Terms of Service

1. What Hire & Host is

Hire & Host is an online platform for event services. It helps people planning an event (“hosts”) find, message and book venues, caterers, photographers, entertainers, decorators, rental companies and other businesses and freelancers (“providers”), and it handles the payment for every booking.

The service itself is agreed between the host and the provider. We don’t provide event services, we don’t act as anyone’s agent or employer, and we don’t guarantee the work of any provider. What we do is hold each booking’s payment in escrow and release it under these terms, so hosts pay only for services they have received and providers are paid for the work they have done.

2. Your account

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account. When you sign up, you agree to:

• give accurate information and keep it up to date;
• keep your password private, and tell us at [email protected] if you think someone else has used your account;
• be responsible for everything done with your account.

One account can be used both as a host and as a provider. You can sign in with your email and password or with Google. We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms.

3. Bookings and payments

A booking is confirmed by paying through Hire & Host. Once you and a provider have agreed on the package, the date and the details, you pay the package price, plus any taxes that apply, on the website. Bookings can’t be confirmed or paid outside Hire & Host: providers must not ask you to pay them directly, and money paid outside the website isn’t protected by these terms.

Taxes. Where the law requires it, taxes such as VAT apply to bookings. Depending on the tax and where the provider’s business is, a tax is either included in the package price or added on top of it. Before you pay, the contract and the payment page show each tax, its rate and the total. That total is the full amount you pay: nothing is added after you pay.

We hold your payment in escrow. It isn’t passed to the provider until your event has taken place and you have approved the service, as described in the next section. Payments are processed by our payment processor; the payment methods available are shown when you pay.

4. After the event: approval, disputes and refunds

After your event, you have until the end of the day after the event to approve the service or raise a dispute from your booking. If there’s no dispute, we release the payment to the provider one to two days after the event: sooner if you approve, otherwise once the day after the event has passed.

If you raise a dispute, we keep holding the payment while we review it. We ask both sides for their account of what happened and any evidence (the agreed details, messages, photos), and we decide whether the payment goes to the provider, is refunded to you in full or in part, or is split between you. Our decision settles what happens to the money held with us; it doesn’t stop either side from seeking other remedies the law allows. Refunds go back to the payment method you used and can take a few days to appear.

5. Cancellations

Cancellation terms are shown before you pay. If a provider cancels a confirmed booking, you receive a full refund of what you paid through Hire & Host. If you cancel, the refund follows the cancellation terms shown for your booking when you paid. Any refund includes the same share of the taxes you paid.

Providers who cancel confirmed bookings without good reason may have their listings hidden or removed.

6. Fees

Hire & Host is free for hosts. Creating an account, searching and messaging cost nothing, and when you book you pay the package price, plus any taxes that apply, with no booking fee from us.

Providers pay a commission on each booking, deducted from the payout. It is charged on the booking price before tax. The rate is shown in your provider account and when you accept a booking, and we’ll tell you before it changes. Where the law requires Hire & Host to charge tax on its commission, such as VAT, that tax is added to the commission and also deducted from the payout. If a host pays by a method that charges a processing fee, that fee is deducted from the payout too.

7. Prices and availability

Providers post their own package prices, and those are the prices they are expected to charge. If a provider quotes you a different price for the same package, please report it to us right away at [email protected], with the package name and what you were quoted. We review every report and may remove listings or providers that misstate their prices.

Availability is not guaranteed. A package appearing in search results doesn’t mean the provider is free on your date. Message the provider to check, agree on the details, then book through Hire & Host.

8. The verified badge

A “Verified business” or “Verified freelancer” badge means the provider went through our verification process: we checked a government ID and a selfie holding it, and for a business its registration and business license, at the time we reviewed them. Providers without the badge show as “Unverified”.

The badge is not a guarantee of a provider’s quality, conduct, licenses, insurance or reliability. We encourage every host to do their own due diligence: read the reviews, ask questions, check any permits that matter for your event, and put your agreement in writing.

