Insurance, damage and liability on a Nairobi short let

Most Nairobi hosts are carrying two assumptions that do not survive contact with a claim: that their existing property insurance covers paying guests, and that the platform will make them whole if something goes wrong. Both are usually wrong, and the moment you find out is the worst possible moment to find out.

Your existing policy is probably the wrong policy

Residential property insurance is written on an assumption about occupancy. A policy sold for an owner occupied home, or for a home let to a long term tenant, is priced for that risk. Paying guests coming and going nightly is a commercial use, and commercial use is frequently excluded or requires disclosure.

The specific questions to put to your broker, in writing:

1. Does this policy cover the property while it is let on a short stay basis to paying guests?
2. Does it cover accidental damage caused by a guest, as opposed to a tenant?
3. Does it cover theft by a guest, given that they were admitted lawfully? This is a common and important exclusion
4. Is there public liability cover if a guest is injured in the property, and to what limit?
5. Are contents and furnishings covered, at replacement value or indemnity?
6. Is there loss of income cover if the unit becomes unlettable after an insured event?
7. Does the cover survive periods when the property is unoccupied between guests, and for how long?

If the answer to the first question is no, you are uninsured for the activity you are actually conducting, and a declined claim is the cheapest way that ends.

Not disclosing the short let use to keep the premium down does not save money. It converts an insurance policy into a receipt.

What platform protection actually does

Airbnb and Booking.com both offer host protection, and it is genuinely useful. It is also narrower and more conditional than the marketing suggests, and it is not insurance you control.

• It generally requires the booking to have been made and paid through the platform. An off platform arrangement typically voids it entirely, which is one of several reasons never to take a direct payment from a platform guest
• It is time limited. Claims must be raised within a short window after checkout, frequently before the next guest arrives. Miss it and there is no recourse
• It requires evidence. Photographs, receipts, a documented before and after. Assertion is not enough
• It excludes ordinary wear and tear, which is where most of your actual costs live
• It is not liability cover for every scenario, and it does not replace your own policy
• The decision is theirs. There is no independent adjuster and limited appeal

Documenting so a claim actually succeeds

The difference between a paid claim and a refused one is almost always the records that existed before the damage, not the argument made afterwards.

• A photographic inventory, taken at launch, of every room and every item of value, with model numbers where relevant
• Turnover photographs after every clean. This is the control that wins claims, because it establishes the condition the guest received the property in
• Purchase receipts kept somewhere retrievable, so replacement value can be evidenced rather than estimated
• Timestamps. Photographs with dates are evidence, photographs without them are opinions
• All correspondence on the platform, because it is the only record the platform will consider
• Report immediately, before the next guest checks in. Once another guest has been in the unit, causation is gone

The risks worth taking seriously

• Water damage. The most common and most expensive incident in Nairobi apartments, and the one most likely to become a liability to the flat below rather than a cost in your own
• Liability for guest injury. A wet floor, a loose balcony rail, a faulty socket, a badly lit stair. Low probability, uncapped consequence, and the reason public liability cover matters more than contents cover
• Fire. Guests cook unfamiliar kitchens. Smoke alarm, fire blanket, extinguisher, and a policy that covers the activity
• Theft of contents. Televisions and appliances, and check the exclusion for theft by someone lawfully admitted
• Loss of income while the unit is repaired, which for a short let is a real and immediate loss rather than a deferred one
• Building level liability. If your guest floods two floors, the committee will look to you and your policy needs to respond

Budget for wear rather than claiming for it

Most of what actually costs a short let host money is not insurable and should not be treated as a shock. Linen greys, glassware breaks, a kettle dies, the sofa takes a year of use in a year. That is the cost of the business.

Provision for it monthly. Hosts who treat every replacement as an unexpected event both overestimate their profit and underinvest in the unit, which shows up in the reviews long before it shows up in the accounts.

How Goldstay handles it

We hold a photographic inventory for every unit and take turnover photographs after each clean, which is what makes a damage claim winnable. We keep guest communication on the platform for the same reason. Owners are responsible for their own insurance, and we tell them to confirm short stay use is covered before the first guest.

Handing the operation over is the other option: here is how our Nairobi short-stay management works.

Related reading: Nairobi property insurance for diaspora landlords and guest vetting and house rules.