We are not protected as hosts on this platform. I wish I could upload a video to show the utter destruction that was perpetrated on my training room from by a guest. This is the third incident I was in 4 bookings that either furniture or parts of the space I rent on Peerspace was destroyed by their guests. We have no protection despite the insurance claims process. The insurance claims have a $100 deductible. For this last incident I hosted Benita on Friday 12/20/24 and when I arrived at 6pm I found the devastation. I called her and she claimed that the clean up of this mess was covered in her space rental fee. My plants were knocked over by her child who was not supposed to be in the space. The soil was mashed into the carpet along with food. Torn paper left everywhere along with make up application brushes, fake eyelashes, makeup, and more. There is makeup on the desk and chairs. Art was stolen and the radiator was pulled off the wall.
I notified Peerspace the same night entering a claim. I contacted the police but they took a while to arrive and I had a prior schedule activity. I called the police again on Saturday and filed a police report. Peerspace told me that I needed to provide estimates. It was the weekend before Christmas when everyone was on vacation or closed. I was told because I didn’t submit them on time I lost my opportunity for corrective action. I don’t know about you but I think this is unacceptable. What would you do if you were me?
Ugh, sorry to hear. You obviously have a lot of experience since you are a power host. I check a potential renter’s credentials and if they do not have any reviews, I will go back and forth to make sure I feel comfortable with them. If they don’t have the time to answer questions, they can go rent with someone who doesn’t ask questions. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never had too much of an issue. I do make sure to tell the renter that they must be present for duration and they are responsible for the space. If a renter knows that I’m personally vested in making their production a success, they would feel bad about damaging it. It’s the ones that can’t be bothered having much of a conversation that don’t care ( they don’t book with me). You may not be able to be present or take much time to be make sure you are renting to a professional, unfortunately these things will continue to happen.
When I have had damages in the past and can’t get the estimates quickly I have always asked for extension which has always been provided as long as you ask for one.
If you had additional cleaning charges like cleaning the carpet then you just request additional time but you need to submit for additional charges for the carpet cleaning within 72 hours and ask for the extension since it was the holidays and a lot of vendors are either closed or too busy. Now for the damages to the property you have 14 days to file through the damage protection program and they give you I think about 30 days to provide the invoices for the damage. Yes you have a $100 deductible but the rest is covered as long as you submit the appropriate documentation within the timeframe required.
Now if you have missed the timeframe and if this is deemed vandalism you might have to reach to your insurance company to put in a claim. I know my liability policy I have covers vandalism.
It happened on a friday night so 72 hour response time for the estimate is unreasonable especially during the start of a holiday. I did fill out a claim the same night.
Hi @Reagan_B - Thank you for your post, I’m very sorry to hear this happened! A Customer Support Specialist has reached out to you directly via email. Please respond to that email as soon as possible and we will be happy to assist further!
Creating rules and fines for when those rules are broken have saved us. We charge a $100 glitter/confetti fee because we dont allow glitter and confetti. When guests break that rule Peerspace has charged them each time but only once a fine was attached to the rule break.
You may also want to look at raising your price as that will change your clientele. Our previous rates were low and that attracted all kinds of people and we had more issues with damage, cleaning and care. Our higher rate clients have more attitudes but way less issues with damage, cleaning and care.
Sorry for the damage. I had a guest that left an absolute mess and didn’t feel like I got the proper support. I got him on overtime charges but felt like for his excessive mess, I should have been able to charge him more.
Thank you so much for that information. Since I registered my space, I haven’t received any bookings. It seems that no one is interested in what we have to offer. However, I would prefer not to rent the space to anyone on this platform rather than deal with what you experienced. It is terrible. Thank you for your insight.
