Bun Fights - Guest Insurance - Hosts providing travel insurance for guests

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

As Hosts we know the importance that guest insurance could play for us to varying levels.

We know that it has been called for on numerous occasions by numerous Hosts, but the call seems to fall on deaf ears and nothing ever gets done about it, so here, I'd like to discuss the possibility of Hosts providing travel insurance for guests.

These are early thoughts, but the envelope contains the provision of insurance to guests, who should they be faced with some unavoidable situation, they wouldn't need to concoct stories about in order to extrapolate themselves from paying. Aeroplane and travel delays or mishaps, family dying or a party member being infected by some new unknown disease, or some other previously not thought about calamity...

There are obvious restrictions on  insurance, one I think would be booking insurance prior to booking or travel. I think the ability of arranging insurance prior to booking might be a tough one to overcome for hosts but (since most regularly in (my) case, guests just book, then I know about it. In pre-discussion bookings maybe this could be easier?) with an understanding insurance company, it wouldn't be an impossibility.

Heck, we have the tools; Additional fees, and Booking amendments... come to mind.

So here's a thought... Benefit/Benefit...

"Hi Guest, You know, it would be really a good idea to have travel insurance, not just for this trip to our place but for all year round travel! Look, this is such a good idea for you that we've arranged special insurance for you available here: <link to insurance>. We normally can claim commission for this but we think its such a good idea, we've waived our booking commission so that you get this at the cheapest possible rate. It lasts for a whole year too, so you can use it wherever you go and it would be great to be assured that whatever problem you might encounter might be covered  to help you out of any jamb. Travel safe."

Do we not take a 'cut' in this? No. Might we take a cut in the renewal fees? Possibly..

What might happen?  I'm guessing... But with affiliate marketing schemes providing sometimes 50% of initial purchase value - it wouldn't be long before the commercial section of Airbnb suddenly thought it was a terrific idea, wondered why they had never thought of it before and wanted to do it themselves.

I invite your thoughts, good ideas, potential problems, known restrictions and "$h1t lets just do this "!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

I think you'll find that you need to be licensed to sell insurance,

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

I can see that mentioning "Additional fees, and Booking amendments" would give that impression, and I didn't want to actually do that., so that was unintentionally misleading. I wouldn't want to 'sell' insurance but perhaps act as an agent.

What I think would work is a simple referral. Even yesterday in discussing landlord insurance with our broker they were very keen to inform us that there were referral benefits for new Home and Car insurance policies sold by recommendation. Taking this and refining it could save many problems brought to light throughout these fora, due to lack of guest insurance.

Rather than await the problem to hit, surely it is more beneficial to provide the resources to avert the problem all together?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 

FYI LOL

The current entry from the Oxford Dictionary says: The plural of forum is usually spelled forums; the plural fora (as in the original Latin) is chiefly used when talking about a public square in an ancient Roman city.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Thanks, I'll remember that... It was another host using 'fora' here that I picked up on. 'Forums' does sound a bit weird still.

[Helen350]

@Mike-And-Jane0 LOL indeed! 😛 : P

[Anonymous]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  Only the most expensive travel insurance policies have a benefit for cancelling for any reason (CFAR).  The rest will still require the purchaser to engage Airbnb's Extenuating Circumstances policy, which cancels out most advantages that would exist to a host for referring guests to an insurance provider.  

As long as that EC policy is on the books (and there's zero chance of it being scrapped during the pandemic panic) I just don't see the point here.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Anonymous 

So switching this whole thing on its head; The statements that Guests should have travel insurance, should we as Hosts just have 'Cancellation Insurance' instead?

[Anonymous]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 Is that a thing that exists?

I'm by no means an expert here, but I'm only aware of STR insurance policies that cover loss of rental income due to stuff like property damage or bed bugs. I've never heard of one that reimburses you for an unpaid, cancelled booking.

Personally, if I stood to lose a lot of money over a single booking, Airbnb would not be my platform of choice.  I've long said that Airbnb should eliminate the EC policy and instead sell an optional Cancellation Protection Insurance directly to guests like VRBO/HomeAway, and the mass confusion over the virus crisis has only reinforced this. 

[Ange2]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0    'Cancellation Insurance'  if only!  And of course that would be absorbed into and reflected in the increased nightly rate of the accommodation offered.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Anonymous @Ange2 

Cancellation Insurance must be a thing... It's almost like business interruption insurance ... of sorts.

I think... when you can insure a £200,000 house for £200 premium  - a 0.001 ratio, with a potential £1,000,000 rebuilding cost, then taking a yearly Airbnb rental income of (say) £20,000 with one stay being (say) £1,000, if one stay cancels in the year losing £1,000 then, a premium of 0.001 x 20,000 would be apt = £20 - and that based on the full £20,000 turnover. Based on a 1/20 of that (the £1,000 loss) then the premium would be £1.

So, if a £1 premium could cover a £1,000 loss - what would a host pay to cover any lost reservations for a year? £100? 10% of a potential single loss? At those levels any insurance company would want to snatch a hosts money out of their hands, and not a lot of money at that.

Extenuating circumstances obliterated for £100 and full reservation payment received... it would be a no-brainer.

Is it available? I don't know about that, but I'll find out.

[Susan17]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 

Whilst I agree with Andrew that there's not a snowball's chance in hell of the EC policy being scrapped as long as the Coronavirus outbreak is still an issue, there may be just a glimmer of hope on the horizon.. 

I posted this on another thread recently. I'll just copy/paste here in its entirety..

It's worth noting here, a quote from Clara Liang, Airbnb VP and GM of Luxe and Professional Hosting, from an interview with Skift during the VRMA (Vacation Rental Management Association) conference in New Orleans last year..

"Property managers particularly dislike Airbnb’s so-called extenuating circumstances policy, which lets guests cancel bookings up to 24 hours in advance of arrival. That’s a big-time problem on two counts. First, property managers often make revenue guarantees to the owners of houses that they’re then on the hook for when a customer fails to show up. Second, property management companies also try to make money by selling guests trip insurance, which then gets undermined by Airbnb’s policy.

Liang said Airbnb had good intentions with the policy. *But it realized that some consumers had been abusing the policy. “Changes are underway,” Liang said*

Well, at least they're finally publicly admitting EC is an abusive policy, but the reality is, consumers are only getting away with abusing the policy - and consequently, the hosts - because Airbnb blithely permits and enables the abuse to proliferate.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Susan17 

It is that Abuse which Hosts complain about with insufficient checks on the details provided by the guests who cancel.

In waiting for a suitable policy to be introduced by Airbnb perhaps theres something we as hosts can do instead?

[Anonymous]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0   Choose a platform with a more suitable policy?

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Anonymous 

Choose a platform with a more suitable policy?

Well you can have your horse in different races of course, but you would still plan to avoid the pitfalls in each race. I'd prefer to just be prepared or have a plan rather than be forced into a corner and victimised.