Does home insurance cover Airbnb or short-term rentals in Ontario?
Usually not. Most standard home and cottage policies treat short-term rental as a business use and either exclude it or void coverage if a claim traces back to a paying guest. Airbnb's host protection helps but is not a substitute for your own policy. To be properly covered, an Ontario short-term rental needs a policy (or endorsement) built for STR use, covering the building, contents, and, importantly, liability for guests.
Why doesn't my regular policy cover it?
Renting to paying guests turns your home or cottage into a commercial activity in the insurer's eyes. Standard policies are priced for personal use, so they carve out business exposure. The risk is that everything looks fine until a guest is injured or causes damage, and then the claim is denied because of the short-term rental. That's the worst possible time to learn about a gap.
What does short-term rental insurance cover?
A proper STR program typically covers: the building and contents used for rental, liability for injuries or damage involving guests, loss of rental income after a covered loss, and often contents damage or theft by guests. Whether it's an endorsement on your existing policy or a standalone STR policy depends on how often you rent and the property type.
Does the platform's coverage (like AirCover) replace my own?
No. Platform protection can help with certain guest-caused damage and liability, but it has limits, exclusions, and claim conditions, and it doesn't cover everything a real property policy does. Treat it as a backstop, not your primary coverage. The safe setup is your own STR-appropriate policy, with the platform's protection on top.
FAQ
I only rent my cottage a few weekends a year, do I still need it? Even occasional paid stays can trigger the business-use exclusion, so yes, tell your broker. Can you cover a property rented full-time on Airbnb? Yes, that's placed as a short-term rental risk with the right market. Will telling my insurer raise my rate? It may adjust, but an accurate policy that actually pays is far cheaper than a denied claim.