Short-term rental and Airbnb insurance
Properties used for short term rentals like Airbnb and booking.com will need specialist insurance. A regular home insurance policy won’t adequately cover it.
Key takeaways
- A regular home insurance policy won’t generally provide cover for short-term renters.
- Short term rentals require specific insurance – different to landlord's insurance – to cover risks associated with short-term tenants.
- Airbnb offers free insurance for legal liability, but you may want your own policy to cover property damage and other risks.
What is short term rental
Short term rental insurance refers to a type of insurance that covers properties that are rented out on a short term basis. This includes homes that are hosted on platforms like booking.com, Stayz, Airbnb and more.
Who offers short term rental insurance?
- ShareCover
- EBM RentCover
- Fully Insured
- BJS Insurance Brokers
- Insure More
- Terri Scheer
- Shielded Insurance
- Maxton Insurance Brokers
- Homsure
- Atlantic Insurance
- Ceneta Insurance Services
- RAA
- Breeze Underwriting
- Duoinsurance
How is short term insurance different from regular home insurance?
Regular home insurance covers homes that have the same occupants in it at all times. Short term rental insurance covers homes that continuously have different occupants, which represents a different risk to the insurer. It’ll include cover for things like accidental damage done by guests and loss of rental income. More about this below.
How is short term rental insurance different from landlord insurance?
There are some similarities between short term rental insurance and landlord insurance. However, landlord insurance will not provide adequate coverage for you if your home is being used by a range of tenants who are staying for just days or weeks at a time. Landlord insurance is designed to cover properties that are used for renters where there is a lease agreement in place and their stays are longer than 3 months long at a time.
Airbnb host liability insurance
If you’re hosting a home on Airbnb then you will automatically have access to Airbnb’s host liability insurance - AirCover. This provides up to $1 million in USD for liability costs if you’re responsible for a guest getting hurt, having their belongings damaged or stolen. AirCover for hosts is free and you’re automatically opted into it when you host your property on Airbnb. Keep in mind, this coverage is limited to legal liability only. It will not cover your home for things like weather events or vandalism. For those sorts of benefits, you’ll need short term rental insurance.
Airbnb damage protection insurance
Damage protection can compensate you for up to $3 million USD if your belongings or home is damaged by a guest or people they invite during their stay.
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What does short term rental insurance cover?
What you get from specific short term rental policies can look a lot like home and contents insurance. What makes things different is the inclusion of incidents involving paying guests.
This can include incidents of damage or loss to the building itself and the contents of your home such as:
- Injury or death to a guest
- Legal & personal liability
- Fire-related damage
- Accidental damage by guests
- Purposeful damage by guests
- Burglary
- Theft or attempted theft by guests
- Strata and property damage
- Coverage for natural disasters
- Water damage
- Loss of rent or income
- Identity Theft
Many of these items are unique to short term rental insurance, as they involve paying guests not tenants. If it involves the loss of rent or income while you're hosting, you're unlikely to find cover outside of specific short term rental policies.
All policies will have exclusions. It's best to read an individual policy's product disclosure statement (PDS) for a full rundown of these.
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hi there,
we have an short term holiday rental on our property, it is detached from the main house. it is run through Airbnb and Stayz portals. however, we are looking for insurance particularly for public liability.
Hi Teresa,
Airbnb offers US$1million legal liability insurance for all hosts, which is a great backuop. You can contact any of the brands listed in this article for a quote on a broader insurance policy that also covers damage and other risks.
Hi Peta,
We have similar scenario as Jennifer (below) however the house is divided into two separate places one part being Airbnb and the other part a private tenant, we used sharecover last year however I’ve just been notified they will not be continuing our policy this year.
I’ve tried Terri Scheer with no luck.
Do you have any suggestions?
Many thanks
Hi Kelsey,
If you scroll on the page to this section: “What does short term rental insurance cover?” then you’ll see a list of providers you can contact. Hope this helps.
We are owner occupiers who want to have guests stay at our self contained granny flat 3-5 days at a time 10-30 times a year. Who can cover this type of insurance
Hi Will,
It sounds like this would fall under short term rental insurance. If you scroll on the page to this section: “Insurance Brands that cover short term rentals” then you’ll see a list of providers you can contact.
Hope this helps.
Hi – I am looking for Short Term Rental Accommodation insurance. We have a 5 bedroom home with 2 bedrooms being in a granny flat on the ground floor with two deadlocked doors separating the downstairs STRA from our upstairs home and principal place of residence. We consider the risk of damage to be extremely low as we have an experience STRA co-host who is expert at vetting people (on a non-discriminatory basis) before a booking is accepted, and we only accept STRA’s for periods when we are also at home so we are here and will know quickly if guests are breaking the conditions of their STRA booking.
I am finding it really difficult to find an insurer. Most of the Insurers listed in your table as offering STRA insurance in fact do not offer it at all. Of the very few insurers who do offer STRA insurance, which do you know of which offer insurance for STRAs which form part of the owners’ home – typically a granny flat like ours. Thanks for your help.
Hi Jennifer,
We’ll be revising the list of providers in our table to ensure the information is correct. In the meantime, you can try looking at these providers:
– Terri Scheer
– Homsure
– Sharecover
In terms of your specific set up with the granny flat downstairs and your main living residence upstairs – I can’t say for sure who will cover you. This will likely vary by insurer as they’ll all have to find a way to assess the risk for the portion that’s used for STRA and the portion you live in. If you are still struggling to find cover after contacting the above suggestions then it could be good to use an insurance broker. They’re good at connecting you with products that are relevant for your specific circumstances and they’re typically free to use.
Hi,
I am looking for an insurer for an airbnb home for building only – no contents. I previously insured with EBM who were as good as insurers get albeit I never claimed anything through the year. Are there any insurers that offer building only for airbnb’s in Australia?
Hi Glen,
Most insurers offer seperate contents and home policies, but as each insurer prices risk differently, their policies for airbnbs and holiday homes are updated frequently, so you’ll need to contact the insurers directly to see what your options are. One thing to keep in mind is that contents includes things like carpets, curtains and kitchen cupboards, which could be at risk of damage when tenanted to holiday guests, so you may want to consider whether contents insurance could offer value? Best of luck!