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I regularly get questions like, “Are you taking a big enough breakage deposit?”
Injuries, accidents and your liability seem to be on the back burner.
But let me answer your breakage deposit concern first.
As an owner, you want to protect your belongings against breakages. You can throw money at the problem or you make it as foolproof as possible.
After a thorough foolproof audit and making changes, the next defense is a breakage deposit.
How high should the breakage be to cover your home? Can you consider any figure you believe is high enough?
Okay. You decide to hit them hard with a high breakage deposit. But the consequence is; no more bookings. Nothing.
Obviously, we need to consider the risk. How many breakages occur and how severe are they?
Instead of limiting or stopping bookings it’s our view to get a breakage deposit about equal to one day’s rates during high season.
But you may be risk-averse and want more. Your only choice (not really a choice) is to get your short term insurer involved. You must tell him you do short term accommodation and want insurance for breakages, accidents and liability claims.
Let’s get back to breakages:
Action:
In general, short term rental accommodation business is easy if you do the common sense issues well. They are simple. But relentlessly risky if skimped.
P.S. If it can break it will break. This does not mean we must change to plastic plates and glasses. Everyday use items must be easily replaceable in the blink of an eye. To claim from a guest for such accidental breakages is not ideal.
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
I regularly get questions like, “Are you taking a big enough breakage deposit?”
Injuries, accidents and your liability seem to be on the back burner.
But let me answer your breakage deposit concern first.
As an owner, you want to protect your belongings against breakages. You can throw money at the problem or you make it as foolproof as possible.
After a thorough foolproof audit and making changes, the next defense is a breakage deposit.
How high should the breakage be to cover your home? Can you consider any figure you believe is high enough?
Okay. You decide to hit them hard with a high breakage deposit. But the consequence is; no more bookings. Nothing.
Obviously, we need to consider the risk. How many breakages occur and how severe are they?
Instead of limiting or stopping bookings it’s our view to get a breakage deposit about equal to one day’s rates during high season.
But you may be risk-averse and want more. Your only choice (not really a choice) is to get your short term insurer involved. You must tell him you do short term accommodation and want insurance for breakages, accidents and liability claims.
Let’s get back to breakages:
Action:
In general, short term rental accommodation business is easy if you do the common sense issues well. They are simple. But relentlessly risky if skimped.
P.S. If it can break it will break. This does not mean we must change to plastic plates and glasses. Everyday use items must be easily replaceable in the blink of an eye. To claim from a guest for such accidental breakages is not ideal.
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
It’s obvious, after COVID 19, that the bad brings out the worst in some and the best in others. It’s for this reason that we decided to revisit short term rental insurance to best protect our Cape Town accommodation owners and the rental agency (Agency.CapeHolidays.info) they appointed to manage their accommodation.
BTW: You know we had a 60 day zero refund cancellation policy with Airbnb but they temporarily negated that, at the start of the pandemic. And can still apply it under extenuating circumstances. Therefore we cannot continue being at risk at their will. There must be a better way to protect income.
The main concerns to address:
Actions To Take:
We will require owners to ensure their policies protect them correctly and that the protection is extended to their agent. The following form needs to be sent to your insurer and sent back to us after your insurance provider completes it (find it here).
We believe we have identified such a company.
Incompass commenced in 2004 with a specialised team. Today they are South Africa’s largest Guest House Insurance brokerage. Focusing on both personal and commercial for the tourism industry. Even during the pandemic Jan Wink, Managing Director at Incompass, explains how they paid out 1000s of claims (see news article here).
The following is a letter from Jan to our owners on what the critical aspects are we need to consider.
Dear Agency.CapeHolidays.Info Owner
You agreed with Agency.CapeHolidays.Info to manage and market your home on listing sites like Airbnb. You expect a fair return. And from experience, you know you are in good hands.
You were well on your way. But then COVID struck. Everyone in the industry suffered massive losses, with booking income dropping right down to zero. And it remained at zero for a long time… The COVID havoc made you think. Made us all think about the exposure to risks, and in this case specifically to the loss of income.
No one expected the unreasonable and unjustified harsh attitude AirBnB (and other booking platforms) would take towards their hosts. All hospitality establishments experienced frustration.
At Incompass Insurance Consultants we create bespoke insurance solutions for our hospitality accommodation clients – we address risks such as loss of income, public liability, damage or theft by guests to name a few.
Unfortunately, most people assume that by having some kind of insurance in place, they’re automatically covered. That’s not necessarily the case – you might be insured on a personal policy, that covers you only in your personal capacity – meaning liability & theft claims will not be covered should the property be used for business purposes. And short term letting is considered business use by South African insurers.
Your property’s “type of use” has to include business use, or else any claim could be rejected (even geyser bursts or storm damage). The insurer will use their favourite rejection reason: it’s called “non-disclosure of material facts”. This basically means they were not made aware of the actual type of use of the property and hence will not be settling the claim.
