RoveLite Host Guidelines

Last Updated April 25th, 2025

Introduction

These guidelines outline the requirements and responsibilities for property Hosts participating in RoveLite, a marketplace for luxury property rentals. By partnering with Rove, you gain access to our marketing expertise and booking platform, while maintaining control over your property and guest interactions. Rove partners with property Hosts dedicated to providing 5-star service and property standards above-and-beyond traditional rental marketplaces. All Hosts are expected to maintain a 4.70/5 average guest rating.

1. Rove Services

1.1 Marketing & Booking:
- Rove manages all marketing, pricing strategy, booking processes, and guest communication from initial inquiry to booking confirmation.
- This includes professional photography, listing creation, and distribution across Rove's exclusive network and select third-party platforms.
1.2 Guest Experience & Property Management:
- Rove acts as the primary point of contact for guests before booking, addressing inquiries, and after the guest has vacated the property.
- Host acts as the primary point of contact for guests after a booking is confirmed and payment and verification is complete. Host facilitates all communication throughout the stay, except for communication regarding payment, security deposit, refunds, escalated issues on stay, or changes to the length of stay.
- Hosts are expected to maintain a 4.70 or higher average guest rating on a rolling basis.
  - Ratings below this threshold may result in a warning and a deadline for improvement.
  - Failure to address issues identified by Rove may result in termination of the partnership and delisting of the property at Rove’s sole discretion.
1.3 Rove Fee:
- Rove charges a fee ("Rove Fee") per confirmed reservation.
- The Rove Fee is determined based on market conditions, property characteristics, and service level, and will be clearly disclosed in the executed contract.
- Reservation extensions or future reservations occurring outside the original agreement are also subject to the Rove Fee.
1.4 Additional Fees:
- Rove may charge guests additional fees for processing, administration, or other services ("Additional Fees").
- These fees are retained by Rove.

2. Property Marketing & Availability

2.1 Marketing Reach:
- Rove will market the property across its network and select channels, including luxury vacation rental platforms, real estate networks, and exclusive partnerships.
- Rove exclusively lists the property on booking platforms such as Rovetravel.com, Airbnb, VRBO, and other relevant luxury platforms, determined at Rove's sole discretion.
- Listings cannot be made on other platforms, nor can an Host create a duplicative listing on a third party booking platform that Rove maintains a listing on. Failure to comply with Rove’s listing guidelines may result in immediate disqualification of the property and/or termination.
2.2 Calendar Management:
- Hosts are responsible for maintaining accurate and real-time availability of their property through the Rove Owner Portal.
- Failure to update the calendar, leading to cancellations, will result in penalties (see section 11.2).
- Rove may reach out to confirm calendar availability as needed. Failure to respond to this inquiry within 2 business days will result in a pause to your listing. Such pause will remain in effect until Rove is able to confirm upcoming calendar availability is accurate.

3. Property Photography & Marketing Materials

3.1 Photography:
- Rove may arrange professional photographs of the property at no cost to the Host.
- All photographs and marketing materials, including associated intellectual property, are the exclusive property of Rove.
- Hosts may not copy, modify, publish, transmit, or distribute these materials without written approval from Rove.
- If Host fails to properly stage Property in accordance with the pre-communicated staging guide, Rove reserves the right to re-photograph the property at the Host’s cost.

4. Property Supplies & Cleaning

4.1 Supplies:
- Hosts are required to purchase and stock necessary supplies that would be expected in a luxury property rental, including but not limited to cleaning supplies, linens, soaps, shampoo, conditioner, hand lotion, and other items deemed necessary by Rove.
4.2 Cleaning:
- Hosts are responsible for coordinating cleaning services between bookings at their own expense.
- The property must be prepared for the next guest no later than the advertised arrival time of the listing.

5. Host Obligations & Maintenance

5.1 General Responsibilities:
- Hosts are responsible for all services, utilities, maintenance, and other obligations necessary to operate the property as a luxury rental, excluding RoveLite services. This includes coordinating all repairs and maintenance.
- Rove may identify furniture or other personal property items to be removed from the Property, and the Host agrees to remove any such items at their own expense. All storage and moving costs and services are the Host's sole responsibility
- Host is expected to provide access to a Netflix login or provide cable TV for guest usage.
- Hosts must notify Rove of any structural, systems, or major repairs and coordinate required property unavailability and/or calendar blocks.
- Host is obligated to notify Rove of any material alterations to the property that occur after the initial photography.
5.2 Onsite Services:
- All onsite maintenance, repairs, pool and jacuzzi maintenance, onsite guest services, or service calls shall be considered the sole responsibility of Host.
- Where applicable, Host must coordinate with Rove to provide a pool and jacuzzi opening date no later than May 1st of each year, as well as inform Rove of a pool and jacuzzi closing date after October 1st of each year and no less than 4 weeks in advance.
- Communication of onsite services with guests after a booking has been confirmed is also the Host’s responsibility.

