Property Damage Protection Plan Companies
Hi - looking for suggestions on companies who provide property damage protection plans. Looking to implement a non-refundable $79 type fee for $3k coverage that all guests must pay when booking. Is this something hosts can purchase each time a guest books or is it a fee that is helping to cover the cost of the overall insurance the host has that covers the property as an STR? Thank you!
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#1 Short-Term & Vacation Rental Discussions Contributor
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Quote from @Tiffany Cohen:
Hi - looking for suggestions on companies who provide property damage protection plans. Looking to implement a non-refundable $79 type fee for $3k coverage that all guests must pay when booking. Is this something hosts can purchase each time a guest books or is it a fee that is helping to cover the cost of the overall insurance the host has that covers the property as an STR? Thank you!
Vrbo used to have that and I quit using it. I preferred to have a deposit. Maybe they did away with it if no one was using it?
If you have the extra rental car insurance then you really don't care if you car gets dinged up.
Quote from @Tiffany Cohen:
Hi - looking for suggestions on companies who provide property damage protection plans. Looking to implement a non-refundable $79 type fee for $3k coverage that all guests must pay when booking. Is this something hosts can purchase each time a guest books or is it a fee that is helping to cover the cost of the overall insurance the host has that covers the property as an STR? Thank you!
Google search has the answer!
I think insurance is available through the various booking platforms, but you can also find it through outside agencies:
Safely.com
waivo.io
insuraguest.com
insuremytrip.com
vacationrentalinsurance.com
Quote from @John Underwood:
Quote from @Tiffany Cohen:
Hi - looking for suggestions on companies who provide property damage protection plans. Looking to implement a non-refundable $79 type fee for $3k coverage that all guests must pay when booking. Is this something hosts can purchase each time a guest books or is it a fee that is helping to cover the cost of the overall insurance the host has that covers the property as an STR? Thank you!
Vrbo used to have that and I quit using it. I preferred to have a deposit. Maybe they did away with it if no one was using it?
If you have the extra rental car insurance then you really don't care if you car gets dinged up.
You can get it through a couple of the pms's. Like owner rez and guesty. I considered passing this cost on to the guest non refundable, but decided against it because of the rental car example that John gave.
I met with Waivo at VRMA conference and was impressed.
VRBO still offers the insurance, I use it with my guests. I prefer not to involve my own insurance company on a small claim, if I can help it. I don't want my rates to go up. I've been on the guest end of this too, and paying $79 is much more palatable than putting down a deposit of $2000-3000.
This is who VRBO uses https://www.vacationrentalinsu...
Note that it is for unintentional damage. They will call the guest about the damage, and the guest must admit to it, and say that it was accidental. Otherwise, the company won't pay.
Ok I’m on Lodgify and they don’t have. I’m our area very little comes from VRBO so it would mainly be from Airbnb or direct bookings. I looked at the one VRBO uses and they don’t have per booking some of them like safely do pricing per night. Haven’t seen waively yes so I’ll look at that!
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#2 Short-Term & Vacation Rental Discussions Contributor
- Olympia, WA
I used it and collect a $500 deposit. Just in case.
I have had 2 instances where some type of coverage for damages could have been beneficial. However I was able to go back to the guests, show them the damage they clearly caused, and proof of the illegalities that was occurring when the damage happened. The guests were happy to pay for the damage when I threatened filing vandalism charges and letting the police know about the underage drinking that the guests were facilitating.
However if that hadn't been the case it could have been nice to have an insurance policy to fall back on.
The one thing with passing on the cost of the insurance as a non refundable fee would be for shorter term rentals, like if you allow nightly, that would raise the cost of the stay to a point where you could risk losing bookings.
If you have properly set up your Short Term/ Vacation Rental home owners policy there will be coverage for property damage, vandalism, theft, and loss of rental income. So maybe you just charge a little more or a small $20 service type fee to help offset the cost of a good insurance policy.