Getting the Runaround from Airbnb Insurance Company:
When charged with $8286 in damages caused by Airbnb guest, Airbnb insurance proves to be completely useless.
I arrived home one evening to find that someone crashed their car through the front entry gate of my apartment complex. 15 minutes later while a police report was being completed in front of the building, that same person plowed through the walls of 2 garages, hitting my neighbor’s car in the process. To my surprise, I quickly learned that it was my Airbnb guest. Having caused most of the damage right in front of two police officers and the property manager, he was arrested immediately. I was informed later that he was driving drunk.
A month later, the apartment management company delivered a bill for $8286 in damages. Airbnb had promised, through their website and marketing, that our home would be protected in the event that a tragedy like this were to occur. According to the Airbnb website, Airbnb provides "host protection insurance" which "... [protects hosts] against thir...
This sounded promising. Yet, they make it incredibly difficult to reach anyone. After spending a significant amount of time going in circles on the Airbnb website seeking a phone number or email address to communicate with customer service, I waited on hold for almost 2 hours. I was put in contact with Crawford & Company which manages all of Airbnb’s insurance claims.
According to Crawford & Company, my situation is not covered because I, myself, did not cause the damage. This seems counter-intuitive: why would Air BnB cover damage I did? The insurance adjuster made some meager attempts to reach the Airbnb guest who caused the damage but, ultimately, the case was closed and I have been stuck with the bill.
I ask you: In what scenario would Airbnb host protection insurance provide financial support to its host if not this one?
Like many hosts, my family and I decided to host for Airbnb as a means of supplementing our income among the rising housing costs of Southern California. After 1 year and 19 guests, we achieved “superhost” status. For the most part our guests were lovely. We loved recommending local restaurants and excursions. Being “superhosts” meant that our listing appeared first in searches, and that guests knew we were experienced hosts.
Superhost status is awarded for hosting many guests, responding to guest inquiries quickly, excellent reviews, and not cancelling on confirmed guests. We met all these hurdles, until June, 2017. An Airbnb guest requested to book with us. Minutes after we confirmed the reservation, she informed us that the reservation was not for herself. She was making the reservation for her father. I told the guest that I only accept reservations directly from the person staying with us and I would be happy to accept her father’s reservation request if he sets up his own Airbnb account. When we host, we are also home. One of the reasons we felt comfortable as hosts is because guests have to prove their identity (via a drivers license or passport), and we can read their reviews on the site. This is far from perfect, but provides some measure of transparency and accountability. However, this booking did not adhere to that.
I called Airbnb to express my misgivings and cancel the reservation. They agreed to do it, but warned me that if I did this again, my superhost status would be revoked. My family has come to rely on the income from Airbnb, and I worried that I might jeopardize our financial security if I lost my “superhost” status.
This anxiety was in the background 3 days later, when John Doe came to stay. While his behavior was erratic, he had good ratings from previous hosts, and was not breaking any rules per se. His stay was short and uneventful, up until that awful morning. In the aftermath, Airbnb’s promise of insurance coverage provided a small bit of mental relief.
When you sign up to host, Airbnb claims “We’ve got your back”. They boast of a “$1,000,000 Host guarantee” to protect our home from “accidental damage”. They advertise “Host protection insurance” to “protect you from liability in case your guests get hurt or cause property damage”. They remind us that “Airbnb is built on trust”, and “So much more than money”--reviews keep guests accountable, and “hosts join a supportive worldwide community”.
The host community is why Airbnb has been able to raise over $1 billion in funding, making the company almost twice as valuable as Hilton, But when the system fails and a guest causes immense damage, they leave their hosts--those of us who provide the actual services----out in the cold.
My Airbnb horror story is not the most outrageous, others have hosted meth heads, brothels,and crazy parties. Yet, the “sharing economy” continues to grow, questions remain about who really benefits from this new model. In my family’s experience, Airbnb seems to have taken all the profits, and when the going got tough they left without paying the bill.