6. Host Service Level Agreement (SLA) - Utility and Habitability Issues

6.1 Host Responsibility:
- Hosts are solely responsible for resolving all utility, infrastructural, or systems-related issues that impact guest safety or habitability.
- Examples include: dead smart locks, loss of power, running water, gas leaks, loss of heating/cooling, extensive leaks, and rodent infestations.
- Hosts must resolve issues or provide a timeframe for a resolution approved by Rove within 24 hours of the initial report.
6.2 Communication & Documentation:
- Hosts must promptly notify Rove of issues and maintain detailed records of resolutions.
- Continuous communication with impacted guests is required.
6.3 Repeated Breaches:
- Repeated or severe breaches may result in termination of the agreement.

7. Property Access

7.1 Guest Occupancy:
- Hosts and their agents may not access the property when occupied by a guest, except for responding to service requests or fulfilling Host obligations.
- Hosts must provide guests with 24-hour written notice of intent to enter in non-emergency situations.
7.2 Disruption:
- Hosts disrupting a guest's reservation without consent will be liable for relocation costs and/or refunds determined at Rove’s sole discretion.

8. Exclusivity & Calendar Management

8.1 Exclusive Agreements:
- Hosts in exclusive agreements with Rove are prohibited from listing or marketing the property without Rove's consent unless otherwise specified.
- Circumventing this agreement will result in monetary penalties and potential delisting.
- Hosts must maintain real-time availability on the Rove Host Portal with the property’s calendar. Cancelation of a booking may result in monetary penalties and potential delisting subject to Rove’s sole discretion.

9. Host Account & Payment Processing

9.1 Payment Management:
- Rove manages payment processing and payouts.
- Hosts will receive a statement by the 5th of the month, detailing the Host's share of the prior month's net revenue. Disbursements of revenue of reservations pro-rated for the month are paid out by the 10th of the month following those reservations.

10. The Booking Process

10.1 Booking Confirmation:
- Guests book based on availability, pricing, and strategy.
- Rove vets guests and confirms stays upon verification.
- Rove provides guest with Host contact information prior to their check-in.

10.2 Booking Agreement:

Rove provides the Rental Agreement, which is the contract between the Host and guest.
Host may supplement the Rove Rental Agreement with their own guest agreements. Rove’s Rental Agreement shall always supersede any supplementary agreements (unless agreed to otherwise by Rove in writing).

11. Cancellations

11.1 Guest Cancellation:
- Rove reserves the right to refund guests due to property issues, at Rove's discretion. Bookings on third party platforms are subject to those platforms terms and conditions, and refunds or dispute resolution for third party bookings may be adjudicated by these platforms.
11.2 Host Cancellation:
- Hosts are liable for guest refunds, relocation costs, third-party fees, the Rove Fee, and all other related cancellation expenses.
- Host Cancellation Penalties:
  - If the reservation is canceled 48 hours or less before check-in, or after check-in, the fee is 50% of the reservation amount.
  - If the reservation is canceled anytime between 48 hours and 30 days before check-in, the fee is 30% of the reservation amount.
  - If the reservation is canceled more than 30 days before check-in, the fee is 20% of the reservation amount.
  - After the 2nd occurrence of a cancellation under 30 days from check-in, within 18 months, the property will be delisted.
11.3 Rove Cancellation:
- Rove may cancel if the property is deemed unsuitable, with a refund to the guest.

12. Guest Chargebacks

12.1 Host Responsibility:
- Hosts are responsible for guest chargebacks, which may be applied to and deducted from Host disbursements retroactively.

13. Taxes

13.1 Host Taxes: As a Host, you are responsible for determining and fulfilling your obligations under applicable laws to report, collect, remit, or include in your price any applicable VAT or other indirect taxes, occupancy taxes, tourist, income, or other taxes ("Taxes").
13.2 Collection and Remittance by Rove: In jurisdictions where Rove facilitates the collection and/or remittance of Taxes on behalf of Hosts (See Rove tax page for qualifying jurisdictions), you instruct and authorize Rove to collect Taxes on your behalf, and/or to remit such Taxes to the relevant Tax authority. Any Taxes that are collected and/or remitted by Rove are identified to Hosts on their transaction records, as applicable. Rove may seek additional amounts from Hosts (including by deducting such amounts from future payouts) when the Taxes collected and/or remitted are insufficient to fully discharge that Hosts’ tax obligations, and you agree that your sole remedy for Taxes collected by Rove is a refund from the applicable Tax authority.
13.3 Tax Information: In certain jurisdictions, Tax regulations may require that we collect and/or report Tax information about you, or withhold Taxes from payouts to you, or both. If you fail to provide us with documentation that we determine to be sufficient to support any such obligation to withhold Taxes from payouts to you, we may withhold payouts up to the amount as required by law, until sufficient documentation is provided. You agree that Rove may issue on your behalf invoices or similar documentation for VAT, GST, consumption or other Taxes for your Property to facilitate accurate tax reporting.
13.4 Information Sharing: You authorize Rove to share applicable data with all relevant tax authorities as needed to facilitate accurate and compliant tax reporting.

