Is Airbnb Travel Insurance Worth It? What It Covers and What It Misses

May 16, 2024 - Meagan Palmer

Last Updated On:

These days, travelers have more options available than ever when it comes to booking accommodations when they travel. Airbnb has been around for over a decade, and throughout the years has added optional travel insurance offerings. You know, that check box at the end of the booking asking if you want to add travel insurance? The question many travelers ask is “is Airbnb travel insurance worth it?”.

Yonder experts found that Airbnb’s travel insurance doesn’t meet the same standards as other retail travel insurance policies.

For answers to other top travel insurance questions, be sure to check out Yonder’s Travel Insurance FAQ page.

Quick Answer: Is Airbnb Travel Insurance Worth It?

It depends on your trip and how much protection you need. Airbnb travel insurance may help cover certain cancellation, medical, delay, and baggage-related expenses connected to your reservation. However, coverage is often more limited than traditional third-party travel insurance policies.

For travelers booking expensive flights, international trips, tours, cruises, or multiple prepaid expenses, a standalone travel insurance policy may provide broader protection for your entire trip instead of just your Airbnb reservation.

Comparing coverage limits, cancellation benefits, medical protection, and evacuation coverage before purchasing can help you determine which option makes the most sense for your trip.

Coverage Type	Airbnb Travel Insurance	Traditional Travel Insurance
Airbnb reservation cancellation	Yes	Yes
Flight protection	Usually limited	Often included
Tour and excursion coverage	Usually limited	Often included
Emergency medical coverage	Included	Usually broader limits
Emergency medical evacuation	Included	Often higher coverage limits
Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR)	No	Sometimes available
Rental car coverage	No	Optional with some plans
Vacation rental damage coverage	Usually no	Sometimes available
Coverage for entire trip	Often no	Yes

When Airbnb Travel Insurance May Be Enough

Airbnb travel insurance may be sufficient for travelers taking shorter or lower-cost trips with minimal prepaid expenses outside their rental reservation.

For example, Airbnb’s coverage may work well if:

• You’re traveling domestically

• Your flights are refundable

• Your Airbnb reservation is your main prepaid expense

• You don’t need higher medical or evacuation limits

• You’re taking a short weekend trip nearby

In these situations, purchasing travel insurance directly through Airbnb may feel simpler and more convenient.

When You May Want More Than Airbnb Travel Insurance

A standalone travel insurance policy may provide stronger protection if your trip includes multiple prepaid expenses or higher financial risk.

You may want broader travel insurance coverage if:

• You’re traveling internationally

• You booked expensive flights

• You prepaid for tours, cruises, or excursions

• You need stronger emergency medical coverage

• You want Cancel For Any Reason coverage

• You’re renting a car

• You want higher evacuation coverage limits

Expert Insight: Many travelers don’t realize Airbnb’s insurance may only protect costs directly tied to the Airbnb reservation itself.

What does Airbnb travel insurance cover?

Most properties on Airbnb will include some sort of cancellation policy where you can get a full, partial, or no refund. If you choose to cancel at the last minute, you could lose your entire reservation expenses. Airbnb offers its own travel insurance policy for an additional charge, but what does it actually cover? Check out the benefits it includes below.

Trip Cancellation for Airbnb Reservation Only

It’s true that Airbnb travel insurance includes trip cancellation coverage. The downside is that it only protects the prepaid costs associated with the reservation itself. So if you have other trip costs like nonrefundable flights or prepaid tour or ticket costs, you’d have to pay for a separate travel insurance policy to protect these expenses.

“Rather than forking out more money from your travel budget to insure your other trip costs, purchase a single travel insurance plan from a third party to protect your entire trip,” says Terry Boynton, co-founder and president of Yonder Travel Insurance.

If something causes you to cut your trip short, trip Interruption coverage could apply under the Airbnb travel insurance. However, make sure you understand the covered events in which this benefit triggers. Keep in mind also that it might only protect your accommodation expenses, so if you have other prepaid costs like airfare or tours, Airbnb’s travel insurance doesn’t usually protect these costs.

Medical Expense and Medical Evacuation

Airbnb does offer medical insurance for medical emergencies with its travel insurance. If you get physically injured or become suddenly ill while staying in an Airbnb, your travel insurance policy will likely cover the medical expenses incurred during your vacation. However, if you’re staying at an international Airbnb, the platform-offered coverage may not be enough. Learn more about the average costs of a medical evacuation and how it works in our Medical Evacuation Insurance Guide.

Travel Loss/Delay

If your travel is delayed, Airbnb’s policy would provide some reimbursement for any additional accommodation or meal expenses. In addition, if your personal items are lost, stolen, or damaged during your trip, the policy could cover the costs to repair or replace those items. 

Coverage would apply as long as you are taking the appropriate precautions, like locking your door while you’re away, for example. If you rent a room in a shared house or a bed and breakfast, keep your belongings locked in your room to ensure your travel insurance applies. Leaving items in common spaces may not be covered. You can learn more about how coverage works for your personal items in our Baggage Coverage Guide.

In addition, Airbnb travel insurance could cover additional costs for clothing and personal items if your checked bags don’t make it to your destination.

Common Airbnb Travel Problems Travel Insurance May Help Cover

Examples:

• The host cancels at the last minute without refunding fully

• A flight delay causes missed check-in or days of the Airbnb

• A natural disaster damages the rental

• You experience an illness before the trip

• Your luggage or personal items were stolen during the stay

• You required emergency medical treatment abroad

Yonder Expert Tip:

When filing a claim, save the original booking confirmation email and the PDF receipt found in your Airbnb “Payments & Payouts” section. Take screenshots of messages from your host regarding cancellations for easier documentation later.

What does Airbnb travel insurance cover NOT cover?

