By renting your property through services like Vrbo, you get a steady flow of guests and regular bookings. The platform features your property listing, connects you with potential renters, ensures secure payments, and takes care of many other essentials. It looks like you don’t have to worry about anything. But don’t get too excited and do some careful research first.
In particular, does Vrbo provide insurance for hosts? What is included in the Vrbo insurance?
Answering these simple questions may save you from heartbreak and hefty charges when something bad happens. By something bad, we mean a traveler falling down your stairs, breaking a leg, and wanting to sue you for their medical bills. Or accidental damage to your neighbor’s property resulting from your guests’ party.
Learn whether Vrbo insurance for hosts protects you in such cases in our blog. We also have a similar article about Airbnb Host Guarantee if you use Airbnb for rentals.
Does Vrbo have insurance for owners?
Vrbo has liability insurance that provides owners and property managers $1,000,000 in primary liability coverage. It protects hosts against reimbursing the financial losses to a guest suffering from bodily injury or returning property damage to a third party like a neighbor.
Overall, insurance for Vrbo rentals is tailored to the unusual specifics of short-term rentals, which means troubles happen more often. People enter your house every several days, share little personal information, and leave for good. What happens in your property stays in your property. Most insurers don’t want to deal with such cases, and we can understand them.
A former real-estate agent, Adele Nevins, shares her thoughts on this:
“If the tenants do something very bad or destroy your property, you have no recourse. I can tell you, however, that you should read the insurance policy because the latest thing, given nationwide crime and fraud, is that the underwriters will not cover you if you rent out the property. When you buy the insurance, you must inform your agent or the insurance company that you intend to rent out the space through VRBO and/or Airbnb. You may get some coverage through those two organizations.”
About Vrbo liability insurance
The moment a guest enters your property, you become responsible for their safety and recover some of the financial losses. Since most insurance companies don’t extend liability protection for short-term rentals, Vrbo has internal Vrbo liability insurance. This $1M liability insurance protects property owners against liability claims resulting from all bookings made through the official Vrbo website.
Vrbo insurance coverage
- $1,000,000 in primary liability coverage
- Claims because of a guest accidentally getting injured at your place
- Property damage claims resulting from a guest accidentally damaging a third-party’s property
- Global coverage for all bookings placed through Vrbo checkout
Vrbo insurance requirements
- No additional cost
- Vrbo host insurance covers all stays processed through Vrbo checkout online
- You are not obligated to use Vrbo insurance (but all online reservations will be automatically covered free of charge).
How does Vrbo insurance work?
Vrbo website states they provide primary coverage for eligible claims. It means that if a host doesn’t have liability insurance for their rental property, Vrbo homeowners insurance will protect them. If a host already has liability insurance, Vrbo insurance works with their existing provider, giving an additional $1,000,000 protection.
Note that Vrbo host protection works only for reservations processed online through Vrbo checkout. So, if you want to automatically get insurance, make sure you handle all the bookings through the Vrbo platform.
The Vrbo liability insurance program is backed by Generali Global Assistance & Insurance Services, which belongs to the Europ Assistance (EA) Group. Vrbo is a policyholder, while property owners and managers are the insured parties.
What are the limitations of Vrbo insurance for hosts
Even though USD 1,000,000 seems enough to cover all kinds of losses, Vrbo liability insurance has limitations. The main one is that it doesn’t provide guest damage protection. If someone ruins your carpet with their morning coffee, breaks furniture, or leaves scratches all over the wooden floor, you will get nothing from the insurer to pay for the repairs.
And such things happen pretty often since, let’s be honest, most people are not extra careful with the property they rent short-term.
Does Vrbo offer insurance that covers guest-related damage? Yes, but just like Vrbo liability insurance, it comes with considerable limitations. Vrbo damage protection is mainly focused on protecting guests from being responsible for small damage. Travelers can purchase Accidental Damage Protection at least 24 hours before they check-in with the following policy options:
- $59 for $1500 coverage
- $89 for $3000 coverage
- $119 for $5000 coverage
But the thing is that purchasing this policy is optional, and guests decide whether they need it or not. Hence, if someone books your apartment for 1 day, they are very unlikely to pay $119 for insurance.
Speaking of Vrbo vacation rental insurance limitations, here’s another one. Sometimes, claim processing takes ages and results in nothing. You will need to provide tons of evidence to prove that the guest has really damaged your property and stay alert all the time.
