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Insure Your Risk as an Airbnb Host

2/19/2016 Blog

As Bay Area residents prepared for thousands of football fans and media to descend on their region for the Super Bowl, one began to hear the sorts of rumblings that typically precede big events. Traffic will be terrible. Parking will be worse. Good luck getting a table at a restaurant. Oh, and good luck finding a place a sleep if you’re from out of town.

Former Mayor Willie Brown had advice for the naysayers: Rent your house on Airbnb! “Everyone is going to make a killing, including the private citizens who are smart enough to schedule a vacation paid for by Airbnb’ing their homes.”

The Super Bowl may not be the sharing economy windfall that Willie promised. But that doesn’t mean Airbnb hasn’t made its mark in the Bay Area. From folks renting out in-law units as a way to keep pace with skyrocketing cost of living, to wealthy residents who spend months in Europe or Vail, short term rentals have become a way of life in most destination cities, including San Francisco.

While the broader policy discussion of the pros and cons of short term rentals often focuses on the impact this new market has on neighbors and communities, the focus for hosts and potential hosts is much more immediate: What risks do I run by having strangers pay to stay in my home, and do I have insurance for them?

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