AirCover for Hosts: what is actually included
AirCover for Hosts is Airbnb's name for a set of protections included free of charge for homes listed on the platform. There is nothing to sign up for: it applies automatically to stays booked through Airbnb. It rests on two separate components, and it pays to keep them apart because they work in completely different ways.
Host damage protection
It can reimburse certain damage caused by a guest or their companions to your home and belongings: floors, furniture, appliances, valuables, but also exceptional cleaning costs (stains, smoke odours) or some lost income if you have to cancel bookings because of the damage. On airbnb.fr, the stated limit is US$3 million.
A crucial point, stated in black and white in Airbnb's Help Centre: this protection is not an insurance policy. It is a contractual commitment by the platform, with its own procedure and its own conditions.
Host liability insurance
This one is genuine insurance, taken out by Airbnb with an insurer (for hosts in the European Economic Area, Zurich Insurance Europe AG, according to the Help Centre). It applies if you are held legally liable because a guest or third party is injured, or their belongings are damaged or stolen during the stay, including in some cases in the common areas. Stated limit: US$1 million.
Remember the distinction: damage protection protects your property against the guest; liability insurance protects you when the guest (or a neighbour) makes a claim against you. Neither covers an incident unrelated to a stay, such as a pipe that bursts on a Tuesday in January between two bookings.
AirCover's limits: exclusions and conditions you need to know
AirCover has real strengths, but it is not a blank cheque. The conditions published by Airbnb set out a precise framework, and claims often fail on procedure rather than substance.
- Short deadline: the reimbursement request must be filed within 14 days of the responsible guest's departure. A late clean, or a distant owner who spots the damage three weeks later, and the window has closed.
- Guest first: you must first ask the guest for payment through the Resolution Centre. Only if they refuse, pay part of it or fail to respond does the request go to Airbnb.
- Normal wear and tear excluded: a tired sofa, faded paintwork or bedding at the end of its life are not covered by AirCover.
- Natural disasters are excluded, as are injuries to the guest or third parties under damage protection (those fall under liability insurance).
- No cash: losses of cash are not covered.
- Liability insurance: intentional acts and damage to your own property are excluded, and other exclusions apply under the policy.
Above all, AirCover only applies to stays booked on Airbnb. A direct booking, a Booking.com reservation or an empty period are not concerned. Evidence matters enormously: dated photos of the property's condition, purchase invoices, repair quotes. A poorly documented claim is a rejected claim.
AirCover's terms change regularly. Before relying on it, reread the "Host damage protection" page in Airbnb's Help Centre: that page is authoritative, not a blog post, including this one.
Why standard home insurance often falls short
This is the most common trap. Your home insurance policy was taken out for residential use: you, your family, perhaps a long-term tenant. Short-term letting changes the nature of the risk: a turnover of strangers, heavier use of equipment, keys changing hands. Many standard policies simply exclude holiday letting, limit it to a few weeks a year, or require you to declare it beforehand.
Yet the French Insurance Code (article L113-2) requires policyholders to declare, during the contract, any new circumstances that increase the risk. Letting your flat on Airbnb is one of them. If you fail to do so and a claim arises, the insurer may, depending on the case, reduce the payout or, in cases of bad faith, seek to void the policy. In practice, the water leak you thought was covered may end up at your expense.
This applies even to a main residence let within the 120 days a year allowed in Nice. The fact that letting is legal as far as the town hall is concerned says nothing about whether your insurer covers it. The two questions are entirely separate. For the regulatory side, see our guide to Airbnb regulation in Nice.
The right reflex: write to your insurer (by email or letter, to keep a record) stating that the property is offered as a short-term furnished let, on which platforms and how often. Ask for a written reply and, if needed, an endorsement. It costs nothing and may save you from a refused claim.
Non-occupant landlord insurance and short-term rental policies
If the flat is not your main residence, you are a non-occupant owner. In a co-owned building, the law of 10 July 1965 (article 9-1) requires every co-owner, occupant or not, to hold at least civil liability insurance. Non-occupant landlord insurance (assurance PNO in French) meets this obligation and usually goes further: damage to the private parts of the building, water damage, fire, claims from neighbours, sometimes empty periods between guests.
Be careful, though: a landlord policy designed for an unfurnished flat let on a long-term basis does not necessarily cover a holiday let. Check three points in the policy wording: is short-term furnished letting expressly accepted? Are furniture and equipment covered, and up to what amount? Is damage caused by successive occupants covered, or referred back to the platform?
Several insurers and brokers now offer policies dedicated to holiday letting, combining owner cover with cover linked to the hosting activity. Prices and cover vary widely from one provider to another; compare on the basis of the policy wording, not a headline price. On the tax side, the insurance premium is a deductible expense under the actual-costs regime, as explained in our LMNP guide for Nice.
- Main residence let for fewer than 120 days: your home insurance, with your insurer's written agreement to short-term letting.
