Airbnb Damage Policy Explained: A Host’s Essential Guide

Key Takeaways

• The Airbnb damage policy is host damage protection, the part of AirCover for hosts that pays you back for guest damage. It covers up to $3 million USD when a guest damages your place and does not pay for it.
• The old Host Guarantee no longer exists. Airbnb retired the name, and its help pages now redirect to AirCover.
• Coverage is a guarantee, not insurance. It applies only after the responsible guest fails to pay, and it never pays more than you could have recovered from that guest.
• Ask the guest and notify Airbnb within 14 days of checkout. You then have up to 30 days from checkout to file the payment request form with your evidence.
• Guests get 24 hours to respond to a request and 60 days to appeal after their payment method is charged.
• Most hosts can no longer charge a security deposit, so documentation replaced deposits as your real protection.
• Payouts are the lower of repair cost, replacement cost, and actual cash value, which builds in depreciation, and they are reduced by anything you have already recovered elsewhere.

What Is the Airbnb Damage Policy?

The Airbnb damage policy is the platform’s promise to reimburse hosts for certain guest-caused losses when the guest will not pay. Its formal name is Host Damage Protection; it sits inside AirCover for Hosts, and it covers up to $3 million USD for eligible damage plus some unexpected cleaning, subject to exclusions. It is not insurance, and it does not replace your own policy.

Because time limits are strict, this guide gives the exact windows, the coverage amounts, what falls inside and outside the program, and how the process differs depending on whether you are the host or the guest. If you host often, this belongs in your routine from the first booking rather than in a panic after the first broken thing.

Host Guarantee Is Now AirCover

If you learned to host before 2022, you knew this program by a different name. The Airbnb Host Guarantee was the earlier host protection scheme, and it no longer exists. Searching for it still returns advice written for it, which is where hosts pick up wrong numbers.

The handover happened in two steps, both announced by Airbnb:

• November 2021. AirCover launched as one bundled package: $1 million in damage protection, $1 million in liability insurance, pet damage, deep cleaning, income loss for bookings cancelled because of damage, and a 14-day filing window that Airbnb described as applying even to hosts booked back to back.
• 16 November 2022. Airbnb tripled damage protection from $1 million to $3 million, widened the range of fine art, jewelry, and collectibles it will repair or replace at appraised value, and added cars, boats, and other watercraft parked or stored at your property.

Airbnb has been thorough about the renaming. The help article that used to compare the Host Guarantee with Host Protection Insurance now loads “Getting protected through AirCover for Hosts”, and the old Host Guarantee article address now serves the Host damage protection page. Neither destination mentions the Host Guarantee at all.

Why it matters beyond trivia: guidance written before November 2022 carries the old $1 million ceiling, no dedicated art or vehicle cover, and a claim process that no longer matches the buttons in your dashboard. If a blog post or a forum reply mentions the Host Guarantee as something that exists today, treat every number in it as stale. For the full program, including the parts that are not about damage, see our guide to AirCover for Hosts. 

Host Damage Protection on Airbnb: Coverage Amounts and Limits

Host damage protection on Airbnb reimburses up to $3 million USD per stay for eligible physical damage, and AirCover pairs it with $1 million USD in host liability insurance for injuries and third-party property damage. Both are included automatically and free, with nothing to sign up for. Every limit is set in US dollars, and if you are paid in another currency, the conversion is calculated on the date your reimbursement is paid, so a Canadian host’s real ceiling moves with the exchange rate.

Those headline numbers are ceilings, not expectations. Three limits decide what you actually receive:

Limit	What it means in practice
$3M per stay for damage, $1M for liability	Two separate programs. Damage protection covers your property; liability covers someone getting hurt.
Capped by the guest’s own liability	Airbnb will not pay more than you were entitled to recover from the responsible guest.
Paid at the lowest of three figures	For most items, the lower of repair cost, replacement cost, and actual cash value, which deducts depreciation and obsolescence rather than paying your original receipt.