14. Security Deposits & Damage Protection

14.1 Security Deposits:
- Security deposits are managed per the Rental Agreement and are only for Medium-Term rentals (30+ nights).
14.2 Damage Protection:
- Short-term rentals will either have 3rd party booking channel damage protection or be opted into $5 million property damage protection provided by Truvi.

15. Damage Claims

15.1 Claim Submission:
- Hosts must submit damage claims within 7 days of a guest's departure along with providing before and after evidence to substantiate claims of guest damage.
  - Claims deemed to relate to generally accepted standards of wear and tear from property rentals will be denied.
  - For qualifying stays, 3rd party accidental damage claims will be filed on behalf of the Host by Rove and must first require an attempt by the Host to have the relevant guest cover the cost of repair for the damage caused.

16. Rove Issue Management

16.1 Critical Infrastructure Issues:
- Hosts must resolve critical infrastructure issues within 24 hours.
- Failure to do so can result in penalties.
- Rove may mediate dispute resolutions.

17. Landlord-Tenant Disputes

17.1 Host Responsibility:
- Host is responsible for all landlord-tenant disputes, holdover disputes, evictions, or other proceedings.

18. Duties Upon Termination

18.1 Existing Reservations:
- Hosts must honor existing reservations up to 90 days after termination. Host may cancel any existing reservations that are more than 90 days past the date of termination, but agrees to pay Rove all associated booking fees. Host is liable for any third-party booking platform cancellation fees (e.g. Airbnb).
18.2 Termination with Cause:
- If Host violates this agreement and is terminated with cause, Rove is entitled to monetary compensation equal to the cost of all onboarding items, including, but not limited to, photography, inspection(s), and any other upfront listing expense. If the contract is terminated for Cause within twelve (12) months of the contract start date, provided that the total cost of these recoverable onboarding expenses shall not exceed $2,000 unless otherwise agreed to in writing.

19. Reservation Background Check Pre-Approval Criteria:

19.1 Background Check Pre-Approval
- Host agrees to accept all Rove-curated bookings that meet or exceed the Rove’s Guest verification requirements.
- In cases where a Guest fails to meet the Rove pre-approval guidelines, Rove shall provide Host with all relevant guest information, and recognize the Hosts’ decision on final booking approval.
19.3 Property- Specific and Rove Brand Pre-Approval Criteria:
- Rove shall respect and enforce any and all pre-established property-specific requirements that Host and Rove set in the original property listing. Such requirements include but are not limited to, length of stay minimums, pet policies, maximum guest occupancy, and any other home-specific guidelines.
- Rove shall only approve guests who pass the background check requirements, have no damage or incident history on previous Rove stays (when applicable), and are in good standing with Rove.

Host Guidelines Terms and Conditions:

