Do you advise your guest to have Travel insurance?

[Sudsrung0]

Almost all of our guest are International tourist, Do other host recommend to you guest they have Insurance cover?

Especially covering trip cancellations?

Here in Phuket we have good hospitals but they are not cheap Im seeing people involved in accidents and no insurance, 

Maybe Airbnb could offer Insurance to guest when booking I think they do it on VRBO not sure how it works,

[Stephanie]

Hi @Sudsrung0 ,

Airbnb DO offer guest travel insurance as of summer this year - you can read more about it here https://www.airbnb.co.uk/resources/hosting-homes/a/understanding-travel-insurance-for-airbnb-guests-... we will continue to roll out to more countries as we are able!

Thanks

[Huma0]

@Stephanie 

From what I understood, the Airbnb insurance for guests just covers the cost of their booking. Is that correct? If so, that's not really a replacement for general insurance.

I think what @Sudsrung0 was asking was more about recommending guests take out regular travel insurance that covers medical emergencies and lost and stolen possessions etc.

@Sudsrung0 Very good question. Here in the UK, I believe that non-residents get free treatment in Accident and Emergency (ER) but will have to pay if they need to be hospitalised and also pay for non-emergency medical situations. To be honest, I don't know too much about it and you have made me realise it's something I should look into in case my guests need medical treatment (luckily, so far it hasn't happened). 

[Sudsrung0]

@Huma0 

Here in Phuket is crazy, I did read Thailand is the 2nd most dangerous place in the world for RTA, as many as 50 deaths a day and thats not counting accidents.

We get tourist renting motorbikes and scooters who are not experienced and being involved in accidents with either no insurance or not enough to cover, Usually at that point they realise their insurance does not cover them for motorbike accidents. the bills run into 1000's 

And the other thing is the foreigner will be the one that pays.

Im not to sure about the Airbnb one, 

The other thing that make me think, Yes I think to much hahaha

If I had a guest that was involved in a serious accident and it come to the end of their stay with me what would I do? They would have to extend their stay,

This came to my attention during covid, What if? 

The insurance has to cover the cost of extended stays, But where and how much? 

[Huma0]

@Sudsrung0 

But what happens if you need to extend the stay but have other guests booked to arrive?

Oh, the motorbike thing. Well, I never did that in Thailand, but I did have an accident in the Algarve in Portugal when I was backpacking aged 19.

Met some nice folk at the hostel and a group of five of us rented mopeds for the day. One guy rode a motorbike back home and he was fine, but the rest of us had no idea what we were doing, the bikes were knackered and the roads rough (we were heading out into the countryside!)

Four out of the five had an accident and came off the bikes. Two of those (including me) ended up in hospital, where the staff were not sympathetic because they see this each and every day.

Well, a lost tooth, 14 stitches in my face, skinned arms and legs and one arm in a sling (later became infected), and a lot of tears taught me that perhaps getting on that bike in a foreign country was not such a great idea.

[Huma0]

@Sudsrung0 

Oh, and by the way, I had already backpacked a lot before then, believe it or not (since age 15) and had ALWAYS taken out travel insurance. Nothing had ever happened, so my 19-year-old brain decided on this occasion not to bother.

Three days into my trip, I ended up in hospital.

Mmm. I guess I'll put it down to a life lesson.

[Sudsrung0]

@Huma0 

If it was to happen now we could not let them stay, we are full,

Right now we have the monsoon weather,

Im also thinking it should cover cancellations 

[Huma0]

@Sudsrung0 

Well, yes, it SHOULD, but would it? Insurers come up with loopholes all the time to get out of paying. I am experiencing this right now with my broken washing machine. I was basically told today that, even if they had made multiple errors, that didn't mean they had to pay anything...

[Sudsrung0]

@Huma0 

Although we say it, we didn't mean it

[Sudsrung0]

@Huma0 

Actually my long time friend here is an agent Im thinking of speaking to her if we can offer something from here would cover tourist, was possible during covid 

The government are always complaining about foreigners ending up in hospitals and not able to pay their bills.

I forgot to add most of the motorbike and scooters have no insurance, 

[Huma0]

@Sudsrung0 

If it's tourists coming from abroad, I think they would be better off taking insurance that also covers their flights and everything else. Would local insurers be able to do that too?

[Sudsrung0]

@Huma0 

I would need to check that,

[Sudsrung0]

@Huma0 

We thought it would be a good idea to buy a couple of scooters to rent to our guest, It was a bad idea we got rid of them to save the grieve 

[Sudsrung0]

@Stephanie 

If a guest from lets say the UK is traveling to Thailand are they covered? 

[Lorna170]

@Sudsrung0   I have recommended to my guests for 20+ years that they purchase travel insurance.  Many of my guests on Vrbo purchase the offered insurance and I am notified that they have done so.

I have no idea if any of my AirBnB guests purchase any insurance.  As Aircover is offered for free, my assumption is that my guests are relying on this rather than insurance with an add-on fee or by going to their credit card company for travel coverage.  IMO, neither hosts nor guests should rely on Aircover.