Should I Ask Primary Guest to Add Names of Guests to Reservation

Actually I did read a story about a house burning down in Sonoma County CA, in which the Airbnbers were smoking, with the implication that a lit cigarette might be responsible for burning the house down, AND ALSO there was non-code electrical work near the deck that burned. The Fire Department’s evaluation was that the cause was indeterminate. Airbnb initially did not pay out but eventually did pay something (we don’t know how much), but the owner explicitly said that there was some kind of confidentiality agreement.

That rings a bell. There was the story reported in the mainstream media a while back about a young female guest who was assaulted (sexually assaulted?) and I’m sure there was mention of an NDA being required by Trust and Safety.

In fact wasn’t there an article devoted to T&S and their liberal use of dollars and NDA’s to make problems go away? The thrust of the article was Airbnb’s efforts to reduce bad press in the run up to the IPO I think.

I’ve got a date with a glass of Oloroso (Rio Viejo in case OH is interested) and some Spanish reprobates round the corner shortly, so haven’t got time to chase either down right now. You’ll do it five mins I’m sure :wink:

JF

It was as recent as last week, I believe and reposted several times.

#DryJanuary is a mistake and it’s only the 6th. :wink:

Well that would vary by state in the US, whether they are admitted or non admitted. Anyway, it really doesn’t matter whether they or they aren’t, in the US, you guys have different systems over there.

Definitely PR. No doubt about that.

My understanding – I could be mistaken – is that VRBO coverage is very different from Airbnb’s insurance coverage. That for VRBO insurance coverage to apply the Host must have commercial insurance. So, that’s a completely different ballpark. So, when you say ‘it can be done’ the ‘it’ that Airbnb is doing is different from the ‘it’ VRBO is doing.

What really moves the problem solving forward are the facts and reasoning. Taking every opportunity to swipe at Airbnb is at best a distraction and at worse a signal that maybe most everything you’re writing is biased, cherry picked or otherwise twisted to suit your clear venom for Airbnb. I wish you’d reconsider that.

Here are a couple specific to injuries. There are so many posts about insurance and coverage or lack of it and no way of knowing if any of them discuss liability issues without reading thousands of posts.

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That sounds like a secondary policy, if they’re requiring hosts to have their own policy. It would only cover what the host’s insurance didn’t cover, excess or whatnot.

Sounds to me that VRBO (I don’t use them so don’t know for sure) has what Airbnb formerly did, kind of, because I don’t remember Airbnb requiring a primary policy but perhaps they did and didn’t tell anyone, which is not unimaginable.

When @JohnF says it can be done it’s because he thinks that non admitted insurance is lesser than admitted insurance which it isn’t, it’s merely a different product, often much better but not less. Usually more expensive though. I would have all non admitted insurance products if I could afford them.

Edited, getting confused due to Oloroso thirst. carry on folks, may come out to play later!

@JohnF still doesn’t know the difference between them, and isn’t overly inclined to find out!

JF

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My understanding – and this came from a Proper insurance agent – is that with VRBO if you do not have your own commercial insurance policy you have no insurance whatsoever from VRBO. I spent only a few minutes trying to verify this on the VRBO site and in those few minutes could not verify it. But if true, it is a world of difference from what Airbnb coverage offers now and what it used to offer.

A last little snippet, simply because it was still open in my browser :slightly_smiling_face:

https://help.vrbo.com/articles/What-is-the-1M-Liability-Insurance

Primary coverage for eligible claims - If you don’t have liability insurance for your rental, this program provides that protection. If you do have liability insurance for your rental, this program works with your current provider and gives you $1,000,000 in added protection.

Self explanatory methinks.

JF

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Thank you. I had found posts about guests injuring themselves at an Airbnb but not anything really about Airbnb paying out or not. In the first post there with Ellen, she never came back to update as to whether Airbnb paid out something or not.

I don’t know. Maybe they did pay her something but she never updated, perhaps there was an NDA, that’s my suspicion, but I’m not sure about it.

Not that anyone should trust it, but it is entirely different than the damage policy, when people are giving examples of Airbnb not paying they are talking about the damage policy.