Host liability insurance is a separate part of AirCover with its own rules, and it is not what you use for a broken table. If you are weighing what neither program covers, our post on Airbnb insurance misconceptions is the better starting point.

What the Airbnb Damage Policy Covers and What It Excludes

Airbnb publishes both sides of this, and the exclusions are where hosts get surprised.

Covered	Not covered
Physical damage to your home, furnishings, and belongings caused by a guest or someone they invited	Normal wear and tear, and any loss of function from age, use, or lack of maintenance
Damage caused by a guest’s pet	Mould, mildew, and fungus, excluded outright
Damage to cars, boats, and watercraft parked or stored at your place	Loss of currency and unexplained inventory shortages with no identified cause
Fine art, jewelry, and collectibles, repaired or replaced at appraised value	Acts of nature, including earthquakes and weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes
Extra cleaning for stains, pet accidents, smoke odors, or unapproved extra guests	Cleaning that is part of a normal turnover, such as laundry, dishes, and rubbish
Booking income lost when you must cancel confirmed reservations because damage made the place uninhabitable	Injury to a guest or damage to their belongings, which belongs to host liability insurance
Theft and criminal damage, with a police report	Damage that happened before check-in or after the stay ended

Two subtleties are worth reading twice.

• Cleaning is reimbursed only above what you already charged. If your cleaning fee was $120 and removing a wine stain cost $180, the claimable amount is the difference, not the whole invoice. Cleaning fees are meant to cover expected work, and this program covers the unexpected part.

• A loss you could not have recovered from the guest is not eligible. The program is a guarantee that steps in after the guest defaults, so it inherits the limits of what the guest owed you in the first place.

What Hosts Must Do Before Airbnb Will Pay

Your obligation comes first, and it is not optional. Airbnb will not consider a reimbursement request until you have asked the responsible guest to pay, explained why they are responsible, and notified Airbnb of the complaint. Sending a request in the Resolution Center satisfies all three at once.

From there the sequence is fixed. The guest responds or does not. If they pay in full, the case closes. If they pay part of it, decline, or ignore you, the request can be escalated to Airbnb, and a support agent decides two separate questions: whether the guest is responsible and whether the amount you asked for is reasonable.

That second question is why inflated requests get trimmed rather than paid. Reviewers compare repair against replacement and apply actual cash value, so an itemized invoice from a real vendor moves the number far more than an emphatic message does.

How the Airbnb Damage Policy Works for Guests

Guests land on this policy from the other direction, usually after an unexpected request arrives, and their rules are different enough to be worth stating plainly.

• Tell your host straight away if you break something. It gives them time to fix it before the next arrival and often ends the matter without Airbnb involved.
• A host’s reimbursement request arrives in the Resolution Center, and you have 24 hours to pay, offer a different amount, or decline.
• Declining, paying part, or not replying lets the host bring in Airbnb or its insurer.
• You are responsible for your own actions and for anyone you invited, including pets.
• If Airbnb finds you responsible, you get the chance to pay voluntarily or to appeal. If you do neither, or the appeal fails, your payment method is charged, and Airbnb states you will never be charged without advance notice and a chance to appeal.
• You have 60 days to appeal after being charged. Different rules apply to stays in China, Japan, and India.

Notice the asymmetry, because almost nobody does: the guest side of this policy has a documented appeal route with a published 60-day window, while hosts have no published appeals process at all.

How to File a Reimbursement Request, Step by Step

1. Inspect right after checkout. Walk every room as soon as the guest leaves and look for missing items, stains, chips, dents, broken parts, and strong odors. Early discovery is what makes your timeline credible later.

2. Document with before-and-after proof. Take wide shots and close-ups, photos and short videos, with timestamps where you can. Keep the “before” images from your turnover checklist. Save model names, serial numbers, purchase dates, and prices. Evidence must be genuine: the terms require that nothing be doctored or falsified in any way, including with artificial intelligence, and Airbnb can demand third-party documentation or refuse the request outright.

