AVVAY

AVVAY Review:

AVVAY lets property owners rent their space by the hour for special events. These can include photography shoots, birthdays, corporate meetings, filming and the like.

Notably, you can expect to earn five or 10-times more renting your home by the hour than you would if you were renting the same property out overnight through sites like Airbnb. A full home might rent for $100 or $200 an hour, for instance. Thus, if someone rented this home for a 12-hour photo shoot, the home owner would earn between $1,200 and $2,400 for the day.

These types of rentals are more rare than the vacation rentals, of course. But popular venues can get booked two or three times a month.

How it works

The property-owner sets the rental rate and terms. You can, for instance, state what portion of the home/space is available and whether you charge a cleaning or set-up fee. You’re also asked to say whether you want a deposit. If so, do you want the renter to provide 25%, 50% or 100% of the rental amount upfront?

Owners choose a cancellation policy, too. With AVVAY, your options are Flexible, Moderate or Strict. With the strict policy, the property owner keeps the deposit when guests cancel less than seven days prior to the event; with the flexible option, they keep the deposit only if the renter cancels within two days of the event.

Cool features

AVVAY also allows homeowners to have “private” listings, which don’t show up with an ordinary search. The site’s movie scouts present these private listings to filmmakers that they believe have an appropriate shoot.

If you have listed your house elsewhere — perhaps as an Airbnb rental or with another movie scouting firm, you can automatically list by simply providing a link to your existing listing.

Risks

It shouldn’t come as a great surprise that more lucrative rentals also come with some unique risks.

By and large, renting your house out as a venue or filming location means that there will be dozens of people on your property, carrying heavy equipment and moving things around. The chance of people hurting themselves, hurting others or damaging your property rises with every person in attendance.

Before you agree to this type of rental, you should have a discussion with your insurance agent about whether you need additional coverage.

No liability coverage

AVVAY provides no commercial liability or property damage coverage. So if you rent your space through this platform, you should make sure that your renter buys an event or production policy and names you as a beneficiary. AVVAY partners with an event insurance company called Thimble, which offers event policies for as little as $5.

Fees

AVVAY charges a 15% commission when you find a renter, withholding that amount from the owner’s proceeds. Payments are generally made in advance. And AVVAY transfers the payment to the property owner nearly immediately.

However, if you need to cancel before the event, AVVAY expects you to be prepared to immediately refund the renters’ fees. If you cancel at the last minute, the site also has the right to penalize you on future rentals for the site’s lost commissions.

Recommendations

There are several online platforms, like AVVAY, that allow you to rent homes, rooms, offices and other real estate by the hour. We like them all.

And, if you want secure this type of gig, we suggest that you sign up with all of the sites that work in your neighborhood. (Some only serve certain states and cities.) Others to consider: Giggster and PeerSpace.

The only downside we see with AVVAY is that it doesn’t have an intuitive way to charge more for larger crowds like some of its competitors. That said, AVVAY operates in several markets where other rent-by-the-hour options are not available.

If you want to list with AVVAY, you can start here.

Updated 11/30/2023