Dear Friends of Emerald Isle Realty,
It’s the joyful time we have been planning for, it is time to welcome you back! As of May 8, 2020 the North Carolina Stay at Home Order for COVID-19 has moved into Phase One. Vacation rentals are now allowed as North Carolina gradually relaxes some of the previous restrictions.
Our Southern hospitality roots run deep in our small family business. After almost sixty years of welcoming families to our quiet little island, preparing for our guests and knowing just what you need to relax in your beach home for a weekend, a week or hopefully even longer is just second nature to us. Our guests have always been the heartbeat of our business and we have missed you while we have all been homebound in order to keep each other safe. We hope you have been daydreaming of sunny days on your favorite beach and are now ready to travel again. Of course you have questions about how we plan to make your beach vacation dream come true safely for your friends and family. Since we are parents and grandparents, we have imagined your smiling faces and all the faces of your loved ones who will travel with you during every minute of COVID-19 planning sessions with our Emerald Isle Realty team and especially our essential workers, our loyal housekeepers. Trust us, we’ve got this.
Location, Location, Location is now Cleanliness, Cleanliness, Cleanliness
We value very highly the health and safety of our guests, our homeowners and our staff. If we all have learned one thing during this crisis, it is we have to take care of each other and we are all in this together. World-class enhanced cleaning standards are possible because every housekeeper and inspector will be certified in COVID-19 enhanced cleaning by VRHP, the internationally esteemed Vacation Rental Housekeeping Professionals in partnership with VRMA (Vacation Rental Managers Association). Since we have been using EPA disinfectants and sanitizing methods for decades and have been members of these top notch associations for over 30 years, this is not our first rodeo with dealing with enhanced cleaning protocols. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic we have implemented enhanced Deep Cleaning for each of our vacation rental homes. Your vacation home will be cleaned to the new standard, with extra sanitizing attention paid to all surfaces and especially high touch areas, using EPA approved chemicals known to be effective against this virus as well as others. Our housekeeping teams will also be wearing PPE (personal protective gear) while cleaning each property. We will use our strong ocean breezes to thoroughly air out your vacation home between each guest’s departure and arrival during the cleaning process. Our housekeeping staff have years of experience in cleaning vacation rental homes, some have even celebrated a quarter of a century of service taking care of Emerald Isle Realty guests by professionally cleaning to our exacting standards. This is one of those moments when you know you can trust professional vacation rental management and their professional housekeeping staff more than individual hosts. If you would like to read the written guidelines for our Housekeepers, then follow this link Emerald Isle Realty COVID-19 Cleaning Process and Protocols.
No Worries Bedding…We promise the Sweet Rest of a Good Night’s Sleep
Emerald Isle Realty is offering the first in our area option of the No Worries Bedding. You will arrive to a snowy white comforter, or triple sheeted beds, bed linens, fresh mattress pads and pillow protectors, all professionally laundered and sanitized prior to your arrival. If your home offers a linen package and the bed making amenity or you choose to add these features, Island Essentials and our housekeepers will follow strict protocols to ensure you and your loved ones arrive to the promise of sweet rest each night with our No Worries Bedding. Your Vacation Planner will be able to offer more details about our vacation homes and the No Worries Bedding option you may choose for your family beach getaway.
Arriving on the Island and Emerald Isle Realty Hours
Emerald Isle Realty is doing our part locally to help stop the spread of the coronavirus through following all CDC and NCDHHS guidelines for businesses. No need to come into the office or leave your vehicle, our Emerald Isle Realty team will greet you at our drive through Tiki Hut for Saturday and Sunday arrivals. In your pre-arrival email you will receive more instructions about check-in. For a few more weeks our lobby will remain closed and so we ask that instead of visiting the office if you have questions, please give us a call or email and we are fully staffed to assist with any request for service. We are available by phone and by email seven days a week, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm and until 6:00 pm on weekends.
Small Island, Wide Beaches, Lots of Room for Your Beach Chairs to Socially Distance
The small beach towns of Emerald Isle, Indian Beach, Pine Knoll Shores and Atlantic Beach where our vacation rental homes are found are famously uncrowded. We love our low key, laid back atmosphere—proud to be a small island with wide beaches and plenty of room for your family’s semi-circle of beach chairs, coolers, Shibumi shade tents or umbrellas for the day. The Atlantic Ocean and Bogue Sound offer a natural water play area for joyful swims, kayaking, surfing, paddle boarding and fishing fun, with plenty of salt water for everyone to stay a safe social distance from others.
Dine in, or Dine Out?
For a few more weeks in May the restaurants in North Carolina will be closed but the majority of restaurants on the Crystal Coast are offering delicious meals for take-out, curbside pickup or delivery. When you arrive, browse through the Barefoot Guide in your Emerald Isle Realty Welcome Bag for some great restaurant options. Be sure to call ahead or look on your favorite restaurant’s Facebook page or homepage for their current hours and take out specials. Your fully equipped kitchen at your beach home means delicious meals can be prepared for those who prefer to continue social distancing by staying safely in your beach home for the week. Our lovely produce stands and farmers markets are open as well as our seafood markets and all have excellent safe distancing guidelines in place. Grocery stores are open and several also offer curbside pickup and grocery delivery if you prefer to leave the grocery shopping to others.
Museums, Historic Sites and the NC Aquarium
The NC Aquarium and other Crystal Coast museums and attractions remain closed at this time but we hope to hear the good news they will reopen later in May or early June as North Carolina moves into Phase Two of our state’s reopening plan.
North Carolina, the Crystal Coast and COVID-19 Cases
North Carolina has done an exceptionally good job at flattening the curve and North Carolinians everywhere did the hard work of following Stay at Home Orders, wearing masks when we venture out, wearing gloves when necessary, following the six feet of social distancing guidelines and frequent hand washing. Our coronavirus statistics are the envy of many other states and we want you to feel safe and comfortable traveling through and to North Carolina. When you arrive on the island, we encourage you to follow all of the North Carolina COVID-19 guidelines just as you have been diligently following very similar guidelines for your county or your state. You can help us continue to flatten the curve locally by being considerate of others and wear your mask and practice social distancing during your visit to the Crystal Coast.
We will close this coronavirus update from your friends at Emerald Isle Realty with just one more reassuring message. For many of you reading this you may have exceptional circumstances which include that you just don’t feel ready to travel again just yet. Just as the tide rolls in and the tide rolls out, even as we appreciate each sunrise over the ocean and sunset over the sound, all of us at Emerald Isle Realty will be patiently waiting for that day we can welcome you to your favorite island home again.
Julia and Mark Wax
Owners, Emerald Isle Realty
