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That's not exactly the point. An insurance policy for a high risk activity - let's say skydiving - is very well definited. There are statistics on accident rate

That's not exactly the point. An insurance policy for a high risk activity - let's say skydiving - is very well definited. There are statistics on accident rates. There is a pretty defined payout when someone dies. The problem is not the risk level, it's the undefined nature of the problem. AirBnB doesn't know the value of the property they are renting. They don't have a long enough history to figure out what these kind of things could cost. What if I rent out a mansion, are they as liable there as in this case? Does AirBnB limit their pay out? These are questions they will have to come through at some point.

AlexandrB 15y ago
> Does AirBnB limit their pay out? Yes. And make it clear that the payout is limited in the TOS. That way AirBnB/their insurer assume some well-defined amount of risk and it's not all on the renter. The issue of insurance fraud is tougher though.
- rdl 15y ago
  The other tricky thing is that they need to negotiate this per jurisdiction. They can't sell insurance directly in most markets without being an insurer, and there are all kinds of BS legacy laws about referring and reselling insurance too. (i.e. you'd need to go to classes and be a registered agent to offer it) It would be a fun problem to solve for them. I don't think the actual per-room-night price for, say, $10-20k in contents and $bignum in liability (i.e. my guest burns down the building and kills everyone) would be that high; on the order of $10. 2m nights is enough to have some data, and this is similar to the vacation market. It could even just be a rider on top of existing homeowners/renters insurance. A nice trick might be to sell renters insurance at the same time, and make money off that (which is IMO something everyone should have anyway, even if they don't use airbnb), with free coverage for airbnb use.

AlexandrB 15y ago

> Does AirBnB limit their pay out? Yes. And make it clear that the payout is limited in the TOS. That way AirBnB/their insurer assume some well-defined amount of risk and it's not all on the renter. The issue of insurance fraud is tougher though.

rdl 15y ago
The other tricky thing is that they need to negotiate this per jurisdiction. They can't sell insurance directly in most markets without being an insurer, and there are all kinds of BS legacy laws about referring and reselling insurance too. (i.e. you'd need to go to classes and be a registered agent to offer it) It would be a fun problem to solve for them. I don't think the actual per-room-night price for, say, $10-20k in contents and $bignum in liability (i.e. my guest burns down the building and kills everyone) would be that high; on the order of $10. 2m nights is enough to have some data, and this is similar to the vacation market. It could even just be a rider on top of existing homeowners/renters insurance. A nice trick might be to sell renters insurance at the same time, and make money off that (which is IMO something everyone should have anyway, even if they don't use airbnb), with free coverage for airbnb use.