Hi! I’m quite new at Peerspace and I put my space up a week ago. The usable space is about 1300 sqft and have one full bathroom and one kitchen. The max capacity for production is 15 people on the listing, I charge $100/ h with a minimum of 4 h. Now my issue is that I had someone inquire about using my space and initially was a photo shoot with 30 people that turned into a big video production with more than 35 people. Considering I don’t have enough experience and this would have been my first booking I was a little afraid that there might be 50 people and it might not be the best fit for me at this point.
Now my question is how much should I ask for when people exceed the number of people on my listing? Does anyone have a specific formula? Or do you just say no if the number is double? Or do I need to ask better questions for everyone’s better understanding? Or should I invite people to come and see the space?
Also I am in Downtown Los Angeles so I have a lot of parking structures so that’s not necessary a issue.
If people are exceeding your desired capacity, that’s one thing. If people are exceeding your legal capacity, that’s another thing. I don’t do capacity pricing as I do not like being the headcount police, but you should look at other listings in DTLA and see what they charge.
Regardless, guests should not be changing the nature of their booking after it’s been mutually agreed upon. You should definitely stand up against that.
Be careful though. I’m in NYC where being confrontational with people about being shady is not unexpected. From what I hear through other LA hosts, people there will passive aggressively give you trash reviews if you call them out.
That’s a pretty sketchy way to go about booking a place. I would be a bit suspicious about that renter. I do both, rent my space and am a production company. There would never be a scenario that I can think of where a photoshoot magically turned into a video shoot. Either you are planning a photo production or a video production. It kind of sounds like the renter is giving you dribs and drabs to get his foot in the door and get you to go along because he was already over your listed limit. I’d be worried about what other surprises he might spring on you. Video shoots are a much bigger productions than a photoshoots are. Way more gear, crew, trucks, etc.
We get inquiries all the time with people putting a number of guests that completely exceeds our limit.
I believe everyone understands what max capacity means so I give them no time of day, especially if they literally put a high number of people and don’t say anything about it. I just tell them they must’ve gotten our studio mixed up with someone else’s.
These pointless inquiries are also usually copy and pasting into many studios messages just to see who will say yes, I got one last week for 30 people too in DTLA so it was possibly the same team.
Totally agree with you. The best is when they send me an inquiry they call me by some other hosts name which clearly means a copy/paste message looking for anybody to answer.
Hi Luciana, based on the limited information, I can only share that from my experience, asking as many questions as possible up front does help alleviate a lot of my concerns, such as who is the artist, company(s) involved, and a warning under my house rules about additional charges/fees for additional people. However, as we all know, sometimes they still say/agree to one thing, and then do something completely different. Therefore I would also include something advising that if more people than permitted show up, the shoot will be stopped or possibly terminated so that you have a little leverage in case it does get out of hand. Lastly, I would look at their reviews. From my experience, the ones that do not have any reviews, along with all of the other red flags you are mentioning, may not be worth the income/potential headache(s). In regards, to pricing, you have to see what is your number. What number works for you or will make it worth your while. Then adjust it as necessary in the future based on the number of bookings you are receiving. Best Wishes, Alex
Thank you so much Alex for your advice, still getting my feet wet and figuring out a lot of this things
Happy holidays and have a wonderful evening.
Luciana
My Pleasure, there’s always a lot of uncertainty in the beginning, but if there is ever a way I can assist with any questions that you may have, don’t hesitate to ask! Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones as well!
I appreciate your help