A great way to make some extra money in this tough time is to rent out your property on Airbnb, VRBO, or any other vacation rental site. If this is the path you decide to take, you need to consider what kind of coverage you need in order to protect yourself.
1. Airbnb has automatic host protection insurance
All Airbnb hosts are automatically covered under the company’s “host protection” insurance. This plan provides $1,000,000 per occurrence in liability coverage. Airbnb’s plan has some limitations. For example, any incident that occurs while using an item or appliance improperly is not covered. Finally, as this is liability coverage only, there is no coverage for any property.
2. Typically, standard homeowners insurance is not enough
While your homeowners insurance will likely cover things like fire, wind damage, water damage, and personal injury, it tends to get somewhat messy when you’re renting out your home on a short-term basis. Some insurance companies will agree to cover one-off short-term rental requests, but they also may require you to add an endorsement to your policy to cover rentals. The most important thing is to notify your insurance agent or company that you are participating in home sharing so that you can be properly covered.
3. If you rent your property often enough, it may be considered a business
Depending on the extent of your renting, you may need coverage that can only be provided by a separate business insurance policy.
Contact your agent at American Insurance to discuss all of your options today!