But wait – you called the call centre and told them on the phone that you’re renting the place out. Which means you disclosed, and you should be insured right?
Right?
Except, you might not be. The truth is, that statement you made to the call centre agent often means very little to them. They can often only read from the options available on their screen… What you should rather do is pose 5 specific questions to them, and ask for their answer in writing:
Chances are, the words “short term paying guest” is going to result in all of your questions being answered with a resounding “NOT COVERED”. If you receive NO as an answer to any of the above, then you can be sure that you don’t have the widest cover available to short term letting establishments. If you’re going to bother paying insurance premiums, don’t you want to be sure that the cover is 100% correct? Just because you pay your premiums doesn’t mean you’re correctly covered.
An additional complication is that your property is managed by a third party. You’re not even controlling the risk… Agency.CapeHolidays.Info often manages all aspects of the booking process – marketing, communicating with the guests, handing over keys, showing guests the “house rules”, dealing with guest complaints, cleaning and being responsible for maintenance as well as repairs & replacement. Agency.CapeHolidays.Info is in full control of the risk, and therefore really needs to be noted as a co-insured. Agency.CapeHolidays.Info has an insurable interest.
Incompass Insurance Consultants specialises in short term letting insurance. We strongly advise owners to co-insure their agency when possible, because the agency is part and parcel of the success or failure of the enterprise. The agency is often in full control of the risk, more so than the property owner. And for this reason, we always include the management agent as a co-insured – it gives the insurer fewer reasons to reject a claim one day.
Incompass Insurance Consultants help ensure that our clients, who rent out their premises (via agencies or other) to short term paying guests, are correctly (and competitively) insured. It’s so much a part of what we do that we are the largest hospitality establishment insurance brokerage in South Africa and are the preferred insurance provider for the NAA, GHASA and the Tourism Grading Council.
What kind of cover does a guest establishment require?
It’s not in your (and your agent’s) interest to have the incorrect insurance in place. It’s also not in your interest to pay a higher premium than necessary. At Incompass we address both these issues, thereby giving our clients the widest cover at the most affordable premiums (often lower compared to personal insurance premiums).
Disclosing to your insurer’s call centre agent that you’re an AirBnB host is not enough – you need written confirmation, signed and copy stamped, that they can answer yes to most if not all of those 5 very important questions.
For more information, visit www.incompass-insurance.co.za/airbnb
By Jan Wink,
Incompass Insurance Consultants (FSP23418)
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
I regularly get questions like, “Are you taking a big enough breakage deposit?”
Injuries, accidents and your liability seem to be on the back burner.
But let me answer your breakage deposit concern first.
As an owner, you want to protect your belongings against breakages. You can throw money at the problem or you make it as foolproof as possible.
After a thorough foolproof audit and making changes, the next defense is a breakage deposit.
How high should the breakage be to cover your home? Can you consider any figure you believe is high enough?
Okay. You decide to hit them hard with a high breakage deposit. But the consequence is; no more bookings. Nothing.
Obviously, we need to consider the risk. How many breakages occur and how severe are they?
Instead of limiting or stopping bookings it’s our view to get a breakage deposit about equal to one day’s rates during high season.
But you may be risk-averse and want more. Your only choice (not really a choice) is to get your short term insurer involved. You must tell him you do short term accommodation and want insurance for breakages, accidents and liability claims.
Let’s get back to breakages:
Action:
In general, short term rental accommodation business is easy if you do the common sense issues well. They are simple. But relentlessly risky if skimped.
P.S. If it can break it will break. This does not mean we must change to plastic plates and glasses. Everyday use items must be easily replaceable in the blink of an eye. To claim from a guest for such accidental breakages is not ideal.
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
I regularly get questions like, “Are you taking a big enough breakage deposit?”
Injuries, accidents and your liability seem to be on the back burner.
But let me answer your breakage deposit concern first.
As an owner, you want to protect your belongings against breakages. You can throw money at the problem or you make it as foolproof as possible.
After a thorough foolproof audit and making changes, the next defense is a breakage deposit.
How high should the breakage be to cover your home? Can you consider any figure you believe is high enough?
Okay. You decide to hit them hard with a high breakage deposit. But the consequence is; no more bookings. Nothing.
Obviously, we need to consider the risk. How many breakages occur and how severe are they?
Instead of limiting or stopping bookings it’s our view to get a breakage deposit about equal to one day’s rates during high season.
But you may be risk-averse and want more. Your only choice (not really a choice) is to get your short term insurer involved. You must tell him you do short term accommodation and want insurance for breakages, accidents and liability claims.
Let’s get back to breakages:
Action:
In general, short term rental accommodation business is easy if you do the common sense issues well. They are simple. But relentlessly risky if skimped.
P.S. If it can break it will break. This does not mean we must change to plastic plates and glasses. Everyday use items must be easily replaceable in the blink of an eye. To claim from a guest for such accidental breakages is not ideal.
