Community Guidelines

Last updated: 2 September 2026

GigAway works because it is small, verified, and made of people who share a profession. Everyone here is a colleague. These are the expectations that keep it that way.

The short version

Be the guest you would want in your own home. Be the host you would want in a strange city.

If you are hosting

Describe what you actually have. A couch is a couch. If it is a mattress in the kitchen, or a room you share with a flatmate, say so. Somebody is planning their trip around your description, and finding out at 11pm that it was optimistic is genuinely bad.

Say what your household needs. No smoking, no pets, quiet after ten, women only, no children — set these when you post your availability. Constraints are not rudeness. They prevent bad matches.

Be reachable in the days before. Once contact details are exchanged, answer messages. Your guest is travelling to a city they may not know.

Offering a couch is not offering yourself. Hospitality is hospitality. Nothing else is implied by it, ever, in either direction.

You can change your mind. If something feels wrong, say no — before or after agreeing. Do it as early as you can, but do it. Nobody is owed a bed.

If you are staying

Turn up when you said, and leave when you said. Your host has arranged their week around you.

Tell them as soon as plans change. Auditions move and trains are cancelled. Silence is the problem, not the change.

Treat the home as someone's actual home. It is not a hotel. There is nobody cleaning up behind you.

Respect the house rules, including the ones you find unnecessary.

Do not bring anyone who was not agreed. Your host said yes to you.

Say thank you. Nobody is being paid for this.

Everyone

No money. GigAway is free and stays free. Do not ask for payment, offer payment, or use it to run a commercial letting. Splitting a hotel room you both booked is fine — that is what co-accommodation is for.

Keep contact details private. When someone's email and WhatsApp are revealed to you, that is for arranging your stay. Not for adding them to anything, not for passing on, not for anything else.

Be honest about who you are. Misrepresenting your professional standing undermines the one thing that makes this community work.

Do not photograph the inside of someone's home without asking. Do not post photographs of it anywhere.

Write reviews about the experience, not the person. "Cancelled the night before" is useful. Insults are not. Reviews are attributed to you, and shown to both sides at once.

What gets you removed

Some of these end an account immediately and permanently:

• Any form of sexual pressure, harassment or unwanted advance
• Threats, intimidation or violence
• Discrimination on grounds of race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age
• Entering someone's home under false pretences
• Theft or deliberate damage
• Sharing another member's contact details, photos or messages

Others get a warning first, and removal if repeated:

• Repeatedly cancelling at the last minute or failing to appear
• Misrepresenting what you are offering, or who you are
• Commercial use — charging, advertising, recruiting or selling
• Persistent unwanted contact after someone has stopped replying

Reporting someone

Every profile has a report option, and so does every stay.

Reports are private. The person you report is never shown your report and is never told who made it. This is not negotiable — it is what makes reporting safe enough to be worth doing.

We aim to look at every report within 24 hours. We may take no action, contact the people involved, issue a warning, suspend an account while we look, or remove someone permanently. Suspension takes effect immediately.

Blocking is separate, and instant. Blocking someone makes you invisible to each other straight away. You do not need a reason, and you do not need to report them as well.

If you are in immediate danger, call the emergency services first. In the EU that is 112. GigAway cannot intervene in a live situation. Report to us afterwards so we can act on the account.

A note on trust

Verification means somebody read an application and confirmed the person is a working artist. It is not a background check, an identity check, or a promise that a person is safe.

Read profiles. Read reviews. Ask questions before you agree. Tell a friend where you are staying. Trust your own judgement over a green tick — and if something feels wrong, leave. Nothing here obliges you to stay anywhere.

Questions

support@gigaway.app