Host, Christine Karpinski: I'm Christine Karpinski. Thank you for listening to the How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner podcast. Today's guest is Jill Lepow. Jill owns a baby gear rental service in Maine, and she's going to talk with us about the advantages to having your renters just go ahead and rent baby gear as opposed to supplying that baby gear in your vacation rental home. We know that a lot of travelers have families and it's a major reason people are renting vacation homes. They like the convenience of the bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, and the living room, but they have little kids that they're bringing along. With little kids comes lots of stuff: porta cribs, highchairs, regular cribs, strollers, car seats, and all that stuff.

We're going to talk to Jill about why we should possibly consider going through a rental service as opposed to purchasing that stuff and having it in our condos for our guests to use. Jill, thank you so much for joining!

Jill Lepow: Great, thank you, Christine, for giving me the opportunity to join you today.

Christine: Okay, so tell me a little bit about yourself and about your company.

Jill: I live in Maine with my husband and my two children. My oldest daughter is two and my youngest one is four months old. I started this business approximately three years ago after working for ten years at a credit card company. It was an opportunity that I saw available in the area and it allowed me the opportunity to stay at home with my children.

Christine: Oh, that's a good thing! [laughter]

Jill: Yes.

What services do baby gear rental companies provide?

Christine: Always a nice thing. So what does your company do? You rent out baby equipment, right? So give us a good overview of what that means

Jill: Correct. I have a large variety of baby gear. From full size cribs, to Pack 'N Plays, highchairs, strollers, wagons, baskets of toys, and either the homeowners, property owners, rental guests, and oftentimes grandparents will call me if they have guests coming. They will tell me what it is that they need, depending on the child's age. I get the information as to what property it needs to go to, what they need, and where they want it set up which room in the home plus all their information. On the day of delivery I gather all the gear. It has been safety checked, I ensure that it's not on a recall list, as well as sanitized and washed. I take it to the property, I set it up, I ensure it meets all the manufacturer's standards, and that is it.

Then, on the day of the checkout, I will pick all the equipment up, go through and clean it all again for the next guest.

Christine: Gotcha. Now who, generally, pays you? Would it be the home owner, or the travelers?

Jill: I've had both. Some property owners like to do it themselves. 99 percent of the time it is the renter that will call and make the reservation and the payment.

Why rent gear when it doesn't cost the owner much to supply it?

Christine: Let me just back up a second. In my vacation rentals, I do have porta cribs and I do watch the recall lists and I will say sometimes it's a pain. I have a porta crib and a highchair, but that's where I draw the line. I don't have car seats or strollers because in my experience those things are recalled much more frequently. So, why would someone want to rent the gear, as opposed to just supplying it or at least part of it like I do?

Jill: Okay. Well you brought up a really good point about car seats often being recalled, however, if you look in the news lately it's mostly cribs that are on the recall list right now. That would be one reason: it is ever changing what item is being recalled. The other benefit would be, I'm not sure if you're in the same area with your property, but a lot of homeowners, at least in Maine, do not live in the same state their property is in. So, they have the house in Maine that they're renting, but they're in Arizona, California, what not.

If they're not there hands on they're relying on the people who maintain the house or clean the house to ensure that the gear is clean, and to ensure that it's being safety-checked. It may not be on a recall list but a previous renter might have been tough on it (i.e.) it might be missing some screws. Something else may be missing. So even though it's not on the recall list it's still not considered a safe item.

Christine: Sure, sure. Another thing, I'm thinking of one of the condos that I have, I do have a porta crib in there, but that condo in particular doesn't have a whole lot of closet space. So I imagine another reason would be that you don't have a lot of space to store these things. Whenever I go to look for highchairs to buy I always have to look for the ones that fold down It seems like every year highchairs just keep getting bigger and bigger. My son is 16 and when he was little they still had the little wooden ones that folded up almost to a step stool size. Now these things are huge!

Jill: They are. A lot of baby gear companies have added lots of bells and whistles to all baby gear. You're right, nothing folds up compact anymore so space is a good reason to rent the gear. You're saving the space for other items as well as for a renter coming in who doesn't need the baby gear. This way they're not stumbling over baby gear throughout the property when they're not the ones who need it.

Christine: Right, and I know my housekeepers struggle with putting that doggone porta crib down. You have to do it in exact sequence otherwise it doesn't fold properly. [laughter]

Jill: Correct. That's another thing, too. All the gear that I rent, I ensure that I set it up according to the manufacturer's standards. I keep the manuals to all of it. Some housekeepers maybe aren't familiar with baby gear, maybe haven't had children, or it's been awhile so it's important to ensure that they are operating it correctly when setting it up. One of the other advantages of renting baby gear is that with each rental, regardless of what the person is renting, they'll sign a liability waiver that releases the liability fro both me and the homeowner and puts it on the renter using the equipment. I always note that I drop it off according to manufacturer's standards. It's safety checked; it's not on a recall list; it's set up properly. They are taking a risk using it, but they need to use it properly.

Christine: Sure, absolutely. You have to do what you have to do to release that liability, but you have to make sure that safety standards are met and you're putting it up right. Oh! Can you hold on one second, we just need to take a break for a word from our sponsors.
[radio break]

What is the most popular baby gear vacationers are renting?

Christine: And now back to our show. Now, what are the most common things that people are renting?

Jill: Well, full sized cribs are definitely my number one request and the reason is that even a lot of the hotels in the area, even a lot of the vacation rentals, will provide what's called a porta crib, which is a smaller version of full size crib, which isn't much bigger than a Pack 'N Play. So if you have an 18 month old that might be on the large side or a two year old that's still in a crib, you'll need a full size crib so most people rent a full size crib. The other reason, even if they have a small child, is the child is familiar with size of the crib, the child familiar with the size of the bed. They're familiar with large sleeping spaces. What I find is a lot of people like to keep their children's routine or schedule the same on long vacations. They try to get the same gear that the child has at home so their day can be as similar to home as possible.