That’s what has happened to Any-Wolverine9028 who shares their story on Reddit:
“I filed a claim on Vrbo and the guest denied all damage. They had a dog with them that urinated all over the place and the smell and urine was so bad it hurt my eyes. So CSA did not pay. Rug was soaking wet. Oh and they put up a nasty review.
I do not get it as they bought the insurance and it was not going to be out of pocket. I would have knocked off a * for the lack of cleanliness. They stated the place was spotless. So where did it come from.”
Supercharge Vrbo’s offer with specialized vacation rental protection
Since Vrbo damage protection works only when a guest purchases the policy, you should consider alternative ways to protect yourself.
One of them is cooperating with risk management company that specializes in covering damages and protection for short-term rentals like Superhog. STR poses a different set of issues and requires stronger damage protection and an easier incident resolution process. You cannot allow yourself to wait several months to solve each $150 dispute with a guest who stayed for 2 days. It would drain your business to death.
Eric Mueller, a short-term host for eight years, shares advice on choosing the right insurance provider:
“You should look for insurance that specifically covers properties rented on a short-term basis.
For my home, I had to call around a lot to find an insurance policy that was okay with this. (In fact, my original homeowner’s policy cancelled on me when I informed them that I was doing short-term rentals.)
And finally: don’t skimp on this or try to use an insurance company that isn’t okay with short-term rentals. There’s no point in having an insurance policy if the company can legally refuse to pay benefits because you broke the rules. A policy that will cover short-term rentals won’t cost significantly more than a regular policy, so just be sure you get the right product, and be sure the insurance company is completely aware that you’re running an STR business on the property.”
Why you need extra protection for Vrbo short-term rentals
People talk a lot about short-term rental insurance and money-back guarantees for guests. There is a common misbelief that travelers are in a vulnerable position, and Vrbo scams by hosts happen too often. Even though dishonest hosts exist, the financial damage caused by guests is also huge. Most travelers are not really careful with Vrbo property and think hosts have tons of money to cover any damage or claim.
Cooperation with a third-party short-term insurance provider like Superhog to get additional protection for Vrbo can make your experience as a host less stressful and bring other benefits like:
Increased profitability of short-term rentals
When you have to pay for most damage or claims out of your pocket, your rental business’ give-and-take balance will become disastrous pretty soon. It will be all give, give, give with minimum profit.
Using third-party insurance as an addition to Vrbo insurance for owners helps minimize financial losses. You get coverage for guest property damage, theft, guest damage to belongings, and other mishaps.
Emergency fund for unexpected cases
By selling damage waivers, you can gradually accumulate an emergency fund and use it when standard Vrbo insurance doesn’t work. Many guests would be happy to pay an extra 30 or 40 dollars to waive their liability for any accidental damage. Put these payments aside for some time to cover wear and tear or extra cleaning expenses.
More responsible guests and fewer problems
When guests are ready to buy a damage waiver or deposit, they are usually more responsible. The refusal to pay several extra dollars may be a red flag. That’s how additional insurance tools can help you filter out suspicious travelers. Platforms like Know Your Guest also have guest screening and ID verification features to detect fraud.
Better rental experience for travelers
A less obvious benefit of using third-party insurance services is a smoother customer experience. Bad people happen but believe us, most travelers want to avoid claims, conflicts, and accusations. When you partner with an external insurance company, they do the dirty work while you and your guests enjoy the stay.
Cody Wood, COO of STR Accommodations, describes how Superhog has changed the customer experience for his company:
“We are a hospitality company with a hospitality mindset. We don’t want to be chasing guests for money. So, it’s also great that Superhog handles the backend for us. We want guests to have a great experience, from the very first step they take in booking the property to when they leave. Without us having to go after them for small damages.”
You can learn more about how STR Accommodations uses Superhog in the case study.
Know Your Guest by Superhog for all-round damage protection
Know Your Guest by Superhog is a comprehensive risk management platform for short-term rentals. Its damage protection policy covers USD 5,000,000 in damages for all kinds of bookings, direct and third-party. You only need to report an incident and provide evidence to get the money back. KnowYour Guest covers accidental and malicious guest damage, theft, and damage to belongings that Vrbo and other booking platforms don’t cover.
Besides the solid damage protection policy, Know Your Guest also supports damage waivers and deposits. These features make the purchase of a waiver or deposit a smooth and pleasant experience for guests while giving the host extra money and protection.
Book a demo to learn more about how it works.
