You do not own the building. You own every claim that happens in it.Founded by a former Airbnb host.
An operator who leases apartments and lets them nightly, or who manages other people’s listings for a fee, is running a hospitality business out of property somebody else insured for something else. We insure the operator, name the landlord where the lease requires it, and put the certificate in their hands before the first guest.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
We ran almost fifty short-term rentals before we insured anybody else’s.
Kevin Kelsey
Founder | Principal Agent
Boring’s founder, Kevin Kelsey, owned four short-term rentals and managed almost fifty for other owners at the peak before he worked in insurance, and he founded Airhost Academy, one of the first blogs written for Airbnb hosts, which he later sold. He has handled the turnovers, the pool questions, the guest who breaks the one thing the platform will not pay for, and the letter from an insurer explaining that a homeowners or dwelling fire policy was never written for nightly guests. So your listing is read by someone who has hosted, not by someone working from a rate manual.
We hold an appointment with Proper Insurance, the short-term rental program underwritten by Lloyd’s of London and Concert Insurance Group and written on a commercial form that replaces the homeowners policy rather than sitting on top of it, and we still place occasional letting on a second-home policy with the right endorsement when that is the cheaper honest answer.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What an arbitrage or co-host operation carries.
Liability for the guests you host
One million per occurrence for injury to a guest in a unit you lease, or damage a guest does to the building around it.
Without it — The landlord’s policy covers the landlord. Your renters policy, if you have one, excludes business. The guest’s lawyer names everyone.
The landlord as additional insured
Your landlord added to your liability policy, with a certificate they can file, which is what a lease that permits subletting almost always requires.
Without it — A landlord who learns about the listing from a claim rather than from a certificate has grounds to terminate the lease and a reason to sue.
Contents you furnished
The beds, sofas, televisions and kitchen you bought to make a lease into a listing, at replacement cost.
Without it — The building policy covers the building. Your furniture inside it is yours to insure.
Guest damage to the unit
Damage a guest does to walls, floors and fixtures you are responsible for under the lease.
Without it — The landlord bills you for it under the lease, and platform protection asks you to bill the guest first.
Lost income across the portfolio
The nightly revenue lost when a unit is out of service after a covered loss, while the lease payment keeps coming due.
Without it — Arbitrage is a spread between a monthly lease and nightly bookings. A closed unit still costs the lease.
Co-host management income
For managers working under an owner’s policy, an endorsement protecting the commission income you lose when their property goes out of service.
Without it — When the owner’s house burns, the owner’s policy pays the owner. Your ten percent of the season is not in it unless it says so.
Professional liability for managers
A claim that your management, pricing or a screening decision cost an owner money.
Without it — A homeowners form has no answer to "you mismanaged my house", and neither does the owner’s.
What our rental arbitrage clients ask us.
Is rental arbitrage insurable at all?
Yes, and it is more routine than the forums suggest. The policy insures you as the operator of a short-term rental business in property you lease, with the landlord added as an additional insured, and a certificate to prove it. The condition most carriers attach is the obvious one: the lease permits it. An operator letting nightly against a lease that forbids subletting has a landlord problem, and no policy fixes a landlord problem.
Does my landlord’s insurance cover my guests?
No. The landlord’s policy insures the landlord’s interest in the building and the landlord’s liability as its owner. Your guests are your customers, the furniture is yours, and a guest who is hurt in the unit will name you, the landlord and the platform, in that order. The landlord’s carrier will then look for your certificate, and if there is none, for you.
I co-host for several owners. Whose policy am I on?
Ideally each owner’s. A well-built short-term rental policy extends its liability to the owner’s property manager or co-host for work on that property, which means your fee-for-service operation is covered without buying a separate policy per house. What it does not do is protect your income: if the house is closed for repairs, the owner’s policy pays the owner. An endorsement protecting the manager’s commission income exists, and we add it where the owner’s policy is one we placed. For owners insured elsewhere, we read their policy and tell you whether you are on it.
What does the landlord actually need from me?
A certificate showing general liability with the landlord named as additional insured at the limit the lease specifies, usually $1 million per occurrence, and often a copy of the endorsement itself. Deliver it before the first guest, renew it every year without being asked, and keep the landlord’s copy current when you change carriers. A landlord who has never had to chase you for paper is a landlord who renews the lease.
How many units before this becomes a commercial account?
It is one from the first unit, because the policy is written on a commercial form either way. What changes with scale is the underwriting: a portfolio is asked about its screening, its house rules, its cleaning schedule, whether events are permitted, and its loss history, and it is priced as a book rather than a house. An operator with ten leases in three buildings is a hospitality business, and the good news is that hospitality businesses are insured every day.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.