9. For hosts

• Use Hire & Host to find providers and ask about real events.
• Give providers accurate details about your event.
• Agree on the package, date, schedule and details with the provider, then confirm the booking by paying through Hire & Host.
• After the event, approve the service or raise a dispute by the end of the following day.
• Report prices that differ from the listing, and providers who don’t keep their word, to [email protected].

10. For providers

If you list a business on Hire & Host, you agree to:

• give accurate business details, and keep your packages, prices, photos and service areas up to date;
• charge hosts the prices shown on your packages;
• accept bookings and payments only through Hire & Host, and never ask a host to pay you directly;
• deliver what was booked, on the date booked, and deal honestly with hosts;
• post only photos and content you own or have permission to use;
• hold the permits, licenses and registrations your business needs, and handle your own taxes;
• keep your tax details up to date in your provider account (where your business is, your tax number, and whether you are VAT-registered), because they decide which taxes apply to your bookings.

Payouts. If there’s no dispute, we release a booking’s payment to you one to two days after the event, minus our commission and the other deductions described under Fees: sooner when the host approves the service, otherwise once the dispute window (the day after the event) has passed. If the host raises a dispute, the payment is held until we decide it. Payouts go to the payout account set in your provider account. Taxes collected from hosts on your behalf are included in your payout, and you are responsible for filing and paying them, unless your payout shows that Hire & Host kept a tax to pay it for you.

Our team reviews new businesses before hosts can see them, and reviews a live business again when it changes its details. We may decline, hide or remove a listing, and grant, refuse or remove a verified badge. Changing your business name removes the badge until new documents are approved.

11. Messages and reviews

Hosts can message providers about their packages, and providers can reply. Keep messages about your event. To protect users, we may hide phone numbers, email addresses and social media links in messages. You can report a conversation, and our team may read a reported conversation to review it.

Hosts who are logged in can review a package. Reviews must describe your own experience honestly. Our team checks reviews before they appear and may decline or remove them. Providers may post one public reply to each review.

12. What you must not do

• Post false, misleading or fraudulent information, or pretend to be someone else.
• Ask for, offer or make payments for bookings outside Hire & Host.
• Scam, harass, threaten or discriminate against anyone.
• Send spam, or use Hire & Host to advertise unrelated products or services.
• Post content that is illegal, offensive, or that infringes someone else’s rights.
• Copy or collect listings or user information in bulk, including with automated tools.
• Interfere with the website’s security or operation, or try to access accounts or data that aren’t yours.

13. Your content

You keep ownership of what you post (business details, photos, packages, reviews and messages). You give Gigebyte Digital, OPC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, display and share it on Hire & Host for as long as it’s on the site, so the platform can work. We may remove content that breaks these terms.

The Hire & Host name, logo and website design belong to Gigebyte Digital, OPC.

14. Other services

Hire & Host uses services from other companies, such as our payment processor, Google Sign-In and Google Maps. Their own terms apply when you use them. We aren’t responsible for other websites that providers or users link to.

15. Disclaimers and limits of liability

Hire & Host is provided “as is”. We work to keep listings accurate and act on reports, but we don’t promise that every listing, price or detail is complete or current, or that the website will always be available.

To the extent the law allows, Gigebyte Digital, OPC is not liable for the services, conduct, pricing or availability of any provider or host, or for any indirect or consequential loss from using Hire & Host. Our responsibility for money paid through Hire & Host is limited to holding it and releasing or refunding it under these terms. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under Philippine consumer protection law.

16. Closing your account

You can ask us to close your account at any time by emailing [email protected] from the address on your account. Bookings that are still open are settled first. We may suspend or close accounts that break these terms or put other users at risk. What happens to your information afterwards is explained in our Privacy Policy.

17. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as Hire & Host changes. We’ll post the new version here with a new “Last updated” date, and tell account holders about important changes. Using Hire & Host after a change means you accept the updated terms.

18. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of the Philippines. Any dispute about them will be brought before the proper courts of the Philippines.

19. Contact us

Hire & Host is run by Gigebyte Digital, OPC. Questions about these terms, bookings, reports and requests: [email protected].