What each platform takes, covers, and pays
Every peer-to-peer rental app a homeowner or studio owner might list on, side by side: the host cut, the renter fee, what the "protection" is actually worth, and what you'd have to charge on each to take home the same amount.
from official help centers and terms
Palm Productions
Five things the research settled
Peerspace 20%, Giggster 19%, Sniffspot 22%, Airbnb 15.5%. Swimply won't publish a number (20–30%, priced per booking). Storage and parking apps look cheap for hosts (Neighbor 4.9%) because the margin is pushed onto the renter.
Peerspace, Swimply, Neighbor and Hipcamp all pay only after your own policy. Giggster, Tagvenue, GetMyBoat, ShareGrid and Hygglo give hosts no liability coverage at all. Your homeowners policy excludes business use either way.
They're reimbursement programs, not insurance: Peerspace $25K ($100 ded.), Swimply $10K ($250–500), Sniffspot $5K, Giggster $2K ($500). Claim windows run 72 hours to 14 days.
Peerspace, Giggster, Swimply, Turo and Neighbor all say "shown at checkout." Only Tagvenue (0%) and GetMyBoat (up to 13% + $20) publish it. This is why the same listed price nets and costs different amounts everywhere.
Tooling is $20–60/mo plus ~3% processing. What you're replacing is the bundled liability: $350–650/yr for a basic $1M/$2M studio GL, up to $2,000+/yr for a full venue policy.
Splacer closed April 2025. Getaround and HyreCar left the US in early 2025. Fat Llama is now Hygglo. Stow It folded into Spacer. Pavemint and ParkStash pivoted away from homeowners.
The ledger
"Keep" is the share of your listed price that reaches you after the host fee. Renter fee is what the guest pays on top of your price. Confidence marks whether the figure was verified on the platform's own pages.
| Platform | Category | Host fee | Keep | Renter fee | Liability for host | Damage protection | Payout | Direct-booking rule | Confidence |
|---|
Price it so you net the same everywhere
Enter what you want to take home per booking. The list shows what you'd have to post on each platform to net that amount, and (where the renter fee is published) what the guest ends up paying.
Where a platform's renter fee isn't published, the guest total is marked "varies." Platforms with tiered fees use the plan noted in the ledger.
| Platform | List at | Guest pays | Markup you carry | Keep |
|---|
Platform vs. direct: where the break-even sits
Going direct swaps a percentage for a fixed insurance bill plus cheap tooling. Set your yearly revenue through one platform and see the gap. Estimates, not quotes.
Acuity + Stripe or HoneyBook. Processing is added at 3%.
The number the calculator can't show: the platform's search traffic. The usual play is hybrid, keep the listing for new clients and move repeat producers and referrals to direct.
What going direct actually requires
Insurance and paper
- Your own liability policy. Standard homeowners excludes "business pursuits." Photo-studio GL medians run $29/mo (Insureon), Hiscox and NEXT $19–30/mo, for $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate. A residence rented hourly to crews rates higher: plan $600–1,500/yr. Proper's venue/pool policies start around $2,000/yr and add guest-caused damage, lost income and liquor.
- A COI from the client, not for them. Productions in LA already carry $1M GL ($500K for stills) because FilmLA requires it. Ask to be named additional insured; it costs them nothing.
- A day policy for events. The Event Helper from $66, Eventsured from $63, Thimble $115–160 for a 50-person event. Make it a booking condition, same as Peerspace does.
- A location or rental agreement. Deposit terms, hours, overtime, damage, cancellation. This is the piece Yieldly could generate per asset and per state.
Tooling and rules
- Payments: Stripe 2.9% + 30¢, Square 3.3% + 30¢ online, HoneyBook 2.7% + 10¢ with contracts and e-sign built in ($29/mo).
- Booking calendar: Acuity from $20/mo. Skedda is built for venues but priced for offices.
- Los Angeles specifics: no sales tax on bare space rental (CDTFA), no TOT unless someone sleeps over, a free Business Tax Registration Certificate under $100K gross. Film permits are the production's job ($931 motion, $104 stills).
- Don't poach. Every platform bans moving a guest it introduced off-platform. Penalties: Neighbor 24 months of fees, Boatsetter $1,000 per booking, Peerspace and Giggster suspension plus fees owed. Direct is for clients you found yourself.