What you need to know about insurance as an Airbnb host

Listing a room, apartment, granny flat or house on Airbnb is a great way to make a side income or even a substantial full income. For instance, the average monthly revenue for Airbnb hosts in Hobart is a whopping $3740. Running a successful Airbnb in tourist destinations such as Australia can definitely help you reach financial freedom.

However, it's important that you know how to protect yourself from damages and legal action. Airbnb has very thorough host protection policies that you need to understand as an Airbnb host. On top of this, you'll need to consider what external insurance policies are suitable for your unique situation.

Short-term rental insurance

Airbnb offers Host Protection Insurance as well as Host Guarantee. The Host Protection Insurance is designed to protect you from any third-party claims of bodily injury or property damage. It also covers damages to common areas outside the listing. On the other hand, the Host Guarantee protects you from damage to possessions or property by a guest.

There are also specifically designed products outside of Airbnb's own that offer insurance for short-term rental hosts. These specialised products allow you to pay a premium only for the nights that there are guests staying. These products are useful but can only act as a supplement rather than a replacement to standard home and contents/landlord insurance.

Landlord insurance

Hence, you might want to consider landlord insurance on top of any specific short-term rental host insurance. With landlord insurance, you would be covering your property even for the days that there are no guests staying. It might only make sense to get landlord insurance if you have a very high occupancy rate.

Be careful to make sure the landlord insurance policies you look into actually cover short-term rental situations. There are many reasons to get landlord insurance. Most high quality policies will protect you from damage, theft, legal action, public liability, and for home and contents. Short-term rental policies typically don't cover as much.

Renting out your own home

You still need to consider landlord insurance if you're renting out your own home, even a portion of it. This is because regular home and contents insurance will only cover property that is under private use. If you're making money through Airbnb, it needs to be considered to be under commercial use.

As soon as you start making money from Airbnb, make sure to contact your insurance provider to let them know. This way, you can check what your existing policy can protect and ask what options are available to you. In countries like the United States, home insurance may be enough. However, in countries like Australia, you definitely need added protection.

Ultimately, with Airbnb being a great option for many lifestyles, it's important to protect yourself from all potential roadblocks so that you can really reap the benefits. There will be different options and requirements for each situation. For instance, home sharing compared to renting out an investment property.