In the event that a guest is injured at a host’s property or property is damaged during the hosting, hosts have AirCover, says Airbnb.
In a recent article on IOL Travel, Kirstie Haslam, a partner at DSC Attorneys, discussed whether Airbnb hosts and rental property owners were liable for injuries at their properties.
The e-hosting platform said AirCover was free for every host on every booking on Airbnb and spanned two protections.
One is host liability insurance, which provides hosts with up to $1 million (R19.5m) of coverage in the rare event a guest gets hurt or their belongings are damaged or stolen while they’re staying in a listing.
The other is host damage protection, which covers a host if their place or belongings get damaged by a guest during an Airbnb stay and the responsible guest does not pay for the damage.
“We’ve recently tripled our damage protection to $3 million, providing coverage for parked cars and boats as well as simplifying protection for valuables such as fine art, jewellery and other collectables.”
Airbnb said it had revamped its damage protection for hosts, with additional features including covering pet damage, unexpected and deep cleaning, extending the time hosts can request reimbursement – even after another guest checked in – and providing quicker reimbursements.
However, it said AirCover was not an insurance policy.
“Like any type of coverage, it doesn’t cover certain types of damage, like normal wear and tear,” it said.
A complete list of exclusions is available at www.airbnb.co.za/help/article/2869.
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