you some Starlink phones to be able to hand out To me. That person got my vision. They understood where we wanted to be, because we want to provide big items and have big supplies for people that truly need it. We want the community or the surrounding community to help with those daily items, but we want to walk in and be able to provide go bags with essential items that are with the natural disaster you just went through. So not every disaster needs the same things, right. So we want to make sure we have those essential items. We want to work with property management companies, have them become our partners that have some of these larger laundry facilities, because, if you think about it, these laundry facilities typically are well away from especially like a coastal company, you're well away from that. So and then have them provide a section for us to keep those supplies. They would be the community leader and they would be the person that would help provide that before the storm or even after the storm if it was needed. And so we want people to be able to have that opportunity to where they again we have starlings.

Speaker 3:

In Western North Carolina, helicopters were dropping starlings off because that was the only access to be able to get to them, so we wanted to do that. Chainsaws I know. Whenever the floods happened in Texas, chainsaws and large equipment were the number one things that they needed just to be able to get access to some of the areas. I talked to a client of ours up in Western North Carolina and he was like we need industrial drop boards so it can run from a generator to a home, because most of these have been damaged because of the amount of flooding and water on the ground. To be able to look at people, see and really try to be proactive in what they might need is a huge goal. So again, that goes to some of those big goals that we have, but we certainly do want to make sure that we have those supplies on hand and close by.

Speaker 1:

I'm really dating myself here, but I'm thinking back to. The biggest disaster I lived through was named Isabel and we had significant damage, but the biggest help I had was, I will say, friends in the industry who were willing to send a guy with a truck and a shovel from Georgia or Florida or whatever. Do you have plans for connecting people to help as well, like if I wanted to send a maintenance guy with a chainsaw and a wheelbarrow and shovels or whatever. That in your plan as well?

Speaker 3:

That's our main thing. We want to be able to make those connections. We want to do a couple of things for each area. Not only do we want to provide, obviously, those links of things that they need to do to file insurance and get reports and get help, but we also want the trusted people in your area to be able to provide us with the suppliers and the contractors that you use and that are trusted. As you know, if you go through any natural disaster, people come in town and then they try to jack up prices or take advantage of insurance policies and overcharge. Well, we want to know that Jim at this contractor company is who you recommend. This is the plumber, these are the people that are trusted in your area to go that route as well, but then, at the same time, be able to have a list I'll never forget.

Speaker 3:

When we were getting ready to evacuate, elaine Stitcher reached out. She posted on her social we have places, we are open, we are not in season. Come here if you need to evacuate. And to me that just to be able to provide that relief, because we've all had to do it within hotel prices go up or shelters wouldn't back in the day, except pets. I know they've obviously changed that after Katrina, but you know, those are some of the things that are just such a challenge, and so to be able to have that list too of people that really want to do that reciprocal help is huge.

Speaker 2:

So is there a place on your website? Or if someone's sitting in the car right now listening and says I want to make sure that I'm contacted if I'm in this regional area, would they go to your website and send an inquiry in? Do they reach out to you or Sue?

Speaker 3:

or Rochelle? Yes, so we do have a form on our website that anybody can fill out. It goes to us so that way we can then respond back. In our volunteers tab we kind of have just four easy steps of how people can volunteer. I had to laugh because I was at a conference and they said nonprofits need two things volunteers and money. And I said we want to focus on the volunteer but as well as, again, we're so appreciative for Amy and Rebecca for the Women's Summit being able to do our first donation drawing there. That was amazing. We had such great support from people in our industry providing their places and just experiences and things like that. But yes, we have a forum for them to go to.

Speaker 3:

My email is april at hospitalityheroesorg, so is both the ladies Sue at and then Rochelle at as well. So certainly feel free to reach out to us we are looking for. Again, nobody knows your area better than you. We need your help. We want your help. We need to grow this network of information and connectivity. I often say one of the reasons why I had this aha moment is we have people out there talking about safety. We have people talking and working with people on advocacy, but we need people out there talking about natural disasters. It's not a matter of if it's going to happen. It's a matter of when it's going to happen, and I hate to say that. I would love it if it never happened again, but unfortunately we need to be prepared if it does and when it does.

Speaker 1:

Wow, I have an entire sheet full of notes, or keys, as the case may be. I got some work to do. What about you, tess?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, usually I leave these feeling so confident We've solved all the world's problems and now I feel like I have to make so many more phone calls. We need to have some team lunches. I need to know who their third and fourth emergency contact is. I'll find you.

