Home Insurance with airbnb usage

The web application Airbnb has proved a hugely popular and successful site for bringing together homeowners with a spare room – or even their entire home – to let and travellers, tourists and holidaymakers wanting a place to stay for the short-term

Its success might be measured by the fact that there are now more than 2 million Airbnb “hosts” worldwide, in some 190 countries.

Why do you need Airbnb insurance?

Although there are many, many stories about homeowners letting their accommodation without any hitch, there are a few horror stories, too, about the damage caused to the property by unruly and seemingly out of control “guests”.

Aware of these risks, Airbnb offers registered hosts the free protection of what it calls Host Protection insurance, which is provided free of charge and may help to cover third party claims for property damage or personal injury caused by rogue guests who have used the site. The limit of any claim made under this insurance is US$1 million (approximately £660,000).

Airbnb itself recognises the limitations of such Host Protection, pointing out that it is no substitute for your own separately arranged insurance – to cover risks such as theft, or accidental or malicious damage to items of particular value (such as collectibles or works of art) or for injury to your pet or pets.

Whilst cover against third party claims for property damage is included, Host Protection offers none of the personal liability indemnity you might expect from home insurance – which is typically a minimum of at least £1 million.

That is why additional Airbnb insurance is so important.

What you need to know when buying Airbnb insurance

Your existing insurer of your home and its contents of course needs to know that you are planning to let any part of your home to Airbnb guests – the action is considered a “material fact” almost certain to affect the insurers assessment of the risks in providing cover.

Indeed, your current home insurer may decline the continuation of cover whilst you are letting your home to any kind of paying guest.

For that reason, we have developed insurance packages specifically with Airbnb hosts in mind and designed to maintain the comprehensive cover for your home and its contents that you are likely to require.

In doing so, we take into account that the needs and circumstances of each temporary landlord or host are likely to be different. Basing most of our policies on one particular product, we are therefore able to add options that keep any individual policy suited to your own particular requirements when acting as an Airbnb host.

The same core policy may also be amended and extended by way of endorsements to the schedule of cover, so that you might include insurance against the risk of malicious damage by your guests, for instance, or adapt your cover for the protection of a second home during holiday lets.

The extra risks faced by having paying guests

The fact that you are having paying guests in your holiday let means that you and your property are vulnerable to a whole host of additional risks that you wouldn’t get in a solely owner-occupied property.

For example:

• malicious damage to your property caused by a guest;
• a liability claim against you for loss or injury caused while on your premises and as a result of perceived negligence (as an example, if a guest slipped on a rug and broke their leg);
• loss / damage or theft of personal possessions and any family pets;
• loss of rental income (where you had guests booked to stay but they cannot as something has happened to your property to make it uninhabitable, such as fire or flood).

These are just a few examples of why Airbnb insurance is needed when letting your holiday home to Airbnb guests.

What about Airbnb’s Host Protection Guarantee?

All Airbnb hosts have Host Protection Guarantee when using the service.

It is important to note, however, that while Airbnb hosts do have a limited amount of protection under the Airbnb Host Guarantee, even Airbnb themselves say that their cover “is not insurance and should not be considered as a replacement or stand-in for homeowners or renters insurance.

Hosts may want to consider independent insurance to cover valuable items like jewellery, artwork, or collectables(sic)which are subject to limited protection under the Host Guarantee.”

Why choose UKinsuranceNET for your Airbnb insurance?

UKinsuranceNET are long-established providers of many forms of specialist insurance and take pride in the way we are able to react to fast-moving developments in the property market – in this case the irresistible rise of Airbnb – to ensure that our customers continue to be protected with appropriate, purpose designed insurance cover.