Filming in my AirBnB?

Jim2
Level 1
Los Angeles, California, United States

Filming in my AirBnB?

I have been contacted mulitiple times from film groups inquiring about renting my home to film in.

 

This concerns me because the normal fee that a location would receive for having their property used for filming is far greater then what my home's airbnb daily rental is set at.

 

Further more there are all kinds of permits required for a crew over 3 people (which both groups that approached me where)

 

The fact that there are film people going around skirting the film permit regulations in order to find cheap loactions to film by using airbnb as a site for people that will agree to their terms concerns me.

44 Replies 44
Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Thanks for posting this @Jim2.

 

Has any other hosts had any experience of this? 


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I'm sollicited all the time.

I will never host another student film crew again. 

 

I've been solicited twice by student film crews. The last one I said yes to. The student producer obtained the necessary permits, insurance, etc. I met with her, the director, actors, and assistant director beforehand to show them the space. They also had a rehearsal here for a few hours (which I didn't charge for). I charged more than double my usual AirBnB fee for 2 nights. I asked as many questions as I could think of: how loud, where would crew members be when not needed for the shoot (hanging around my apartment?) I checked in with my neighbors to let them know a student film crew would be there and got the approval from them. I felt very comfortable working with the producer and those I met. She was polite, willing to work with my noise constraints (not shooting late into the night, etc.), and promised they would leave everything exactly--better--than they found it. Voila! It seemed like a good fit. I'm an artist, I was excited to make some extra $ and have my place in a film. 

 

HOWEVER... On the first day of shooting, I was off site (at work). I got texts from my neighbors that someone had illegally parked in the neighbor's driveway next door and left a note with a phone number in case it needed to be moved early in the morning. I texted the producer and she said she was sorry, the student couldn't find parking because she got to our neighborhood late at night and it's street parking only (explicitly stated in my AirBnB listing). I also got texts about excessive noise. The second day of shooting I stayed on site for half the day and was flabbergasted by what I saw. There was equipment EVERYWHERE. Every inch of my one bedroom apartment was covered with a person or a piece of heavy equipment. The crew were just doing their jobs, but they were loud--far louder and more disruptive than I anticipated or understood from my initial conversations with the producer. My neighbors were understandably incensed. The crew put my furniture back, but when they left my apartment was NOT in the same condition.  There were scratches in the paint on my built-in buffet, a huge scratch on the floor, marks all over the walls, muddy footprints covering on the bathroom floor, a stain on my brand new guest comforter, and some dents in the baseboards. My curtains (which they had my permission to take down during the shoot, as long as they were put back) were wadded in a ball on the bathroom floor andtotally wrinkled! There was a sticky spill on my antique furniture and a place where the paint had ripped right off the wall because of inappropriate tape. The crew offered to do some cleaning, but it was so late at that point and they were so loud I told them to forget it. I had to hire a company to deep clean my place and spent several hours working on it myself, besides taking the comforter to the dry cleaner, and the hours working with the painters to repair damage. 

 

Worst of all, though, was the damage to my relationships with my neighbors which I have been actively trying to repair. (I made brownies, compensated them financially for the time and inconvenience of the noise, and wrote truly heartfelt apology notes. I felt awful). To honor my neighbors and give some time for the debacle to blow over (and get my apartment in order, repainted, etc.), I felt it was necessary to cancel my next 3 AirBnB stays. AirBnB helped them find alternate places to stay because of the extenuating circumstances, but it still dinged me as a host and I lost $900 of income. 

 

I've been working with the guest to repair the damage to my apartment and things. I took pictures of all the damage around the apartment and emailed them to the producer. They have offered to pay me for damages, cleaning, etc. I can't charge them for my lost income--I'm just chalking that up to an unfortunate learning experience for me. It's been incredibly inconvenient and upsetting, but they have been doing their best to make things right with me. 

 

I left what I felt was a fair review to the producer--saying that my experience with her was positive, but warning other AirBnB hosts about the potential disruption of hosting a student film crew. She was quite upset that I damaged her reputation on AirBnB and asked that I email AirBnB and revoke the review because she had used her personal account to book the space. She said I'm one of 4 films she's shot via AirBnB and that it's the only negative experience a host has had. I'm not sure how to respond to her or if I can revoke my review. I do think it's unfortunate that she used her personal account. She was a lovely person--it was the situation that didn't go well.

 

Thoughts?

Contact Image Locations. They only work with experienced productions with good budgets and they have strict contracts with an actual site manager there from call time to wrap!  Paul

We had an experience not dissimilar to this, although not quite as bad.  I didn't realize that we should be charging MORE than our usual rate, and the film student actually talked me into charging slightly less.  There was damage to our drywall, and we had the same experience with curtains being removed.

 

I wouldn't do it again without charging substantially more and clearing it with my neighbors.

