Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / The Truth About Cleaning Pet-Friendly Short-Term Rentals

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The Truth About Cleaning Pet-Friendly Short-Term Rentals · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to House Planet Bite Size, the podcast
• 0:03
  brought to you by House Planet and Housefully.
• 0:05
  My name is James Farley, the founder of House Planet, and our
• 0:08
  goal is to share everything you need to know about.
• 0:11
  Buying and managing. Short term rentals.
• 0:13
  Today's guest is Sean Kemper from ETI Solutions and he'll be
• 0:17
  sharing 5 cleaning tips for pet friendly hosts.
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  OK. Real talk now for all you.
• 0:22
  Hosts out there. You know that moment when your
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  Less stress. More bookings sorted with
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  postfully. Sean, thank you for joining us
• 1:46
  on host Planet Bite Size. You've got 5 cleaning tips to
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  share with pet friendly hosts, so take it away with tip #1.
• 1:54
  Awesome. Thanks, man.
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  Tip number one, I guess we can, these might not be in
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  chronological order, but my tip #1 is odors.
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  We've got to keep those odors out of the properties.
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  So how do we do that? Well, I mean, there's commercial
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  grade, you know, odor elimination type products.
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  Obviously we've got to look at our fabrics, the couches, the
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  rugs, you know, is there pet stains somewhere?
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  We've got to break those down at the source.
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  If it is a pet stain on a carpet or a rug or the upholstery,
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  you're going to have to have a good bacteria based enzyme type
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  product that'll actually digest those organic odors and help,
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  you know, get rid of them. But then freshening the air,
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  changing out your filters and everything like that in your air
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  conditioning systems. And if the temperature's nice,
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  there's nothing wrong with opening up the doors and
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  throwing some fresh air in there.
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  Definitely, yeah. And in terms of like materials
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  and upholstery, which are the ones that you should maybe get
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  in your rental if you are going to be pet friendly?
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  Yeah, I mean, you know, you got your your coatings and things
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  like that now that your protectants that you can put on
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  there. So it basically seals off the
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  fiber so the stains can't penetrate it.
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  So they're easily removed. You know, you don't want to do
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  anything real high dollar or fancy with leather and things
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  like that because a cat or a dog could easily scratch that.
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  So, you know, just keep it to a nice cotton type material or
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  something that looks presentable within.
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  And most, most of the stuff apparently you buy nowadays is
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  already pretreated. So that's a that's a plus as
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  well. OK then, so odors out, what's
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  tip #2? Tip #2 We could go with just
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  general, you know, understanding your cleaning, you know,
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  basically, I guess I have #3 at hair, but I mean, cleaning hair,
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  you know, you're going to need to sweep that up.
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  You're going to need to have a good pet tool.
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  You know, there's a lot of these tools out there that are rubber
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  grippers that you can get that will pull up the hair from the,
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  the upholstery and you know, your couches and things like
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  that, rugs that you might have out there.
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  So keeping those things limited to as far as, you know, carpet
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  or rugs or anything like that, because that's all going to
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  accumulate the hair. But a nice, you know, luxury
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  vinyl plank or wood floor or something like that.
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  You can easily sweep it first get all of that hair and debris
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  up and then come back with a vacuum and try to, you know,
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  vacuum up the rest of that, that hair.
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  But have your good procedures, You know, you're mopping, you
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  know, get, get in the property and, and deal with, you know,
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  your proper, your SOP that we do.
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  But you know you're going to have some extra added steps in
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  there for the for the pet stains and odors.
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  And if you are pet friendly and you're working with a cleaning
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  team, how important is it to train that cleaning team on your
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  standard operating procedures so they know what the benchmark is?
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  Yeah. I mean, that's critical.
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  I mean, that's one thing I do in my business when I do consulting
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  and training is you've got to have those processes in place
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  and you've got to they've got to be documented.
