5 Benefits of Host Insurance for Your Airbnb

As an Airbnb host, it’s your pleasure to provide your guest with a serene vacation escape. You keep your home well-stocked with creature comforts: comfortable linens, board games, and a little welcome basket with local goodies. Is there anything you’re missing? These 5 benefits of host insurance for your Airbnb will help ease any worries.

Your Airbnb business keeps you busy, and it can be easy to forget or put off the time-consuming tasks of running yours. Obtaining insurance is one such task. We’re here to cut down your research time by providing some benefits of host insurance as compared to traditional homeowner’s insurance. Let’s get started.

Host Insurance For Your Property 

First, let’s make sure we understand the basics of specialized host insurance, what it is, and why you need it. You may currently have a traditional fire, hazard, and personal liability insurance policy. This covers your building, contents, and personal liability. As soon as you list your home on Airbnb, insurance for your business should become a priority.

What’s the benefit of host insurance for your property? By securing a commercial host insurance policy, you’ll have coverage for both the personal and business use of your building, contents, liability, and lost business income. Where a traditional fire hazard policy falls short is with its “business activity exclusion”.

If a guest damages your hardwood floors and you file a claim, your homeowner’s insurance could deny the claim solely because your home is on Airbnb, making it a business. Furthermore, since listing your home on Airbnb often violates your insurance contract, your carrier may have grounds to deny any claim. Hosts insurance provides protection for you and your business. And not just from property damage. 

Host Insurance For Your Liability 

As we discussed, a traditional homeowner’s policy offers personal liability. However, when a guest books your home through Airbnb, you are subject to a new level of liability exposure, requiring commercial general liability. 

What is commercial general liability? This is what Hilton has to protect them against bodily injury claims. Let’s say your guest isn’t familiar with your home and doesn’t notice the throw rug in the living room has a turned-up edge and trips and falls, injuring themself. Accidents happen, but you are responsible for your guest’s safety. When you call your insurance company to notify them of the bodily injury, they will ask for details, who fell, etc. When they learn that it was an Airbnb guest, the claim process stops dead in its tracks – there is no coverage for bodily injury resulting from business activity. 

This is where host insurance steps in, providing coverage for a business activity like Airbnb. It also protects you from potential lawsuits from unforeseen guest injury.  

Amenities And Off-Premise Liability

The third of our 5 benefits of host insurance for your Airbnb is commercial general liability insurance. This insurance should cover more than accidents caused by slips and falls. There is also coverage over all offered amenities on and off your property.

Far too many Airbnb hosts carry a policy that offers only premise liability, not commercial general liability. Here are some examples of liability claims that could happen off your property that could be tied back to your Airbnb business. Many of these are common amenities offered to guests:

• Bicycles
• Small watercraft such as a kayak or canoe
• Docks
• Dog bites
• Assault & Battery
• Mugging
• Invasion of privacy

Other amenities you may offer to your guests could be pools, hot tubs, or exercise equipment. There’s a reason Hilton has “use at your own risk” notices as well as a commercial general liability policy. Taking a look at this list, you’ll be quick to consider host insurance. Securing Proper Host Insurance for these amenities will give you peace of mind as you run your Airbnb business.

Bed Bugs

There is something about bed bugs that makes all vacation rental owners uneasy. If you’re just starting out, this concern may not have presented itself yet. However, not only are bed bugs a nuisance but they pose real property and liability concerns. 

When bed bugs are discovered at a vacation rental, the first order of business is to call an exterminator. The average exterminator cost in the U.S. to entirely remove bed bugs is nearly $2,500. The second order of business is to remove the current guests and cancel the next booking. Depending on how quickly an exterminator can be booked and how bad the infestation is, you may also lose income as a result. 

The problem is, many insurance carriers have a total exclusion for “infestation”, which bed bugs would fall under. With the Proper Host Insurance policy, you should have coverage for extermination and loss of business income in a situation like this. 

Liquor Liability

Liquor liability is a standard exclusion with most insurance policies. Even if you don’t provide liquor, beer, or wine for guests, there is still the potential for an accident. Guests typically drink on vacation and may leave behind unconsumed drinks. When you complete a walk-through of the property after each guest, make sure there is no alcohol left behind. Otherwise, it would be left for the next guests. If they consume alcohol and become injured, they could then claim you as liable.

It’s your responsibility to make sure you have liquor liability coverage in your insurance policy. This is yet another benefit to a specialized host insurance policy that will fully protect you and your business in situations common to Airbnb properties.

Final Thoughts

We’ve talked about a lot here. Now’s the time to verify your coverage and make sure you’re prepared as you open your Airbnb or re-open for the season. At this point, you may wonder if such a policy exists with these coverages. Thankfully there are comprehensive host insurance policies readily available in the insurance market. 

Proper Insurance is the Nation’s leading insurer of short-term vacation rental and Airbnb properties. With over 40,000 insurance policies written, you can have peace of mind knowing you and your business are covered for the unique risks of running an Airbnb. 

We hope that these 5 benefits of host insurance for your Airbnb will help you with peace of mind during your time on Airbnb. You can count on Proper Insurance in times of need.

Have questions for Proper Insurance? Give them a call at (888) 631-6680 to verify your insurance, and visit their website to submit a quote request.

By Proper Insurance