airbnb's insurance policy (is useless)

[Aleksandra101]

Anyone have any "luck" with their insurance policy?

2 properties, only 2 requests, both denied, both more than legitimate. Most recently, they claimed i did not submit a claim in time but it was their own fault for stalling on responding. Once the case is closed, there is no way to dispute their conclusion (conveniently for airbnb, because I could have proved it was on their end). The only other time we put in a claim, it was immediate and not even disputed by the guest. Airbnb somehow tricked us and didn't cover anything. 

They really don't care about us hosts. The customer service has gotten way worse too, clearly outsourced to people who aren't well trained. Some of the responses I got when I needed help were so ridiculous they didn't even make sense, and had nothing to do with my question.

Anyone use other platforms? Are they better about this? I'm really afraid if something very serious happened they wouldn't be there for us. I'm also disappointed and frustrated enough to try another platform because I don't think it could be any worse.

[Helen3]

I think sadly many hosts get Airbnb's 'guarantee' mixed up with being an insurance policy @Aleksandra101 

However one way it has similarities is that if you want to have a claim considered you need to fulfil certain critieria - one of which you need to initiate a claim before the next guest checks in, so they can identify which guest might be responsible for the claim.

I am not sure what you mean by saying its Airbnb's fault that you didn't initiate the claim. How did them not responding stop you from contacting the guest to initiate the claim and ask for damages?

There is also an arbitrage system you can use if you are unhappy with the outcome of a claim.

The guarantee Airbnb offers is limited so hosts should never rely on it as an insurance but should have their own home insurance for STRs.

[Matt3923]

@Aleksandra101 

can you expand on the nature of the claim and what Airbnb said?  Was someone hurt on the property or was the property damaged?