Guest Travel Insurance

[Matt3392]

AirBNB please add a trip insurance option for guests so when they need to cancel the burden is not on the host to refund.  Guests often are very unhappy with hosts cause refund is not available per cancellation policy.  Hosts should not have to insure guests trips and endure retaliation reviews from checkin day cancelations due to guests losing their money. 

[Till-and-Jutta0]

@Matt3392 Airbnb already cooperates with a travel insurance company, see https://www.airbnb.com/d/travel-insurance

So it's up to the guests to add such an insurance to their trip.

[Emiel1]

@Till-and-Jutta0 

The insurance company (no cooperation with Airbnb, just a link) is based in The Netherlands, according to the "fine print" at end of page. But I never heared of it.

When i check the website ("who we are" link), the company seems to be an Irish company:

Europ Assistance S.A Irish branch, DPO, Ground Floor, Central Quay, Block B, Riverside IV, SJRQ, Dublin 2, DO2 RR77, Ireland ​(hereinafter referred as “Europ Assistance” or “We” or “US”).

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Emiel1 @Till-and-Jutta0 as expected the insurance suggested by Airbnb does not include

• Epidemics or infectious diseases which appear suddenly and spread rapidly through the population, as well as those caused by pollution and/or contamination of the atmosphere;

Nor does it seem to include natural events such as earthquakes and other worse of nature

• The telluric movements, floods, eruptions volcanic and, generally, any phenomenon triggered by the forces of nature

Who knows if it covers Government lockdowns/travel restrictions  as it seems silent on this

Europ Asisst is French by the way.

[Brian2036]

 @Till-and-Jutta0 @Matt3392 

It seems to me that Airbnb is missing out on an opportunity by not offering travel insurance or forming a strategic alliance with an established company.

The major airlines and some hotels offer people the opportunity to purchase insurance and require them to check a box acknowledging that there will be no refunds if they decline the insurance.

In any case, if Airbnb won’t or can’t do this, we, as hosts, can do it ourselves and for longer, expensive stays we probably should.

Insuremytrip.com is a broker which is mentioned but not endorsed by Airbnb.

I am thinking of providing the link to guests along with a note that the strict cancellation policy will not allow refunds under any circumstances.

[Michelle53]

@Till-and-Jutta0   The link takes me to a travel insurance aggregator. Once I put trip details in (I did a test trip to see who it selects)  it pulls up a list of insurers and plans, which are probably different for each originating country. 

I happened to notice that the same travel insurer I used in 2020, which covered my trip to the UK (cancelled due to Covid) was on the list. Something to note, though, is that one has to carefully review the coverages provided.   They have a CFAR option (not standard, under comprehensive coverage) which one can add at a small additional cost. 

I did add CFAR, at the time of purchasing my policy, and I got paid back for my trip at 75% (that was clear on the policy). It took a long time because many thousands of people were claiming all at once.  But the insurer personnel were very nice, and I'd buy a policy from them again.

My guess is that, people being people, will pick the cheapest one, won't read the fine print, think they are covered for everything, and still be upset when the travel insurer denies their claims. 

[Sybe]

Hey @Matt3392 and everyone! We just posted about the new travel insurance for Airbnb guests.

Check out our post here, or go to the Resource Center for more information. We don't have an exact date yet but it's coming soon!

[Wendy1723]

How do I add this insurance to my booking?

[Joan2709]

Hi @Wendy1723 

It is available on the payment page: