Generally, no. All homeowner’s policies have exclusions for “business use”. This means that if you’re making money by renting your property through services such as Airbnb, VRBO, or HomeAway, you won’t be covered for damages, theft, or other unforeseen events that might occur.
But you might be thinking, “doesn’t Airbnb provide insurance for me anyway?” Technically yes, but it’s not as straightforward as you might think.
Airbnb has two highly-touted programs that are designed to protect hosts. The $1,000,000 host guarantee and a $1,000,00 host insurance policy. You can read about both in detail here. Both of these programs are subject to certain conditions, limitations, and exclusions.
The host guarantee is fairly straightforward, and protects your property and belongings from damages caused by guests. However, this guarantee does not protect pets, fine art, cash, or securities.
The host insurance policy is less clear. Airbnb claims that guests have up to $1,000,000 in liability coverage with this policy, but without reading the policy in full, you don’t really know what’s excluded or covered.
It’s always better to know you’re covered rather than just thinking you’re covered, so we suggest purchasing an endorsement or commercial policy if you’re renting out your home or a portion of your home.
The are relatively easy to obtain, and our team is well-equipped to help anyone using Airbnb or similar services understand their coverage gaps, buy the right policy, and get peace of mind.