The question of liability and Airbnb is not a new one. However, this story is particularly disturbing: Two years ago, Zak Stone’s father was killed at an Airbnb after a tree trunk attached to a rope swing broke and hit him in the head. In a story on Medium, Stone says his family did not pursue legal action against the company—Airbnb’s policy states “Airbnb has no control over the conduct of Hosts and disclaims all liability”—but was able to wrangle a settlement from the hosts’ homeowner’s insurance policy.
However, this was something of an anomaly. As Stone points out: “Most home insurance policies make exclusions for any commercial activity taking place for residential policies.”
Stone writes that Airbnb has tried to remain neutral when it comes to liability, positioning itself as simply “an online platform that connects hosts who have accommodations to rent with guests seeking to rent such accommodations.” But with Airbnb increasingly coming under fire, the company finally decided to take action.
Airbnb just expanded its Home Protection Insurance program from a secondary insurance to a primary insurance, with up to $1 million in liability coverage in cases where a guest is accidentally injured on a host’s property or surrounding area, or a guest causes damage to property near the host’s. The program is automatically included in bookings in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom. However, the insurance does not cover intentional acts such as assault or battery, or conditions such as fungi, bacteria, communicable diseases, pollution, asbestos, lead, or Chinese drywall. It also excludes product liability or acts of terrorism.
Airbnb still doesn’t require hosts to go through the same sort of rigorous process to ensure safety that is required of traditional hotels. Be careful out there.