Speaker 3:

You know it goes back to just again having that great company culture, but also imagine how they're going to feel knowing that you're reaching out and want to know more about them, that you want to make sure that they're safe and secure and that you're supporting them. One of the things Rochelle always recommends is, as a owner of a business, to have a month's worth of income, being able to pay your employees if something were to happen. However, what I love about her is she says but if you're not able to have a few days, it goes back to the old saying how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time? Don't get overwhelmed by what we've talked about today. Go on the website first and actually print out that preparedness checklist. It is easy. It might be some steps that you've obviously got to take, but it is going to be something that's going to help you take that first step.

Speaker 1:

Well, you're helping us be prepared. We're going to Turn the tables on you and see how prepared you are at this moment, because whenever we have a guest on the show, we like to play a little game we call Quick Draw, where we ask you some off-the-wall questions you can answer in a few words, or more wordy if you like, and so I'm going to start. My first question is on a scale of 1 to 10, how prepared are you, april Burns, for an emergency?

Speaker 3:

I would say a 7. And only because we had to be a lot more prepared after the fire rush. But I actually, even last night was saying to my husband we still have things we've got to do. We still have things we've got to do, and I bring that to also to the IC&BT. There's things that we've got to do for our team there, since most everybody lives on the coast.

Speaker 2:

I have actually one that's not about natural disasters. What was your first concert?

Speaker 3:

My first concert was New Edition Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Speaker 1:

Okay, how about one more industry related? Do you remember your first website?

Speaker 3:

Oh my goodness. Actually, yes, it was for a dentist's office in Charlotte, north Carolina. So that was the first, and second was for a company down in Myrtle Beach.

Speaker 2:

All right. My next question how many days do you think you're on the road? A year Gosh quite a bit.

Speaker 3:

I would say that's a tough one. I've actually never kind of kept up with how many days I'm on the road, but fall and spring are our travel seasons and that's typically about every other week. So you know, that alone would be. You know, I'd say let's just go with a hundred, we'll just throw that out there.

Speaker 1:

Okay, speaking of conferences, you've been to a lot of venues. What's the best venue? You've done a trade show.

Speaker 3:

Well, the one we just had at the Women's Summit at the Francis Marion. I loved it because it was intimate. It's not a huge facility but at the same time it still provided that great Southern hospitality which is what we always try to achieve, what Amy worked so hard to achieve for the Women's Summit. That's certainly one of them. We've got to go to a lot of great places. You all know that I mean to be able to be in New Orleans, to go to some great places in Vegas and just some great locations overall.

Speaker 2:

My last one. What was the best example of someone being a?

Speaker 3:

hospitality hero that you got to experience, I will say my son, his teammate from La Crosse. Whenever I reached out for help from Helene, he reached out to me personally. This is an 18 year old boy and he was like my dad and I are loading up and want to go. What can we do or what can we bring? We filled the back of their trucks and the other thing that I thought was really respectful is we asked everybody that wanted to help to bring their own fuel. Everybody needed fuel for their generator, so we did not want to take fuel from anyone and they brought a barrel of fuel and they brought so they could supply their own equipment. They could do their own chainsaws, they could do all of that and just the fact that he reached out to me, that was a hospitality okay, I've got two stock ones.

Speaker 1:

First, what's a skill or talent you do not currently possess that you wish you had?

Speaker 3:

I wish I could play the piano yeah, music people go to the music it does. It's funny. I try to get both of my sons to do whatever the piano or, yeah, the music. People go to that the music it does. It's funny. I try to get both of my sons to do whatever with the piano or guitar. And guess what? Both of them wish they could do that with the piano or the guitar.

Speaker 1:

Exactly. My last one is what is your current viewing guilty pleasure? Netflix, hulu or network?

Speaker 3:

We are big fans of the bear. Big fans of the bear it is. I am so excited I get to go to the welcome conference and just over a week Will Godera's unreasonable hospitality that's what started it, and so being able to watch that and seeing that element in there is just really it's a great, great show.

Speaker 1:

It'll be life-changing. I went last year and it is a fantastic venue as well.

Speaker 3:

So I'm so excited.

Speaker 1:

Good for you. All right. That's the voice of April Burns. She is one of the three that created hospitalityheroesorg compassion in action. That describes you perfectly. Thanks for being with us today, april Fantastic.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, april. That'll do it for this episode. We will be back in two weeks with another top topic. I'm not sure it will top this one. I have to say this I predict will be the most listened to podcast that we may ever do.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, April, for all of your contribution. I have got to run and start making a lot of phone calls and to-do lists. Thank you both.

Speaker 3:

I greatly appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

So long, everybody, we'll see you next time.