Tag Archive for: Alice Winthrop

shared-ownership ski house
Alice Winthrop

Sharing A Ski House: Seven Ways To Share Without Stress

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Setting Expectations And Providing Reminders Are Key For Sharing.

shared-ownership ski house

Keep relationships positive by clarifying processes, procedures, and rules up front.

When sharing a property with a club or friends and family, it’s important to establish a sustainable system for access, expenses, safety and maintenance.

Time and effort invested in setting expectations will pay off in the long run.

Here are seven ways to share without stress:

1. Commit to an arrangement (in writing).

This could be anything from an informal email to family members, or a letter attached to a rental agreement, to a lawyer-drafted LLC operating agreement. The point is to make sure that everyone is on the same page so that misunderstandings are avoided.

2. Include a plan for expenses.

Do people replace the supplies and help with maintenance work, or does your group divide expenses according to use or ownership percentage? Figure it out ahead of time so that there are no surprises.

3. Set expectations for using the property. 

Do you allocate use, reserve time slots, require permission or allow for first-come-first served? Are guests or pets allowed? Make sure that everyone knows the procedure. Depending on your situation it may be most convenient to call or email one person to request a stay, or you could use a shared online calendar.

4. Separate and simplify House Rules and make them easily accessible.

Few people will read a dense page of complex rules. It’s more effective to keep the house rules short and focused on safety, liability and other key issues.

5. Designate a place to store other information.

An on-site binder with appliance manuals and restaurant menus, local attractions, and directions to the nearest ER is helpful. Contact information for the preferred plumber, heating engineer, cleaner, and babysitters should be easy to find at the property. Make a version available online as well for easy access and updates.

6. Have a Departure Checklist

A list of tasks to check off before you leave can save the property and your peace of mind. Items might include turning down thermostats, making sure the oven is off, checking for laundry, emptying the trash. This is also a good place to make a note of any breakages or supplies that need replacing.

7. Be transparent and over-communicate if necessary.

Better to send an extra text or email than to make assumptions. Family and friend groups are vulnerable to relationship damage from seemingly small miscommunications (see Shakespeare for examples). Transparency builds trust.

What else? If you have suggestions on how to make things run smoothly, or what to avoid please let us know in the comments.

This article was written by the creator of Resercal, an app for shared property scheduling and management. Other options for scheduling and sharing information online include Google Suite (calendar, sheets & docs), or a custom website.

Alice Winthrop

Sharing a Ski House During a Pandemic

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How Does Everyone Stay Safe In Close Quarters?

Has your ski club thought about managing a shared ski house? Credit: Camilla Stahlschmidt

In the Internet era, we keep hearing about the “new sharing economy” with tech companies like AirBnB, Uber, Zipcar all capitalizing on otherwise under-used assets like spare bedrooms and cars. But in the ski community we’ve been ahead of the curve for years with ski clubs maximizing occupancy of ski houses, families sharing use of second homes, and even college buddies teaming up to buy a ski house together. The sharing economy is not a new concept to skiers and snowboarders who were the original couch surfers!

Despite all this experience in sharing places to stay near the mountains, the pandemic adds a new dimension. Ski resorts, hotels and inns are fretting over plans for opening, but what does it mean for all the private sharers? Do we pile in together as usual or stay in smaller “pods” to limit exposure even though that might mean fewer ski days and less social interaction?

Health experts are still learning about the Novel Coronavirus and how it is transmitted but for now it seems safe to say that you don’t want to be inside sharing air with people who may be spreading the virus. It’s much, much safer to be outside and at least six feet apart. The data also shows that older people and people with pre-existing conditions are more likely to suffer a severe case of COVID-19 if they are infected so our 50+ demographic has to be extra careful.

With that in mind it may be worth doing some additional thinking about your accommodation plans before the snow flies. If you are sharing a house with others, are they all already in your “pod” or are you potentially exposing yourself to a new group—and all the people they may have interacted with in recent weeks?

Some houses have separate apartments or cabins which would be ideal for spreading groups out while still allowing for outside social time while skiing, snowboarding, or trying other winter sports, and of course for après.

Ski clubs may want to consider spacing people out, reducing use of communal gathering spaces or even following the school model and splitting members up into smaller cohorts with each cohort going at a different time. Maybe even sorting by age and giving older members the option to visit at child-free times?

One option to help with organization, minimize risk, and avoid confusion in shared spaces is Google Calendar. Another, specifically targeted at ski clubs and private houses is Resercal.com (disclosure: the author of this article created this product). There are many other online booking systems that can help you organize your season depending on what you need. Many are aimed solely at hotel/inn managers or for rentals-only so look carefully for the features that best fit your situation.

Consider leaving a buffer in the schedule between uses for cleaning. That should reduce the chance of virus being transmitted by air or on surfaces.

You might also want to think about making your shared ski house work-from-home compatible. With many people working remotely, it may be possible to spread family, friend, or club member use over more dates than in past seasons. For example a family with kids could visit for a whole week, remote-working, and “distance-learning” from the ski house, instead of just staying on weekends. Spread out over the season, a few longer visits in smaller pods might add up to a similar number of ski days for all involved.

What are your thoughts and plans? How are you or your group preparing for this unusual season?