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  And I can tell a story when we're done with this within a
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  property we just recently stayed in, which obviously didn't have
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  an operating procedures because they missed a lot.
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  But you know, you need to have those implemented in there when
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  they come in and, and they do their procedures of walking the
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  wall and you know, the, the, the gunshot or buckshot process that
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  we kind of say you just scatter and check every room and make
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  sure there's nothing of a pet stain or something worse.
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  So, you know, you scatter through that property to make
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  sure you understand your procedures and looking for any
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  odors and hair and or maybe, yeah, you know, a trouble spot
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  that you need to to spend a little more time with.
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  If there is a pet stain, that might need to be dealt with
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  immediately. OK, then that's the top 2 tips
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  you've already trailed #3 which I think is going to be pet hair.
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  And I guess this is going to be a focus for a lot of hosts and
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  property managers out there. How do they deal with pet hair?
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  You better have your arsenal of tools, you know, like I already
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  mentioned, your rubber gripper, you need to have your good
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  enzymatic bacteria type product that will digest these odors, a
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  good air freshener. Again, when you're since though,
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  make sure your fragrance fragrances are very similar.
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  Don't have them competing because then then you, you know,
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  you get cherries or lemons or exotic fruits or whatever you
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  want them all kind of on the same plane at playing field.
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  And if it smells good to you, it might not smell good to somebody
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  else. So, you know, that's always been
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  an issue with the fabulosos out there is that that scent is way
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  too strong where people think it smells good, but to other people
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  it's offensive. So just be careful with your,
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  with your fragrances and things like that.
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  You don't, you know, going into the properties, but you're, you
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  know, you're having your, the sticky tape, you know, having
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  those little lint rollers, those things like that, they're,
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  they're going to help after you've kind of done the
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  sweeping, done the vacuuming and there's going to be some hair
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  probably floating in the air. So have your good lint rollers
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  and sticky tape so you can catch every ounce of bitty pieces of
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  hair you can. Because somebody walks in that
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  property and sees a hair on the a counter or a pillow or
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  wherever. It's just like automatically.
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  What else is wrong? Yeah, they see that Labrador
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  hair and it's you're not going to be getting the five star
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  review. That's that is for sure.
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  OK then, Sean, so tip #4? Tip #4 which we kind of do it
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  whenever was the process is that's what I wrote down is, you
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  know, make sure when you come into that property, you know,
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  obviously we need to scan the whole house and see what's going
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  on. If there's anything that we need
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  to address immediately that like I said, a pet stain or something
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  worse. And then, you know, you're going
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  to have your, your sweeping measures, your fat.
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  Obviously we start from the top to the bottom so everything
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  settles down. Then you get your vacuum and
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  procedures, you know, as you're cleaning the rest of the
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  property. And then those final touch up
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  stage will be spray a little bit of a deodorizer, go with your
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  lint roller and inspect every, every room one more time.
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  You know, have a good microfiber cleaning cloth because those
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  hairs do do attract to that as well.
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  So, you know, just having those right tools and procedures in
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  place will help you eliminate a lot of those issues and
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  concerns. 100% yeah. OK, then tip #5.
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  I mean, having this all the knowledge, the training and
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  implementing all this so that we have the right tools, we have
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  the right chemistry, we have the right, you know, procedures in
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  place. We understand, you know, ways to
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  make extra, you know, ROI. We can, you know, charge a
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  little bit more for the pets. We could, we could, this is 1 I
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  saw that was kind of neat, but we could have an, an upcharge if
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  you would like us to have a pet bed, some food, maybe some
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  treats, and you can have a little bit of an upcharge in
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  that. So that this place is laid out
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  perfect for the pet when they do come in from traveling.
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  But I mean, everybody, you know, we love our pets.
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  We have dogs, we have cats, we have whatever the heck else out
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  there. I've seen some crazy pets that
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  go to the airport. I was like, how's, how's that,
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  you know, an animal that you bring around with you, but
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  everybody brings different kind of animals and pets.