Airbnb’s travel insurance policy covers similar categories as other retail insurance, but lacks benefits for specific events. Depending on your needs, you might find better coverage at a more economical price with alternative travel insurance options.

Here are the areas Yonder’s travel insurance experts didn’t find included in the Airbnb-offered travel insurance.

Cancel for Any Reason Coverage

Airbnb’s travel insurance policy does not include the option to upgrade to Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) coverage. If you aren’t familiar with this benefit often available with other retail policies, check out our comprehensive guide to Cancel for Any Reason coverage. This benefit allows you to receive a 50% – 75% reimbursement of your trip costs even if you nix your trip for a reason not listed as a covered cancellation reason in the policy.

Yonder Expert Tip: Don’t wait until all your Airbnb fees are paid off. There’s a strict timeline that CFAR needs to be purchased within after paying the initial deposit. Yonder advises looking at coverage as soon as that happens to avoid finding out you’re ineligible later.

Rental Car Damage Add-Ons

When renting an Airbnb in a different area, you might also be renting a car. If that’s the case, some travel insurance policies provide coverage if any damage happens to the vehicle. However, Airbnb’s policy does not offer this optional insurance upgrade. 

To learn more about adding this benefit to a travel insurance policy, check out our article on rental car damage benefits.

Vacation Rental Damage Coverage

Interestingly enough, Airbnb’s travel insurance policy doesn’t cover if you accidentally damage any of the rental’s property. Some other retail policies include this “Vacation Rental Damage” benefit, which pays the replacement costs for the damaged items. Ask one of our friendly humans about this benefit if interested!

Other Trip Costs

As stated before, if you purchase insurance through Airbnb, it will only protect those reservation costs. This may be enough for you if you don’t have any out-of-pocket expenses related to your trip. 

Yonder Expert Tip: For those with flights and/or tours or tickets you purchased in advance, consider insuring everything (including your Airbnb reservation) under a single travel insurance policy from a third party like Yonder Travel Insurance. That way, your full Airbnb rental cost, including fees and other prepaid trip expenses you insure are protected.

Coverage Gap	Airbnb Travel Insurance
Cancel For Any Reason coverage	Not typically included
Rental car damage protection	Usually not included
Vacation rental damage protection	Often excluded
Coverage for flights and tours	May be limited
Broader trip-wide protection	Often limited

Is Airbnb Travel Insurance Worth it?

We always think travel insurance is wise, even for domestic trips. Ultimately, whether Airbnb travel insurance is worth it depends on:

• How much money you’ve invested in your trip

• What other travel expenses you need to protect

• The destination of your trip

• Your medical coverage needs

• How much flexibility you want if your plans change unexpectedly

After a thorough comparison by our Yonder travel insurance experts, we believe there are better travel insurance options than Airbnb’s policy for most travelers.

Here are some of the top discrepancies in Airbnb’s offered travel insurance we found:

• 2x – 5x less medical expense coverage

• 2.5x – 10x less medical evacuation coverage

• 2x less baggage delay benefits

• 2.5x less baggage and personal items loss benefits

• 3 – 13 less covered cancellation events

When it comes to price, you might find a better deal using a comparison site like Yonder. 

“Airbnb travel insurance premiums averaged 6-7% of the total Airbnb cost,” says Boynton. “In contrast, average premiums for similar trip costs on Yonder were 3-5% of the total trip cost.”

The consensus: Is Airbnb Travel Insurance Worth it? If your Airbnb costs are low and you’re traveling nearby, you might consider booking insurance through Airbnb’s platform. It’s best to compare the prices, though! However, if you have specific needs or are looking to insure your other trip costs, we’d recommend saving some money and instead booking a single separate policy insuring all your trip investments via a comparison site like Yonder. This is the best way to get the most bang for your buck, in our opinion.

What About AirCover via Airbnb?

AirCover is automatically included with Airbnb bookings, but it’s important to understand that AirCover is not the same thing as traditional travel insurance.

Instead of providing broad trip protection, AirCover mainly focuses on issues directly related to your Airbnb reservation and booking experience. It’s designed to help if something goes wrong with the property itself rather than covering the full range of travel disruptions that can happen before or during your trip.

For example, AirCover may help if:

• Your host cancels shortly before check-in

• The property is significantly different from the listing photos

• The rental is unclean or unsafe

• You’re unable to access the property at check-in

• Airbnb needs to help you find a comparable place to stay

In many cases, Airbnb may assist with rebooking support, refunds, or customer service coordination if these types of reservation issues occur. Travel insurance doesn’t usually cover rebooking fees if there is an increased cost to book a different rental in this case.

However, AirCover generally does not replace traditional travel insurance benefits like:

• Trip cancellation for covered medical reasons

• Emergency medical coverage abroad

• Emergency medical evacuation

• Baggage loss protection

• Travel delay reimbursement

• Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) coverage

That distinction is important because many travelers assume AirCover protects their entire trip when it’s really focused on the Airbnb stay itself.

For example, if your flight is canceled due to severe weather or you experience a medical emergency during your trip, AirCover alone may not help cover those broader travel expenses.

For travelers booking expensive flights, international trips, cruises, tours, or multiple prepaid expenses alongside an Airbnb stay, comparing AirCover with standalone travel insurance can help you better understand where additional protection may be worthwhile.

Feature	Airbnb AirCover	Standalone Travel Insurance
Host Cancellations	Primary Protection	Secondary/Limited
Medical Emergencies	No Coverage	High Coverage Limits
Flight Delays	No Coverage	Included
Baggage Loss/Theft	Limited (during stay)	Full Trip Coverage
“Cancel For Any Reason”	Not Available	Available as an Upgrade

Is Airbnb Travel Insurance Worth It FAQs

Tags: airbnb