UK Holiday Home Insurance & Airbnb Insurance

Whether you are looking for Airbnb insurance or second home insurance, ultimately the policy you will be purchasing is for holiday home insurance. At Ashburnham, we provide just that for those who commercially let their property to guests on a short-term basis.

Flexible, comprehensive, and cheap holiday home insurance can be hard to come by, but with Ashburnham you can choose the level of cover you require using our online policy form. Just make sure that under Occupancy Details, you specify whether the holiday home is a second home, commercially let, or both.

We understand the risks involved with holiday homes and that owners want the best cover to protect their property whilst it is occupied by you, friends, family, or guests. We can continue this cover for the gaps in between, such as when the property is empty between occupants or vacant during the winter months. If your second home is likely to be unoccupied for longer periods, our unoccupied property insurance policy may suit you better.

It is important to check the terms and conditions on these policies. You may find that cover, excesses, and your requirements as the property owner and policyholder may change depending on whether the holiday home is empty or occupied. If you rent your house on a long-term basis, you should consider looking at our Landlords Insurance policies instead.

What is Airbnb Insurance?

Airbnb insurance provides additional coverage for those who aren’t strictly landlords, but do commercially let their second home or holiday home to guests for short periods of time. It’s essentially an add-on for regular home insurance.

You shouldn’t rely on your standard home insurance policy to cover you for any claim involving paying guests. In fact, in the event of non-disclosure, your home insurer may refuse to pay out on any claim you make, regardless of whether or not it arises from Airbnb activity at all. Be aware that rental activity could be invalidating your policy, putting you at risk.

You may already be aware, as an Airbnb host, of the fact that Airbnb provide their own Host Guarantee and Host Protection Insurance. These are already included within your host fees, which is fantastic but is certainly not comprehensive – leaving you vulnerable to a number of risks. Airbnb themselves state quite clearly what is and what isn’t covered, encouraging hosts to purchase their own independent Airbnb insurance for full coverage.

The Host Guarantee is not insurance and should not be considered as a replacement or stand-in for home-owners or renters insurance. Hosts may want to consider independent insurance to cover valuable items like jewellery, artwork, or collectables which are subject to limited protection under the Host Guarantee. See our Host Guarantee terms for more details.

We strongly encourage all hosts to review and understand the terms of their insurance policy and what it covers and does not cover. Not all insurance plans will cover damage or loss to property caused by a guest that books your space.

– Airbnb

Airbnb’s own Host Guarantee and Host Protection Insurance should not be treated as an alternative to your holiday home insurance policy. Their Host Guarantee only covers property damage caused by Airbnb guests (only covering the areas which your guests exclusively occupy), whilst their Host Protection Insurance is a very basic public liability policy covering you for third-party injury and property damage. For example, faulty lighting in the stairwell that causes a guest to fall and injure themselves, or if faulty wiring damages their business laptop also resulting in loss of data.

Holiday home insurance covers you for any rental activity, including Airbnb, as well as provide you with second home insurance in between periods of paying guests or while you are staying there yourself. You still require insurance for when you don’t have Airbnb guests, so it is wise to consider this type of cover. Furthermore, other sites similar to Airbnb exist, and not all offer the same insurance cover that Airbnb are generous enough to provide. In which case, holiday let insurance is a must!

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