I know this has been addressed before, but looking for the latest info. I’m in CA and can’t find an insurance company that will cover the STR (Air BnB) I have an assortment of friendly farm animals which frankly are quite the draw however things can happen around animals. , I have it in writing (!) from Air BnB that that their policy will cover me for liability, but one million today is not much at all. What is everyone doing to continue doing Air BnB and sleep at night??
1 Like
Get a million dollar umbrella insurance. Also make your Airbnb a LLC and make folks sign waivers if they want to pet or play with the farm animals.
I agree with you, @Ritz3, and I’d add this:
I don’t know what @Greensward has in writing from Airbnb, but they very rarely cover actual damage. I have never heard of them covering liability. I’d ask a qualified lawyer about that.
3 Likes
The Air Million Dollar policy is basically worthless, we’ve not heard of anyone who has collected on it.
All you can do is shop around. We’re doing that right now in Southwest Florida. Not good in my local county – 6K more or less
3 Likes
I probably can’t help since I’m in Massachusetts. However, this is a tough state for coverage too. I had to turn it over to a local insurance agent, explain how AIrbnb works over and over, and she finally found me an expensive commercial policy.
I don’t know what’s available in California but in the UK there are about 14 companies that offer STR insurance.
If you can’t find anything via Google perhaps contact an insurance broker and ask them to find you options.
I looked as well and finally went with Proper Insurance which is underwritten by Lloyds of London.
This amazes me. And that’s probably because it simply isn’t the case.
You imply that you don’t have STR insurance and personally, I wouldn’t even think about being in this business without it. Your broker will shop around for you.
As you say, it’s essential if you want to sleep at night. 
1 Like
I have an umbrella policy but it doesn’t cover STRs. I am incorporated so that may help…
1 Like
Yes, am shopping around with no results, why I’m asking here ; )
OK, so who is your policy with?? I can not find anyone to cover.
2 different insurance brokers, no luck.
Lloyds of London.
…
1 Like
Maybe you should do the waivers as well. My lawyer explained to me that they can still sue but “it’s just another bump in the road they would have to tackle.” He said the same thing about LLC. According to the lawyer the idea is to create a lot of “bumps” so that they settle for less money. The more “bumps” they tackle, the longer they have to wait to get their settlement check and more out of pocket fees for plaintiff.
We use Proper, its the only one we could find. Its a bit pricey, and went up again this year for no discernible reason.
I’m not sure what your situation is, are you an on-site host or is this for a separate property? Are you a USAA member or eligible? (You can join/invest with USAA, however you can’t bank or get insurance with them unless you meet eligibility requirements.)
For my home-share, USAA automatically added STR coverage to existing customers’ policies in January 2019 at no additional charge.
This is for 46 out of 50 states. Give them a call to make sure you’re covered.
USAA does not (yet) cover whole home STR where the home is not the primary residence of the owner. So for my whole home vacation rental they referred me to their Affiliate American Modern (again, contact USAA to add this as they bundle/discount)
You don’t need to be a USAA member to use American Modern. In my case at least, their quote was way below what Proper Insurance Co. wanted to charge.
I also have a million dollar Umbrella policy which was surprisingly cheap to add!
Thanks so much for this great info, yecatsr! Unfortunately no USAA eligibility but will check American Modern. It is a guest house on my property.
1 Like
I have waivers and need to be better about getting people to sign them ; )
1 Like
Mine went up as well. I inceased my deductible.
Thanks to this forum, I found and have quotes from 2 companies, Proper Insurance and American Modern. They are very similar, so does anyone have any experience with either or preferences? Thanks!