Goodbye, Airbnb.

[Mark1642]

UNreal.  Airbnb's charade of pretending 'they've never heard of this issue', regarding homeowner insurance NOT providing inclusions for Airbnb rentals in primary residences (home sharing).  I was told by several insurance carriers that MOST Airbnb Hosts just do NOT know that they're NOT covered or just don't care & are taking the risks.

We're near retirement & simply CANNOT afford to lose everything we've worked for in our working lives.  NOT worth the risks of getting sued & having our house burned down (accidentally or otherwise) because of a guest.  

The FEW insurance providers that will actually cover Airbnb are crazy expensive.  We were also told that IF our current insurance provider finds out we did (past) an Airbnb, they will instantly drop us. 

We have 'snoozed' our listing while we investigate.  It appears we're much better off just renting long term (month-by-month) to students.  So we are moving in that direction & will most likely delete our Airbnb hosting account soon.

It is UNfathomable to me that Airbnb is just IGNORING this giant problem.  Especially now that they have a trillion dollars (from their IPO) to work with.  Bringing 'strangers' into your home is a HUGE RISK.  They know this.  This is NOT a secret.  As for now, it's up the the hosts to meander through the limited options for homeowner coverage.  And their $1million 'Host Protection', in California.....are you kidding me???  That WON'T go far if a guest gets hurt & decides to take us to court!  The potential to LOSE everything is very, VERY REAL.

So we are pretty much DONE with being hosts with Airbnb (SUPER hosts, at that!), until & unless they actually can come up with some solutions to this problem that is eventually going to bring them down if they don't.  

It was a good ride but an INCREDIBLE RISK that we were ignorant of until now.  Well done, Airbnb...you've lost another host.  How many more & how much longer?  

[Sarah977]

@Mark1642  That comment was directed to Huma, not you, as you can see from the tag Helen put there.

I don't know what you think you are accomplishing by shouting at other hosts in all caps. 

[Mark1642]

You love to argue/scold, I guess.  Anything more?

[Huma0]

@Mark1642 

@Helen3  was clearly replying to me, hence why she put my name and not yours in her post, and I AM in the UK.

I am not sure why you posted in the 'Help' section and are then just rude to almost anyone that responds. You clearly don't want help, just to rant and spit some bile.

[Mark1642]

JEEZUS H.!@#$  "Clearly!"  My sincerest apologies to "HELEN3" for NOT realizing you weren't addressing ME, directly in some post.  And THANK YOU, Huma0, for yet another CRUCIFIXION!@#$  I guess you couldn't LET that one go.  Had to spew a little BILE yourself on me.  So evidently we're not that different.  I love diversions from the main subject.  ARGH.

[Helen3]

Where did I say you were @Mark1642  ?clearly I was responding to @Huma0 

[Huma0]

@Helen3 

Sorry, just saw this now. Thanks for that. I'll have another look into it. Last time I checked, I couldn't find anything that suited my situation as a homeshare host, so have just stuck with regular homeowner's insurance but that was probably at least three years ago, so perhaps things have moved on!

[Helen3]

The problem with doing that @Huma0  is that if you try and make a claim because of guest damage they will nullify your claim and cancel your policy as you are using your home for commercial purposes. 

I'll drop you a private message with details of insurance companies that cover homeshare situations. 

[Huma0]

@Helen3 

Thanks, that would be very helpful.

Yes, I know. I've never tried to claim for guest damage from my home insurance. It's not ideal, but at least I'm covered for the usual stuff. Would be great to have a policy that covers guest damage as well.

[Sarah977]

@Mark1642  It has nothing to do with being a home-share host or an entire-place host. Neither are covered for short term rentals under a regular home-owner's policy. 

BTW, Airbnb doesn't delete posts here because they are critical. Airbnb does not monitor this forum. There are independent moderators who do (they work with Airbnb, but are not direct employees) and the sort of things which are deleted are profanity, racism, sexism, personal attacks, personal information like phone numbers or email addresses, and advertising spam. Not criticism of Airbnb, of which this forum is bursting at the seams.

There is a tech issue on this forum whereby if you compose a long post, you will sometimes get an error message when trying to post it, because it "times out".

It's a good idea to copy what you have written before hitting "Reply", so you can just quickly paste it back in a new response box and hit Reply again if it disappears into cyberspace the first time.

[Mark1642]

Sincere apologies, Sarah977....I wish to thank you for the very helpful information regarding the 'time-out glitch'.  You were correct.  BIG issue with getting an 'error message' after a long 'rant'.  Then, whatever you typed just before clicking, 'SEND', is WIPED OUT!@#$  This information was, indeed, helpful.  Thank you, again.

[Anonymous]

@Mark1642 I'm sorry that you found some responses "unhelpful," but to be fair, nowhere in your rant did you ask the community for help.

Anyway, your complaints about Airbnb are valid. They entice hosts to start very high risk enterprises with their most valuable assets by aggressively downplaying the financial and legal peril involved with renting a home to strangers from the internet. They use a childish, gamified interface to keep users distracted by achievements and silly orange badges, while burying the important concerns deep in the fine print. From the beginning, they deliberately made it easy for hosts to evade local regulations to build up their inventory, but took no responsibility for the broken laws they profited from. They misled far too many people into thinking their service made hosting easy, safe, and legal, when in fact they are merely a third party broker that owns nothing but a sappy, emotional marketing hook.

As business owners, hosts are very much on their own - those who hope for Airbnb to do more than deliver bookings and process payments are guaranteed to bexome disillusioned. And yet, many veteran hosts who can accept this are still thriving and finding Airbnb a useful tool for their businesses - or at least the lesser of the evils, as far as listing services go. 

[Mark1642]

THANK YOU, Andrew!  Finally, a synopsis of exactly my frustrations with Airbnb & why, for the moment, I am done with them.  My post was indeed a giant "RANT", not asking specifically for 'help'.  But, UNhelpful comments are unwelcome.  And helpful comments, like yours, are for certain, welcomed.  You said it beautifully.

[John5097]

@Mark1642 I had the same conversation with my homeowner's insurance agency, a Nationwide local agency. I called my rep, and she was very knowledgeable, and helpful. My policy at the time allowed two long term roommates or family. She explained every detail of what was covered and not for long term roommates. She said she wasn't aware of any homeowner's insurance company that offered STR insurance. This was 3 years ago. She said most people should simply call their agent or insurance provider like I did, but for whatever reason they don't. This was a year before I started renting short term. And when I got STR insurance they won't offer policy for a shared space, like renting bedrooms. So I'm curious where you got a quote for a shared space rental in the US? I read in Europe its different and homeowners policy covers some str. 

[Mark1642]

"Proper Insurance" (CRAZY expensive), "American Modern" & "Berkshire Hathaway, GUARD" (best option).

[Mark116]

I'm a little surprised at how much hostility this post has generated.  It is a fact that a lot of hosts don't even realize they are not covered for a short term rental by their homeowners insurance.  It is a fact that Airbnb advertises their 'host guarantee' as if it is something that a host can rely on, especially for a major incident, 'up to a million dollars' when in truth, it is nothing of the kind.  And, it is a fact, that at least in the U.S. commercial insurance is fairly expensive.