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
It’s obvious, after COVID 19, that the bad brings out the worst in some and the best in others. It’s for this reason that we decided to revisit short term rental insurance to best protect our Cape Town accommodation owners and the rental agency (Agency.CapeHolidays.info) they appointed to manage their accommodation.
BTW: You know we had a 60 day zero refund cancellation policy with Airbnb but they temporarily negated that, at the start of the pandemic. And can still apply it under extenuating circumstances. Therefore we cannot continue being at risk at their will. There must be a better way to protect income.
The main concerns to address:
Actions To Take:
We will require owners to ensure their policies protect them correctly and that the protection is extended to their agent. The following form needs to be sent to your insurer and sent back to us after your insurance provider completes it (find it here).
We believe we have identified such a company.
Incompass commenced in 2004 with a specialised team. Today they are South Africa’s largest Guest House Insurance brokerage. Focusing on both personal and commercial for the tourism industry. Even during the pandemic Jan Wink, Managing Director at Incompass, explains how they paid out 1000s of claims (see news article here).
The following is a letter from Jan to our owners on what the critical aspects are we need to consider.
Dear Agency.CapeHolidays.Info Owner
You agreed with Agency.CapeHolidays.Info to manage and market your home on listing sites like Airbnb. You expect a fair return. And from experience, you know you are in good hands.
You were well on your way. But then COVID struck. Everyone in the industry suffered massive losses, with booking income dropping right down to zero. And it remained at zero for a long time… The COVID havoc made you think. Made us all think about the exposure to risks, and in this case specifically to the loss of income.
No one expected the unreasonable and unjustified harsh attitude AirBnB (and other booking platforms) would take towards their hosts. All hospitality establishments experienced frustration.
At Incompass Insurance Consultants we create bespoke insurance solutions for our hospitality accommodation clients – we address risks such as loss of income, public liability, damage or theft by guests to name a few.
Unfortunately, most people assume that by having some kind of insurance in place, they’re automatically covered. That’s not necessarily the case – you might be insured on a personal policy, that covers you only in your personal capacity – meaning liability & theft claims will not be covered should the property be used for business purposes. And short term letting is considered business use by South African insurers.
Your property’s “type of use” has to include business use, or else any claim could be rejected (even geyser bursts or storm damage). The insurer will use their favourite rejection reason: it’s called “non-disclosure of material facts”. This basically means they were not made aware of the actual type of use of the property and hence will not be settling the claim.
But wait – you called the call centre and told them on the phone that you’re renting the place out. Which means you disclosed, and you should be insured right?
Right?
Except, you might not be. The truth is, that statement you made to the call centre agent often means very little to them. They can often only read from the options available on their screen… What you should rather do is pose 5 specific questions to them, and ask for their answer in writing:
Chances are, the words “short term paying guest” is going to result in all of your questions being answered with a resounding “NOT COVERED”. If you receive NO as an answer to any of the above, then you can be sure that you don’t have the widest cover available to short term letting establishments. If you’re going to bother paying insurance premiums, don’t you want to be sure that the cover is 100% correct? Just because you pay your premiums doesn’t mean you’re correctly covered.
An additional complication is that your property is managed by a third party. You’re not even controlling the risk… Agency.CapeHolidays.Info often manages all aspects of the booking process – marketing, communicating with the guests, handing over keys, showing guests the “house rules”, dealing with guest complaints, cleaning and being responsible for maintenance as well as repairs & replacement. Agency.CapeHolidays.Info is in full control of the risk, and therefore really needs to be noted as a co-insured. Agency.CapeHolidays.Info has an insurable interest.
Incompass Insurance Consultants specialises in short term letting insurance. We strongly advise owners to co-insure their agency when possible, because the agency is part and parcel of the success or failure of the enterprise. The agency is often in full control of the risk, more so than the property owner. And for this reason, we always include the management agent as a co-insured – it gives the insurer fewer reasons to reject a claim one day.
Incompass Insurance Consultants help ensure that our clients, who rent out their premises (via agencies or other) to short term paying guests, are correctly (and competitively) insured. It’s so much a part of what we do that we are the largest hospitality establishment insurance brokerage in South Africa and are the preferred insurance provider for the NAA, GHASA and the Tourism Grading Council.
What kind of cover does a guest establishment require?
It’s not in your (and your agent’s) interest to have the incorrect insurance in place. It’s also not in your interest to pay a higher premium than necessary. At Incompass we address both these issues, thereby giving our clients the widest cover at the most affordable premiums (often lower compared to personal insurance premiums).
Disclosing to your insurer’s call centre agent that you’re an AirBnB host is not enough – you need written confirmation, signed and copy stamped, that they can answer yes to most if not all of those 5 very important questions.
For more information, visit www.incompass-insurance.co.za/airbnb
By Jan Wink,
Incompass Insurance Consultants (FSP23418)
Win Unhassles Airbnb eBook & Plus Advice Worth R10000
