we currently use safely for damage protection across all our properties. would be great to have a better option cost wise. possibly an interface directly integrated into the system to mark a claim against the given reservation.
liability protection for direct reservations would be great
Yes!!! That would be amazing!
My “oldest” property went nearly 4 years with no damage claims whatsoever, before a couple recent incidents that totaled about $300. So I figure that $75/year per unit is the average damage I can expect. I now have 4 units, so I can expect $300 a year in damage now.
Each unit hosts about 60 guests per year. Presuming that they all booked on Vrbo (not true, but hypothetically), every one of them would have paid a $59 insurance fee for a Generali policy.
$59 x 60 = $3,540 per unit, per year, paid by guests for “insurance.” That’s $14,160 in Vrbo & Generali’s pockets each year, to “protect” me from $300 a year in damages.
SOMEONE is making BANK in this situation, and it ain’t me LOL.
So I’m now keenly interested in self-insuring. I envision being able to charge a $59 “mandatory non-refundable damage waiver” with language stating that guests are forgiven for the first $1,500 (or whatever) of accidental damage. With exceptions in the fine print for vandalism, gross negligence, or intentional damage.
The OTAs don’t really seem to have placeholders for charging fees related to insurance or damage waivers. Probably because it’s a huge profit center for themselves and they don’t want hosts crowding in on it.
The damage waiver could therefore probably just be baked into the cleaning fee. It wouldn't matter. Although where supported, it might be nice to see it as a separate line item.
Yes I agree with Tom, I have considered self-insuring. However I haven’t been as lucky as him with lack of damage. My largest claims so far were both at one property. $2200 for a cracked kitchen sink and $1500 for 2 new doors - dog scratched them beyond repair - they were nice heavy expensive doors. So $3600 there for just that one house in less than 6 months. I had Waivo for those claims, which paid no problem. So it has given good piece of mind. But I agree, some properties have had little to no claims, others have had more. You also have to be on top of it to report even the smallest of damages to get the best benefit from it. I now use Safely, which covers $100,000 in liability (slips and falls, medical costs from bed bugs, etc) and $1500-$3000 in contents coverage. But my Proper home insurance would cover this too - difference being it would just go against my record and eventually hurt my ability to be insured. So again, good peace of mind. But eventually, once I manage a critical number of properties, I think $59/stay for insurance would be a good amount to collect to be able to cover up to $1500/year per property. Easy. Would be great i Hospitable could somehow help us manage that, hold the money per say for maybe a very small cut.
@Tim Parry - I’ll book time. We’ve been using Safely for a few years. It’s been 98% solid (but expensive). We try to pass the entire cost along to guests and have a process built out for logging and submitting.
Yes I agree with Tom, I have considered self-insuring. However I haven’t been as lucky as him with lack of damage. My largest claims so far were both at one property. $2200 for a cracked kitchen sink and $1500 for 2 new doors - dog scratched them beyond repair - they were nice heavy expensive doors. So $3600 there for just that one house in less than 6 months. I had Waivo for those claims, which paid no problem. So it has given good piece of mind. But I agree, some properties have had little to no claims, others have had more. You also have to be on top of it to report even the smallest of damages to get the best benefit from it. I now use Safely, which covers $100,000 in liability (slips and falls, medical costs from bed bugs, etc) and $1500-$3000 in contents coverage. But my Proper home insurance would cover this too - difference being it would just go against my record and eventually hurt my ability to be insured. So again, good peace of mind. But eventually, once I manage a critical number of properties, I think $59/stay for insurance would be a good amount to collect to be able to cover up to $1500/year per property. Easy. Would be great i Hospitable could somehow help us manage that, hold the money per say for maybe a very small cut.
Ugh - that sounds like a major headache. Obviously it’s not every guest, but it CAN happen. We also use Safely and have been happy with their overall service. They’ve slowed down on turnaround, but that hasn’t impacted our operations. They are integrated with HSPTB already, which is good for sure.
I’m on the fence if this is something that HSPTB should take on… but TBH insurance companies make BANK - it’s just part of their actuarial business model.
Would be great i Hospitable could somehow help us manage that, hold the money per say for maybe a very small cut.
That’s what savings accounts are for :-) And having the money in your own hands lets you move money from the “rainy day” fund (AKA “bad guest” fund LOL) into your “spending money” account once you know you’ve got enough banked to cover anything that might happen.