Christine: Right, because you mess up kids' routines and it's miserable for everyone.

Jill: Yeah, it's no longer vacation at that point.

Christine: That's so true.

Jill: So, full size cribs are the biggest requests, I would say, and then after that, if they don't necessarily need the full size cribs, they'll always get a Pack 'N Play. Highchairs, strollers and a basket of toys are always big hits. I ask the family the age of their child or children and I provide a tote or a basket of toys that's age appropriate so it will keep the kids entertained while they are there for the week.

How much does it generally cost to rent baby gear?

Christine: And now what does it cost, say, to rent a crib?

Jill: A crib per week is $60, and then depending on your distance from us there may or may not be a delivery charge. And the $60 includes the delivery, the set up, the clean up, and the linen that go with the crib.

Christine: So you even provide the sheet and the little blanket or something like that.

Jill: Correct, and the mattress head cover.

Christine: Gotcha. That's not such a bad price, and I think it's definitely advantageous for homeowners to have a partnership even with a crib rental service such as yours and be able to put on their ads "baby gear optional." They could rent it directly through you or they could liaison between you and their guests.

Jill: I think it also shows that some of the property owners will say "family-friendly or kid-friendly." I think it really just demonstrates the next level: the homeowner dedication in your family or your little ones with you.

Christine: Sure, absolutely, and because so many families are renting vacation homes I think it's definitely advantageous to get together with a company like that. Admittedly, up until a few years ago I never really looked into it because I had a porta crib and I had a highchair. Some people were asking about other things such as a car seat because they were flying in, or a stroller. They didn't want to bring a stroller. I had one person with twins with the twins' stroller. Thankfully, I was able to find a crib rental place near us and I was able to turn the traveler to that direction to rent the equipment. They were quite happy with it. So, it';s always nice to please your guest in any way that you can. Now, with regard to the other equipment you provide, are you finding that people are purchasing or renting multiple things or are they just kind of saying, no, just the crib?

Jill: I would say 25 percent of our customers will rent just the crib. The other 25 percent will add other items. They'll add a bouncy seat, a child safety kit (with outlet plugs), cabinet space that locks, and a little wagon if they have older children and don't necessarily need a stroller. You also made the point about having twins and other items or just people who don't want to carry things, which is the other benefit to renting baby gear. This past summer I had a family come with quadruplets.

Christine: Oh, my goodness.

Jill: For a homeowner that's going to be a tough bill to try to get everything in for. But, when renting it, it was no problem because I have multiples of everything, so the quads weren't a problem.

Christine: Perfect.

Jill: Another big change for last year, and it's even more of a change for this year, you mentioned you already have your Pack 'N Plays, some renters may think, "Oh, I'll just bring my Pack 'N Play with me." When they arrive at the airport, the airport nine times out of ten lately has been adding roughly anywhere from $25 to $50 charge to bring that Pack N Play. If the renters are thinking ahead and have the gear already set up there, it's less stuff they need to carry with them. Additionally, it will ultimately save them money in the long run because they won't have to pay the airline to transport the extra gear.

What baby gear rental company should I use? How can I find companies in a specific location?

Christine: Absolutely. Well, great idea. Okay, I'm talking to you right now but I have properties in Florida. Obviously, you're not in Florida. How would I even go about trying to find a reputable company that rents out baby gear?

Jill: Well, I've actually bundled with a large group in a Yahoo! Group. On my website there is a national baby gear link or icon that you can click on. You will find a list by state of other baby equipment rental businesses that you may use to get in touch with to rent baby gear.

Christine: Okay, and what was your website address?

Jill: It is www.midcoastfamilyrentals.com.

Christine: Okay, again it's, www.midcoastfamilyrentals.com.

Jill: That's correct.

Christine: Okay, and you can go to that website and find other baby gear rental places on the owner community. We do have a list of baby gear rental companies because we had an article submitted, [laughs] and then a lot of people said, "Hey, can I get on your list, can I get on your list?" Just know that when those lists are put on, we don't vet those lists in any sort of way.

Always make sure to check out standards. Are there national standards, or accreditations, or any sort of oversight, over this industry that we should look for or not?

Jill: At this time there are not. However, I will say that an association for independently owned baby gear companies was created about a month ago. There will be some more, we have started it just has not gone into full marketing swing. You will see that shortly.

Christine: Gotcha. Okay, so if somebody does have a property in Maine, how would you like them to contact you?

Jill: They can use our website. There's an “Email Us” link. They can always give us a call at 207-342-2147 and, again, anytime they'd like to add our link to their website as an opportunity under their services for renters they may feel free to do that.

Christine: Okay, and do they have to contact you for that?

Jill: They do not.

Christine: Okay, fabulous. Well, Jill, thank you so much, I really appreciate it. I think it's great information, a lot of things to think about when you're going to provide the types of services you discussed for your guests. I think looking into a company that rent out the baby gear might be a good option for a lot of people. Thanks again for joining.

Jill: Great, thank you, Christine.

[music playing]

Christine: That wraps up this episode of the How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner podcast. I'd love to hear your feedback. Remember my email address is ownercommunity.com.

Thanks to HomeAway.com, our producers, Leah Carol and Kristin Dorset, our announcer Amy Ashcroft Greener and our sound engineer Larry Seyer.

Happy renting by owner and don't forget to take some time to enjoy your vacation home yourself.

What baby gear rental company do you use?

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