Protection and Liabilities

[Nina221]

Hello! I am new here and have been trying to find a thread about this already but have not been able to. What type of insurance do we have against claims for injuries or complaints from guests? I have never had any issues as a guest myself but am concerned I am opening my home up to strangers during the winter where there is lots of ice and snow. We also have cement floors in the kitchen space and an all tile shower. What do I need to do to make sure guests are responsible for their own actions or accidents on my property? 

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

@Nina221 You’ll need to consult your homeowners insurance. 

[Matthew285]

@Nina221, people do different things depending on their situation. Here are some options:

1. Get insurance from a company set up just to insure AirBnB hosts. They often insure night-by-night, or month-to-month. One example is Slice. Search for "AirBnB host insurance". This is convenient, but is usually the most expensive method.
2. Talk to you existing home insurer. Ask them how you can add coverage for your AirBnB activities. The upside: you are an existing customer, so you have a relationship. The downside: they may cancel your existing insurance because they don't cover AirBnB activities. The reality: you should talk to them anyway. If you hide your AirBnB activity, and then later make a claim related to a guest, they have no obligation to pay you. (I did this method, but only because option 3 didn't work for me.)
3. Talk to an established home insurer that is moving into the AirBnB market: These are existing, well established insurance companies who will write you a normal home insurance policy that also specifically mentions and covers AirBnB activity. It also can cost much less than doing this on a night-by-night basis. A fine example of this is Proper Insurance, which has an excellent AirBnb policy backed by Lloyds of London. (Note: I do not work for Proper. I am not even a customer. I wanted to be a customer, but my house is too big for them to insure.)
4. Get a separate Business Insurance policy. I do not know insurance super well, but my understanding is that this will cover you for incidents like a guest getting hurt, but not for damage to your property. Business Insurance is not expensive.

The examples I mentioned are not the only companies doing night-by-night or... whatever you call what Proper is doing.

Perhaps other people can mention more examples. I know I have seen at least 3 new businesses doing the night-by-night insurance.