How much more would you charge? 

Hi.  I just got an inquiry to use our new listing for a web series.  14 hours use for much more than the nightly rate. Is there anything wrong with this?

Cyn

Marcus0
Level 10
Berlin, DE

I have had several film crew requests and accepted one.  We doubled the daily price over 4 days and they accepted it.  They only needed  the apartment during 9am to 5pm and never slept there.  The apartment was left quite clean.   We had to sign a filming agreement basically giving them the rights on the filming inside of the property.  One thing we did need to confirm was the level of noise created and if that would be disruptive to the neighbours.  That´s my experience.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Jim2 and @Marcus0,

 

Just to let you know I have moved your discussion into the General Hosting board as it doesn't really relate to the Airbnb Open.

 

Thanks 🙂


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

Jeremy17
Level 2
Los Angeles, CA

I have been contacted for filming several times. I wish I knew how to handle this better. Typically the film crews want to film in my living room, kitchen etc. and not in the room that I rent out for airbnb. This is doubly annoying because I obviously charge more when I rent the house for filming, but also because if it's a small crew (which it usually is because they are not using a locaiton scout), then I could still be renting out the airbnb room. 

I have my property listed on other sites for filming and I would really like to direct the potential filming business to the appropriate site, but airbnb doesn't make it easy. Any one else have any suggestions for how to handle these inquiries? 

I would suggest collecting walk-through agreements with your crew and have a walk through release that is signed when the crew is done filming at your location. This will hold the production company liable for any damages obtained during the shoot at your location. (Don't forget to take photos of your house/area they are carrying equiptment through, etc. with either the producer of the shoot, or the location manager. You could also maybe directly connect with them, and have them pay you directly, instead of AirBnb charging any other fees. This way all of the money goes directly to you. 

 

I would consider charging by the hour, if I were you. Also consider upping your rate when they mention it's a "commercial" shoot. They usually have the bigger budgets 😉

 

Also check and make sure there aren't any other permits that you need to have in place for your neighborhood/property with the city.

You can message them back on AirBnb and request for them to contact you on one of your other platforms that is more film friendly. I am a producer and my favorite site to use is Peerspace. www.peerspace.com 

I hope this helps! 

I don't really see the concern with needing to rent out your room as well when you have just doubled your rate for the film crew.  This seems unreasonable and down right greedy to me.  If you are receiving your money plus some, regardless whether they are actually using it all or not, they have paid for the use of the whole facility.  I am sorry I just do not agree with how you are viewing this. You can get more money for a film crew and have the slightest of inconvenience.  With having an Airbnb you are basically accepting the inconvenience of someone being there in order to make extra money.  That is what you are signing up for when you choose this as a venture to generate extra capital.  I also do not see why having a film shoot there is costing more unless it is a big time production company.  Someone mentioned a couple of students filming.  I understand the gripes about damage though.  This is something that I would write up a specialized agreement for and require a sizable deposit, if that is something that is not expressly forbidden by airbnb policies.  If it were me I would be more than thrilled to help out some film students.  I would not even charge them more.  That just seems greedy to me.  I would however come up with ways as aforementioned to ensure that I protect myself. Granted, deposits and agreements that would allow me to pursue damages in court would be something I would do for every person staying at a location I owned just to cover my self from unnecessary expenses. 

Nicholas - just a week and a half ago, I accepted an Instant Booking for film students wanting to do a short Halloween film.  I had read some topics on here warning that it could be a bad deal, but since the student who made the booking had very good reviews, I decided to go ahead with it.  NEVER AGAIN!  I was told only 2 people would stay overnight, but there would be an additional film crew and actors consisting of about 6 people.  My airbnb is a two story cabin that live across from on a large farm.  I am not sure they realized this when they booked it.  They brought in double the amount of people mentioned to me.  However, I don't think any of them stayed overnight.  They filmed until the wee hours of the morning then left.  In their wake, they left two clogged toilets, a broken toilet seat, trash everywhere both inside and outside, and where they had replaced regular light bulbs with blue lights in the dining area, they very nearly set the place on fire.  The ceiling light was supposed to hold 40 watt bulbs and they had obviously used higher wattage. The entire fixture had to be replaced.  Yes, I should have asked for a deposit, but had not encountered this before, so was a little unknowing in this situation.  I now plan to put in my house rules that there will be no film crews under any conditions.  Like you, I wanted to help them out and apparently just because the person booking has excellent reviews, it doesn't mean his/her crew will adhere to those rules, or use common sense!

Alon1
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Susan1404 

 

re. 'I had read some topics on here warning that it could be a bad deal.'

 

You can also read some positive experiences! I've had quite a few as have some other hosts.

However, it is advisable  to follow certain procedures.

 

Please see link below to thread by Huma, another London Host.

 

Do you allow film and photo shoots in your listing.