- Second home or investment property: a non-occupant landlord policy or a dedicated holiday-let policy that explicitly accepts this use.
- In both cases: AirCover on top for Airbnb stays, never instead.
Co-ownership and water leaks: the number one risk in Nice's older buildings
In Nice, a large share of flats let to visitors sit in older buildings: Old Nice, the Carré d'Or, the Musiciens district, Libération, Riquier. Belle Époque façades, timber floors, water risers sometimes original. That is the city's charm, and it is also the main source of claims. Water damage is by far the most frequent incident.
The building itself is insured by the co-owners' association, which must also cover its own civil liability (same article 9-1). That policy in principle covers the common parts and the association's liability, for example if the leak comes from a shared riser. But it covers neither your furniture, nor your fittings, nor your personal liability if the leak starts in your flat.
For small water-damage claims between several dwellings, French insurers apply an industry agreement, known as IRSI, which appoints a managing insurer to speed up compensation. In practice, this assumes every party is properly insured and that a joint water-damage report (constat amiable) is completed quickly. An owner who lives elsewhere, with nobody on the spot, often loses precious days.
Who is liable if the leak comes from your flat?
If the leak comes from private equipment (washing machine hose, shower seal, water heater), the neighbour below will in principle look to your liability, whichever guest happens to be staying. AirCover will only step in if the damage results from the guest's behaviour (a bath left running, for instance), and then only under the platform's conditions. Ageing pipework falls under your own policy.
Water damage is also a neighbourly matter. A stained ceiling downstairs is often the start of tension within the building. To anticipate this, our Airbnb co-ownership kit for Nice sets out what to check in the building regulations and good practice with the managing agent.
Booking.com and direct lets: no AirCover equivalent
Booking.com offers Partner Liability Insurance, in which home-like properties are enrolled by default (unless they opt out), with a limit of €1 million per occurrence in the European Economic Area according to the policy summary published by the platform. However, that policy expressly excludes damage to your own property: it protects your liability towards guests and third parties, not your walls or furniture.
For damage caused by a guest, Booking.com offers to facilitate a payment request to the guest, or lets the host manage a damage deposit themselves. To our knowledge, there is no platform-funded damage protection in France comparable to AirCover's: if the guest refuses to pay, you are generally left to deal with the dispute alone. These programmes change; check the current position in your partner extranet.
With direct lets (your own website, word of mouth), there is neither AirCover nor any platform programme. Everything rests on your insurance and on whatever deposit you have arranged.
This is one of the reasons La Joyeuse Conciergerie works only on Airbnb: damage protection and guest identity verification are built in by default. Our approach is detailed on our protection and guarantees page.
Security deposits and the repair fund: two different tools
On Airbnb, most hosts are not allowed to require a security deposit, whether through the Resolution Centre or off the platform. The exceptions concern certain software-connected hosts, provided the deposit is shown in the dedicated field of the listing. Asking for a deposit cheque or a bank transfer "outside Airbnb" breaches the platform's rules and deprives you of its support in a dispute.
The real safeguard is therefore guest selection, a photographed condition check after every clean, and a fast response. Our guest screening method aims precisely to reduce risk upstream, before insurance even comes into it.
La Joyeuse's €250 repair fund
The repair fund is not insurance: it is a €250 float, provided by the owner, which lets us act immediately on small incidents without waiting for approval each time. A light bulb, a shower hose, a sticking lock, a plumber to call on a Carnival Saturday: the work starts straight away, before a small problem becomes a major claim.
Every expense is justified and appears in the Friday report you receive each week. If the damage falls under AirCover or your insurer, an emergency repair does not prevent a claim: it limits the damage, which is exactly what insurers expect of a policyholder.
Our insurance checklist before letting in Nice
Before your first booking, or before high season if you already let, take an hour to go through these points. Summer in Nice, the Monaco Grand Prix and the February Carnival pack a lot of turnovers into a few weeks: that is when a claim hurts most, both in repairs and in lost bookings.
- Your home or landlord insurer has confirmed in writing that it covers short-term furnished letting.
- Furniture and equipment are insured at a realistic value, with invoices kept.
- You know the name of the building's insurer and the managing agent's contact details.
- A dated, photographed inventory exists, updated after every purchase or repair.
- Someone on the spot can inspect damage and complete a joint report within 24 to 48 hours.
- AirCover claims are filed within 14 days, with photos and quotes.
- Your registration number is shown on the listing: an irregular situation complicates any discussion with an insurer.
We are not brokers and do not sell insurance: to choose a policy, speak to your insurer or a broker, who can advise you on your situation. Our role, as a concierge holding the professional property management licence (carte G), is to keep the machinery running day to day: condition checks, responsiveness, well-documented AirCover claims. To see how this fits into full management of your property, discover our Airbnb concierge service in Nice.