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  So you got to just kind of understand and, and be as as
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  transparent as possible and, you know, make sure that they
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  understand and even your new guests coming in, you know,
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  they, they need to understand that plan that you've
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  implemented to try to help with this too.
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  But there's there's going to be cases where there's going to be
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  a hair or something, you know, floating around and maybe even
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  an odor. But you know, we definitely need
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  to have these procedures and processes, everything
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  implemented to understand how to how to get rid of it.
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  If you are pet friendly, are there some cleaning materials
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  that you'd recommend leaving there and letting your guests
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  know about it in case something bad does happen?
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  They can clean up after it because I know there are some
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  very vigilant pet owners out there who, if something happens
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  that they'd like to put it right themselves if they can.
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  Yeah, and that's an awesome, you know, thought let's have a
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  little and the bacteria based products, at least a lot of the
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  products we manufacture are safe.
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  So they're not going to hurt anybody.
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  They're safe for the pets, they're safe for us, but they
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  are just designed to break down those odors.
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  So if a pet word, I mean I would do it if a pet went to the
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  bathroom on accident or whatever you saw it, I would hit it with
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  that product. And if you got a little stand,
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  you know, something designated for the pets and the odors and
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  let them know a little bit what it is real quick, then yeah,
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  heck yeah. I mean, I would grab it and hit
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  it real quick and wipe it up and just, you know, you don't want
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  to lose your pet deposit, things like that as well.
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  So yeah, I think it's really smart to have a product that is
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  safe and easy to use. Definitely.
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  And you can put all those details in your your digital
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  guide book and all that kind of thing.
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  OK then Sean. So tell us a little bit more
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  about ETI solutions and where people can find out more info.
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  James, it was nice to meet you over in Kansas City at the World
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  Cup training. We did a couple about a month
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  ago now, but ETI solutions educate, train and innovate.
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  That's basically what I do for the vacation rental space.
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  I've been doing this for 20 years.
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  We are started off as a chemical manufacturer.
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  I evolved into consulting and training.
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  I most recently designed a chemical line called the Drop
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  and Go Cleaning products and basically they're a cartridge
• 10:28
  based system that just lightens the load for your cleaners.
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  It's only three products, so we try to help control the cost of
• 10:35
  everything. You've got a glass cleaner, a
• 10:36
  degreaser and then a bathroom cleaner.
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  So we cheap everything nice and simple for you.
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  But these products are tested by vacation and short term rental
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  folks, so we know what we're doing.
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  Commercial grade products, they help you eliminate these issues.
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  Blackfoot, which is a big problem with the people walking
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  barefoot or on socks on the floor and their feet turn black
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  because there's a residue, a build up on the floor.
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  We have remedies and solutions for that.
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  I mean our, our website etisolutions.co will have a list
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  of all of our products on there. And there is the Blackfoot
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  destroyer that I that I manufactured to get rid of that
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  that issue on floors. So there's some great tools and
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  products to, to make their lives a little bit easier.
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  I. Love that.
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  The Black Blackfoot destroyer. Yeah, I remember when I spent a
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  few years living in the Middle East and you're you're in your
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  your bare feet most of the time because it's so hot out there.
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  And yeah, the last thing you want to do is like look down at
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  your feet and see that they're completely black bright.
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  Yeah. So.
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  Dirty, even though they just cleaned it, you know, but
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  they're still just, it's, it's chemistry, it's a build up,
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  which is how we help educate. Absolutely, Sean.
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  It's been a real pleasure. Thank you for sharing those tips
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  and for joining us on host Planet Bite Size.
• 11:45
  Hey, thank you for having me. Great to see you.
• 11:46
  All right, that's it for today's episode.
• 11:48
  My thanks to Sean for joining us and sharing those tips for pet
• 11:51
  friendly hosts. Remember this podcast?
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