Burglary Prompts Airbnb to Offer Insurance

• August 4th 2011

by Mark Wellborn

Following an incident in which a San Francisco woman rented out her home via Airbnb only to have the apartment burglarized by the tenant, the website has instituted an insurance policy for those who use the service.

For those that are not familiar with the site, Airbnb is an online service that matches people seeking vacation rentals and other short-term accommodations with those with rooms to rent. It was founded in 2008, and lists approximately 100,000 rentals around the world at any given time.

In June, a woman named “EJ” garnered significant attention after blogging about her experience renting out her home with Airbnb. When she returned to the apartment in late-June, she found that it had been burglarized and ransacked by the sub-letter.

In response to this incident (and others), Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky sent an email to members this week offering an apology for the incident and announcing a new Airbnb policy that protects landlords and their property.

From Chesky’s blog post:

On August 15th, we will be implementing a $50,000 Airbnb Guarantee, protecting the property of hosts from damage by Airbnb guests who book reservations through our website. We will extend this program to EJ and any other hosts who may have reported such property damage while renting on Airbnb in the past.

As for the burglar, she is currently in custody in Santa Clara County.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/burglary_prompts_airbnb_to_offer_insurance/3924.