Right to Market Property: During the term, Rove will use best efforts to market Host’s Property. Rove may, as it determines appropriate in its sole discretion, advertise the Property on other channels including but not limited to other vacation rental platforms, real estate aggregators, multiple listing services, social media platforms, news outlets, and direct emails (collectively, “Channel Partners”). Host grants Rove the authority to exclusively list, at Rove’s sole discretion, Host's Property. This exclusivity shall remain in effect until this agreement is terminated. Host acknowledges that Channel Partners, in agreeing to promote Host’s Property, are authorized to mark up the cost for Reservations otherwise agreed to by Rove and Host.
Booking Process:
1. Step 1 (Guest Booking): Guests browse listings on booking websites and see a price quote based on availability, strategy, and pricing set with Rove. If a Guest elects to move forward with the Reservation, the Guest will enter payment information, submitting an “Inquiry”. An Inquiry is a potential Guest inquiring about a Property, but has not yet requested to reserve the Property. Once payment is received, and the Guest has agreed to the terms of the Rental Agreement, their reservation is submitted. A Booking (or Reservation) is a paid reservation for confirmed dates with a digitally signed or authorized Rental Agreement, completed payment, confirmed by Rove.
2. Step 2 (Guest Vetting / Approval): After the Guest submits the booking, Rove screens the Guest in accordance with the following vetting process: (1) makes reasonable efforts to verify that the Guest satisfies suitability requirements of Rove and the pre-established Property-specific requirements, and (2) contracts with a 3rd party vendor to run background checks on the Guest. Results of such screening are, upon completion, reviewed by Rove. If the Guest successfully meets Rove’s Pre-Approval Guidelines, Rove will send a notification via email and/or SMS with basic details of Booking. This Pre-Approved Booking shall not be denied unless Rove fails to fufil its Pre-Approval obligations. Denial of a valid Pre-Approved Booking will trigger a review process that could result in Termination of this Agreement. In the event a Guest does not pass a background check, or Rove is unable to run the aforementioned screenings, Rove will contact the Host directly and provide all relevant Guest information to allow the Host to make an informed booking decision. The Host will have 24-hours to approve or deny such Guest. If Host fails to provide booking approval in the allotted window, Rove will act with its best judgement to make an approval decision on the Host’s behalf. If the Guest matches the pre-established suitability requirements and passes the background check, under no circumstances can a Booking be declined.
3. Step 3 (Creating a Booking): When a Guest matches the pre-established suitability requirements and passes the background check, Host accepts the booking and digitally counter signs the Rental Agreement on the Host’s behalf. At this point, the Booking is officially confirmed, and the Guest’s initial payment is processed. Cancellations of confirmed bookings (other than for reasons permitted in the Agreement) may be subject to monetary penalties, may negatively impact your Property’s listing in search results, and are highly discouraged. Commissions are due to Rove even for cancelled Pre-Approved Bookings, as Rove has successfully fulfilled its duties as part of this Agreement. You agree that a Pre-Approved Booking is not cancelled unless you pay Rove its fee.
4. Step 4 (Payout): Rove will provide Host with a monthly statement, showing the Host’s revenue, less Platform fees and Rove fees from the prior calendar month’s stays. Rove shall deposit the Host’s funds by the 10th of the month. For example, all bookings revenue for July, minus related frees, would be deposited into Host’s account on August 10th.
Rental Agreement: Rove provides the Rental Agreement for each Reservation, which is the contract entered into by the Host and Guest. Rove is not a party to the Rental Agreement except to the extent stated explicitly in that agreement.
Guest Cancellation of Booking: In the event a Guest cancels their Reservation, Rove refunds the Guest in accordance with the terms outlined in the RoveLite: Host Guidelines. In the event the Guest payments are non-refundable, Rove reserves the right to immediately re-open the dates of the Booking. If Rove is able to re-book the Property for an amount of equal or higher value than the amount the Guest was booked for, Rove reserves the right to issue the Guest a full refund.
Host Cancellation of Booking: If Host cancels a Reservation or displaces Guest for any reason, Host shall be liable for returning that Guest’s paid amounts, any fees owed to third-party platforms as a result of such cancellation, Rove’s Fee due on the canceled Reservation, and all other fees incurred by Guest and Rove in enforcing this obligation. Host has 30 days to remit payment due to Rove in connection with the cancellation.
Rove Cancellation of Booking: Rove may cancel a Reservation at its sole discretion if it deems the Property unfit or diminished below its custom standards. If Rove chooses to cancel a Reservation, Host shall promptly return to Rove any funds already paid out in connection with the Reservation. Host has 30 days to remit payment due to Rove in connection with the cancellation.
Damage Claims Process: Hosts must report claims to Rove within the time allotted in RoveLite: Host Guidelines. Rove will make its best effort to ensure valid claims are accepted. Claims will be paid out in accordance with Truvi’s Terms & Conditions and are subject to Truvi’s discretion.
Right to Withhold Payments: Notwithstanding any other provision in this Agreement, Rove reserves the right to withhold any payments due to the Host under this Agreement in the event that there are any outstanding invoices or financial obligations owed by the Host to Rove or any affiliates. This withholding of payments shall continue until such outstanding invoices or obligations are fully satisfied. Rove sends the Host each invoice in the monthly statement (or sooner). The Host shall have the opportunity to dispute the validity of the invoice within a period of 10 days from the receipt of the invoice. If the Host fails to dispute the validity within the specified period, or if the dispute is resolved in favor of Rove, Rove shall have the right to apply any withheld payments towards the satisfaction of the outstanding invoices or obligations.
Utility Fees: Unless otherwise agreed to between Guest and Host in the Rental Agreement, fees for utilities shall be included in the total rental amount and collected at the time of booking. To the extent applicable to the Property, the term “utilities” refers to pool and hot tub maintenance, heating oil, propane, natural gas, electricity, cable/satellite TV, internet service, trash removal, landscaping maintenance, and water.
Compliance with Laws: Host will abide by (and as necessary, investigate) all local, municipal, state and federal laws, rules, ordinances, and regulations with regard to their use of the Site, Booking Services and Ancillary Services. Rove, although not liable for legal or regulatory compliance pertaining to Properties listed on the Platform, may from time to time be obligated (as we may determine in our sole discretion) to provide information relating to the Property or any current or past Reservation in order to comply with governmental investigations, litigation or administrative proceedings, and Rove may, in its sole discretion, comply or disregard such obligation.