Welcoming paying guests: check the host risk before handing over keys
Short-term letting creates several different damage scenarios. A platform promise does not settle the scope of your household and liability policies.
A new use can change an old insurance question
An apartment insured for private living may be used differently once paying guests arrive repeatedly. Before the first booking, describe the activity to the household and liability insurers in concrete terms: whole home or room, frequency, expected income and whether you remain present. Swiss provider guidance checked on 16 October 2026 advises reviewing commercial use when regularly letting a holiday property through a platform. Do not assume a platform’s host protection replaces your own policies. Equally, do not assume every occasional booking automatically requires a particular business product. Ask for a written answer about your actual arrangement and keep it with the policy.
Split the possible losses into separate files
A guest damaging your sofa, a guest falling because of a defective stair, and a leaking appliance damaging the neighbour’s ceiling are three different scenarios. The first concerns your property; the others can raise liability questions. Damage to a landlord’s premises adds another relationship if you are a tenant. A private liability policy is not normally a promise to repair all your own belongings. Ask who is insured, which property is included and whether the declared letting activity changes the answer. Use the scenarios as questions, not as conclusions about who must pay before the circumstances and contracts have been examined.
An invented weekend claim
Suppose a guest reports a broken glass table valued by the host at CHF 1,400 and the next booking must be cancelled. A platform may ask for evidence under its own process, while the household insurer examines the event under the policy. The table’s replacement estimate and the lost booking are not automatically a single insured amount. Preserve photographs, the booking record, purchase evidence and communications, without inventing a theft or exaggerating the damage. This is a hypothetical claim file, not an eligibility promise. Ask each relevant organisation about notification and evidence requirements promptly, rather than assuming the other has already opened a claim.
Compare cover with the obligations of hosting
Ask about accidental guest damage, theft without forced entry, valuables, keys, malicious acts and loss of rental income. Read any excess, sublimit, geographical wording and commercial-use exclusion relevant to the answers. A platform may offer different mechanisms for property damage and host liability; their names should not be treated as identical guarantees. Insurance confirmation also does not replace permission to let, lease restrictions, co-ownership rules or local administrative requirements. Check those separately with the appropriate parties. A policy upgrade can address an insurable gap, but it cannot turn a prohibited letting arrangement into an authorised one or eliminate every operating cost.
Set up a proportionate handover routine
Keep a dated inventory, identify fragile items you prefer to remove, explain safe appliance use and give guests practical emergency contacts. Do not collect unnecessary identity copies or publish guest details when reporting a problem. Record the activity description sent to insurers and review it when the frequency or property changes. Compare the extra premium with the exposure you would otherwise retain, including whether you could fund a damaged item or cancelled booking yourself. The useful outcome is a clear allocation of risks before keys change hands, not a belief that several overlapping logos mean someone will inevitably reimburse every loss.
Sources and further reading
Original Clearwise analysis. External reporting provides context; rules and contract terms must be verified with the competent authority or provider. Some press articles may require a subscription.
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Request a free consultationGeneral guidance, not a binding quote or personalised legal, tax or investment advice. Examples are hypothetical and results are not guaranteed.
