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I realise that I should know this, but I am brand new to airbnb as a Host. I have booked my first guests and I need to know how to contact airbnb. I need to know about what insurance I need to have in case my guests have an accident in my home. Is there insurance through Airbnb I do I need to arrange this with my own personal insurance company. What happens if your guests destroy itmes in your home? I have searched everywhere for a contact email address. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Catherine
Maybe you should have thought of that before listing on AirBnB.
AirBnB does not offer any insurance at all. You have to make sure your liability insurance covers anything happening to a guest.
If a guest damages something, you have to try and claim it from the guest directly before they leave.
Otherwise you will have to start a very lengthy and cumbersome process trough the AirBnB resolution centre.
Chance of getting money from a guest trough the resolution centre are very low.
Yes of course Chris and thank you for your advice. do you have a contact email address for Airbnb? I will check with my insurance company as we have $20 k liability insurance for anyone who comes on our property. don’t mind paying a bit extra to cover these guests for a week as they are paying top dollar
If you are in the US and try to operate an AirBnb under ordinary homeowners insurance, your company will probably cancel your policy immediately. It happened to us when my partner started investigating an umbrella policy. Now instead of a $1000 a year homeowner policy we have to pay $4000+ a year for a commercial policy.
Chris is right – emailing AirBnb will get you nowhere. There is an “up front” post on this site which has the Air contact phone numbers. Or you can Google for the numbers. Some people have had good luck getting answers from them using Twitter or Facebook.
You can google their phone number. I wouldn’t rely on an employee at Airbnb to advise you of what insurance you need. This is research you will need to do on your own, and there are some threads here discussing some aspects. Of course familiarize yourself with the host guarantee, filing a claim, etc. but sometimes it is not clear. And then if you do file a claim it is up to Airbnb to make a judgment.
I spoke to a rep. last week and she wasn’t even aware of new changes with the policy. She was just reading a script.
Hi Catherine. Yes, get the correct insurance! Chances are, nothing will happen – but you absolutely need STR insurance + liability insurance, just in case.
When I first started hosting, I had such anxiety about whether someone would trash my place, or get injured and sue me. So far, knock on wood, that hasn’t happened. And, the anxiety has mostly gone away. However, sometimes, you get a booking that you start to feel uneasy about. For example, my guests who checked in yesterday asked for a $75/night discount AFTER they book (!) (which I said, no, and offered to refund them, but they chose to keep the reservation), then they asked for early arrival and late check-out. I said ok to the early arrival (it wasn’t a back-to-back day). They said they would be there at 2 and then texted me at 12:55 that they were five minutes away – and they flew in! I told them I wouldn’t be ready so they got a bite to eat and showed up at 2:30. Since I was expecting the worst, I photographed my entire place, just in case they claim it wasn’t clean, or something. Turns out, they seem to be super nice people. They are New Yorkers and are used to being direct. One forgot his toothbrush, but I had one for him – made him super happy.
I’ll let you know on Monday after they leave if, indeed, all of my anxiety was for nothing. But, after almost 100 sets of guests, I worry a whole lot less now than I did in the beginning.
Just don’t give discounts or rent for more than 28 days.
@Catherine Are you in the US? If so, your homeowner’s insurance should cover a slip and fall in your property or other damage. However, if you do have insurance, please keep in mind that some insurance companies may not allow you to rent out via airbnb…
On the other hand, please don’t be too concerned; the chances that your home will be trashed or your valuables be stolen are minimal (if you take sensible measures, naturally).
Wishing you much success in your airbnb business!!
I actually wrote the guide to help people that otherwise have no idea about how to get in contact with Airbnb, since the contact form is well hidden inside of the FAQ.
I’m a host and travel with airbnb currently. My experience, airbnb is very slow, bad and unreliable on any issues you may come up with anything on hosting and traveling. I hosted since 2016 Jun till now and thinking of not using it anymore.
Hi can you please be a bit more specific as to date I have had no issues with them except a guest who booked and then freaked out because her money had been taken from her credit card when she booked. I emailed customer service as i was in Vietnam at the time and they were fabulous in giving her a full refund at my request. Would like to know as we are only new users as well. The two times we have had great guests and no issues with money be paid etc. Cheers Catherine
I have found them to be great (as a host, I’ve never contacted them as a guest). I think that they must have a pretty hard job dealing with all the inquiries they get.