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I found it interesting reading “Injury on ABB property” thread that there were many comments then (July 2019) suggesting that it was important whether the sister who broke her ankle was a registered guest or not and whether the rules permitted the registered guest to invite visitors. This is exactly the dialog I was expecting with my question.

So, either over the last two years a number of people hear have changed their mind on the relevance of the rules and procedures or just the possibility that a Host might rely on those rules and procedures plus Airbnb’s insurance was so outrageous and distracting that many folks here couldn’t get past that to the question that I actually asked.

Methinks it’s self-explanatory too!

So I either missed this or it wasn’t there when I searched. I just emailed the Proper insurance agent who told me that getting your own commercial policy was a prerequisite for getting VRBO’s coverage. Let’s see what he says.

Maybe it was a misunderstanding but regardless you have cleared that up with your quick fact-finding mission!

Thank you.

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Understood. It makes sense to me that if Airbnb avoids paying whenever possible with damage, they would also try to minimize paying on any liability claims. But I could be wrong. Perhaps Airbnb’s restructuring of the program will bring different results than were reported previously.

If someone wants to rely on Airbnb with minimal evidence that they are reliable, it’s no concern of mine.

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Well, since you’e blocking me, I don’t know whether there is any point in responding but here goes.

  1. You thought there was zero need to get snippy with the moderators. I was snippy, deliberately so, because I was piqued at the non-responsive responses I was receiving. But yours is fair criticism here.
  2. I did get some information, from your first post for example and I acknowledged that generally. But many posts just fell back on negative views of Airbnb and were not fact filled or reasoned. Actually you say again that I can search the forum for Air being notorious on not honoring liability claims. That is not true, as has been explored here. You’re conflating property casualty claims with liability claims.
  3. ‘Rude’? I would say ‘direct.’ STR insurance is “REQUIRED” in most states, “as is a business license.” Not in the context of the way that phrase ‘STR insurance’ has been used in these threads, that is a personally owned policy. The much decried (here) Airbnb insurance coverage satisfies most states’ insurance requirement. As for the “fact that running a business without insurance is just plain stupid” well, Airbnb provides insurance. Maybe you mean to say without having your own policy us just plain stupid. If so, that’s just a judgment, opinion without reasoning. Look, I have my own policy too. I’m just unwilling to say anyone who does not have their own policy is stupid, doing something stupid, is naive or foolish. Instead, if asked, I would to the best of my ability point out the risks involved. But anyway, none of this was what my original question was about.
  4. I’m being argumentative towards people trying to help. I think I’m holding them to a standard of providing facts or reasoning rather than indulging their penchant to deprecate Airbnb that does not advance anything.
  5. Didn’t understand your “THIS” comment. It comes after a ridiculous ‘suggestion’ from a community member here.
  6. Examples on where Airbnb did not come through on liability claims. Again, others have not found this as well as me.
  7. “Argumentative”? or asking for a fact- and reason-based dialog? Do I know the answers? Hardly. Ask @JJD . A troll? I don’t think I meet the Wikipedia definition of “inflammatory, insincere, digressive”. My sense is that many of you have become complacent, think of yourselves as great repositories of wisdom and knowledge and don’t like it when someone asks you to support your opinions, or to stick to what was asked. Some of you clearly are valuable repositories of knowledge; others I think are resting on their laurels. I’m asking you to up your game.

Thank you @JJD! My request at the Help center was in writing as I try to have a written record where possible. But your link was most on point and I just filled it out. We’ll see what they say. Thank you very, very much.

Well, here is the fabulous response I got when I asked for a copy of the actual liability policy. Not unexpected but no less annoying. The BE CAUTIOUS note at the bottom is particularly odd, my favorite part really :rofl:

Nailed it. Even when you know not to expect anything, it’s still irritating to be underwhelmed by them time after time.

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So hosts are not allowed any access to the actual liability policy they are supposedly protected by? Cute.

There was a drop-down menu for the communication and one of the things was “proof of insurance”. I’m going to try that next, for shits and giggles as they/them say.

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