Shows

Kevin and Greg give their take on how they've handled customers who exceeded the weight limit on Jet Skis.

Brian Hirschi, Owner/Operator of Bear Lake Fun (Utah), joins the show to discuss a series of boat rental fails he shared on the AWG Facebook Group last week. The guys also talk about their struggles with insurance, claims, and the difficulty of acquiring insurance.

Ian & Haley Blaise with Cruisin Tikis [Destin, FL] come on the show to tell their story of how they got into watersports, and why they decided to start a Cruisin Tiki franchise. The watersports forum is now LIVE. For more information and to register, please go to https://arival.travel/event/arival-360-orlando-the-watersports-forum/.

Kevin and Greg discuss what they do when customers request to reschedule within the cancellation period. They also jump into some sub-topics such as credit card holds, and other issues with cancellation policies.

Greg and Kevin discuss what it takes to be a successful watersport entrepreneur. Get a glimpse of what they went through to build their businesses, and what type of qualities they needed to thrive.

Kevin & Greg talk about different ways competitors will try to hurt your online presence, and some ideas to fight back.

Donny Kirkpatrick, GM of Sunset Watersports joins the show to discuss watersports in Key West, and his experience as a veteran operator for 25+ years. Sunset Watersports is one of the largest watersport operators in the country with 6 locations in and around Key West, FL. Donny inspired Kevin to become a parasail captain, and considers him one of his mentors.

Kevin and Greg discuss budgeting and forecasting for watersport operators. Discover some different approaches on budgeting as Greg breaks down key fundamentals. Greg also discusses what KPI's (key performance indicators) your business should be tracking, and why operators need to start doing this now.

Checkfront CEO Jason Morehouse joins the show to discuss all things res tech. Checkfront is one of the largest online reservation systems in North America with over 5,000 users. Hear about how and why Jason started Checkfront, and what operators might expect out of res tech in the near future.

Back in 2019, Kevin's "Day of Play" tour was booming, but after citizen complaints, the county acted swiftly to shut it down. This episode goes into detail about his experience, how he pivoted, and discusses ways operators can work with their local government and community leaders to create a sustainable watersport business.

Eva Ramos, CEO and Founder of Pure Aloha Adventures joins the show to share her history of how she left her thriving watersport business in Hawaii, and got a fresh start in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Eva talks about how she leveraged her brand in Hawaii to create passive income as a reseller, and what tools she used to build her business organically.

In this episode, Kevin and Greg have a discussion about bareboat charters and why it's confusing as hell. What is a Bareboat Charter? A Bareboat charter is an arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a ship or boat, whereby no crew or provisions are included as part of the agreement; instead, the people who rent the vessel from the owner are responsible for taking care of such things.

Kevin and Greg discuss Crypto Currency and why it could be great for our industry. Also, the guys try to make sense of Yelp's business model, and why businesses should still care about them. And some entertaining conversation towards the end about our previous guests and our best moments with them.

In this episode, Kevin and Greg talk with Natasha Baker of Sup Pup and Rachel Dickey of TripShock about the importance of diversity in watersports. Natasha and Rachel share insights and stories of their experience of working in an industry that is predominantly male owned/operated. They provide some great ideas on how we can develop female employees to one day run successful companies.

On this episode, Justin Buzzi, CEO and founder of Get Up And Go Kayaking joins the show to talk about how he built a successful kayak tour franchise in Florida. Justin not only shares how he did it, but does a deep dive into the economics of his operation, and the challenges he faces.

Kevin & Greg welcome Douglas Quinby, Co-founder and CEO of Arival to share the latest traveler trends and insights, and give some updates on what's new with Arival. Arival is the only industry conference that brings together many sectors of tours and activities, but also provides education and curated news at arival.travel. In this episode, you'll hear about... Traveler trends and forecasts. Updates on the Arival 2021 conference. Why it's the right time bring together the industry. ...

The AWG "Mentoured" Series provides an opportunity for new operators to come on the show to share their startup story, ask questions, and get advice on all aspect of running a watersport business. This episode features Shawn Walsh from Jet Ski Texas, a new jet ski rental company out of League City, TX (jetskitx.com). Kevin and Greg share advice on getting eye balls to his website and rentals, insurance, a new location, and much more.

Kevin and Greg talk about the surge in bookings and what they recommend operators should be doing to get the most out of it. They also discuss what the think the future might bring for the industry in a post-covid era.

The guys talk about recent events in both the industry and with their businesses. Supply chain issues are hurting the ability to get more equipment and parts, and Kevin talks about what we need to do to prepare our businesses. Greg shares a new feature to more easily get customer info and re-target them, and Kevin shares his infamous story that made its rounds through social media.

Kevin and Greg share their thoughts on how they handle refunds and cancellations, and what operators can do to provide a better customer experience. Some of the things you'll hear about in this episode include... Why negotiating with customers on refunds can often save you time and money. How your cancellation policy can hurt bookings if too aggressive. What to do when bad weather cancel's a trip. What Kevin thinks of customers who disregard cancellation policies.

Christian Watts, CEO from Magpie Travel joins the show to talk about what operators need to know about reselling your tours and rentals. Some great takeaways from the show Never let a single reseller be more than 20% of your business. Work with resellers that bring something to the table that you can't otherwise do yourself. Companies that are serious about growth use resellers.

Kevin and Greg discuss how operators should be pricing their tours and rentals, and some deep dives into some new and old topics. In this episode, you'll hear about... The 3 principles of pricing: Margins, Market, Movement. What dynamic pricing is, and why you should care about it. How to figure out what your price should be. Experimenting with different pricing concepts. Why deep discounting is not a strategy that works for most.

In this episode, Kevin and Greg speak with Ben Calder, CEO of WhereWolf about enriching the check-in process. WhereWolf is an industry leading waiver software based out of Queenstown, New Zealand. Ben shares why getting data from customers during the check-in process is an amazing opportunity.

Kevin and Greg get social with Instagram influencer Cali Hlavac , CEO of Sassy Tangerine Creative out of Destin, FL. In this episode, you'll learn about... Finding your followers through hashtags and location The Do's and Don'ts Tips on managing your Instagram page Why it's important to have an Instagram presence What to look for in a social media manager Kevin's great idea to make Preparation H go viral... ;-) Listen on your browser, or on your favorite podcast app!