While such calamitous events are thankfully rare, Airbnb hosts are known to occasionally suffer at the hands of irresponsible renters. You’ve probably stumbled across at least one story of how a property was trashed by some crazy bash, whether a drug-induced orgy, a Hamptons pool party that got out of hand, or some other similarly riotous act.
While Airbnb goes some way to protecting hosts in the event of unwanted happenings — both big and small — via its Host Protection program, broader safeguards are now available for hosts in 13 states via a recently launched insurance offering from New York-based Slice.
Slice’s Michael Fitzgibbon describes the service as “the first entirely digital platform providing on-demand insurance for the on-demand economy at the tap of a smartphone.”
The company, which has been steadily expanding throughout the United States since last year, offers its service via its iOS app and website. In the case of an Airbnb host, coverage is provided for the specific period of time that a guest rents a home, whether it’s for a day, a week, or longer. That’s right: With Slice you don’t have to cough up for a whole year if your property is only used occasionally.
Its insurance plan, which starts at as little as $4 a night, aims to protect hosts “from all the things you don’t really want to think about but you’ll be glad you did: Theft and vandalism, excess utility usage, insect infestations, lost income, and more,” the company says on its website. Coverage includes $2 million in commercial liability, the full replacement of a property and its contents, as well as the above-mentioned issues you “don’t really want to think about.”
Slice prides itself on its speed of use, with hosts required to give only their property address and the dates of a guest’s stay.
If the worst happens — or something slightly less terrible — Slice promises to pay out valid small claims “immediately” and larger ones “as quickly as possible” once its team has all the details.
From this week, hosts in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Washington can make use of Slice’s service.
The company scored $3.9 million of seed funding in March 2016 and has various backers and partners, including Germany-based reinsurance giant Munich Re, according to Insurance Journal.
For specific information on the conditions of Slice’s service, check out the FAQs on its website at the bottom of this page.