3. Collect estimates and receipts. Get a written repair estimate or cleaning quote. If you already replaced the item, keep the invoice. Itemize each object with proof of value, and for smoke odor, expect to justify the cause as well as the cost.

4. Request money in the Resolution Center. Open the reservation, request a specific amount, and attach everything. Our walkthrough of the Airbnb Resolution Center covers the request types and where each one lives.

5. Escalate if the guest will not pay. File the Host Damage Protection payment request form with the full evidence set, including a police report for anything criminal. A denial at this stage is usually procedural rather than final, and our guide to claim denials and how to appeal them covers what to do next.

Filing Windows at a Glance

Four clocks matter, and they belong to different parties.

Step	Window	Measured from
Host asks the guest to pay and notifies Airbnb	14 days	The responsible guest’s checkout
Guest responds to the request	24 hours	When the request is sent
Host files the payment request form with evidence	30 days	The responsible guest’s checkout
Guest appeals after being charged	60 days	The date of the charge

Plan for 14 days. Airbnb’s terms allow 30 days for the payment request form, while its own help page tells hosts to involve support and submit documentation inside 14 days, so the shorter number is the safe one.

One correction worth making, because this page and most host guides carried the old version: the deadline runs from the guest’s checkout date, not from your next arrival. The familiar phrasing “14 days or before the next guest checks in, whichever comes first” is not in Airbnb’s current rules, and Airbnb is on record removing it. Announcing the 14-day window at AirCover’s launch, it said hosts now have 14 days to report damage even when they are booked back-to-back. Filing before your next arrival is still good practice, since evidence gets harder to attribute once someone else has used the space, but it is a habit rather than the rule.

How Payouts Are Calculated

Approved does not mean paid in full, and the arithmetic behind a reduced payout is published.

• For most items Airbnb pays the lowest of several figures: actual cash value, the cost to repair, and the cost to replace. Actual cash value is what it would cost to replace the item with like kind and quality on the date of the incident, minus depreciation and minus how out of date it is, so it is usually the lowest of the three.
• For fine art and valuables, Airbnb pays the lowest of restoration cost, replacement cost, or a certified appraisal.
• For vehicles and watercraft, the lower the repair cost or actual cash value.
• Anything you already recovered comes off the top: insurance proceeds, a deposit, or money the guest paid you directly.
• Booking income loss is measured from the incident until the place could be made habitable again and excludes mortgage payments and property taxes.

On timing, Airbnb says two different things. The document that binds it, the Host Damage Protection Terms, promises only that requests are processed within a reasonable period, then lists what changes it: the amount claimed, the property’s location, the nature of the damage, how complete your file is, how many other requests are queued, and whether insurance also covers part of the loss. The AirCover launch page still advertises reimbursement “typically within 2 weeks”. Treat two weeks as a best case rather than a commitment, and remember that complete files move faster, so upload everything at once.

Price Your Claim So a Reviewer Can Verify It

Be specific and fair. That builds trust and speeds review.

• List each item with brand, model, age, and purchase price
• Attach proof such as a receipt, bank record, or a current market link
• Use realistic values, because reviewers may compare repair against replacement
• Include labour for cleaning or technician time when an invoice supports it

The Airbnb Damage Policy Versus Insurance

The Airbnb damage policy provides valuable protection, but it should not be viewed as a substitute for proper insurance. Many homeowner or renter policies exclude coverage for short-term rental activity, which means damages or losses may not be reimbursed outside the platform’s program.

Specialized short-term rental insurance fills this gap. It can protect the structure of the property, furnishings, personal belongings, and liability if a guest is injured. Some policies also include coverage for lost income if the property becomes uninhabitable after damage.

Three structural differences decide how much the gap matters to you. Coverage applies only to stays booked through Airbnb, so guests from other channels arrive unprotected. Weather events, mold, and stolen currency sit outside the program entirely. And damage protection is Airbnb’s own guarantee rather than a policy, so the company deciding your claim is the company hosting your listing, where an insurer would assign a neutral adjuster. Liability is the exception there, being underwritten by third-party insurers.

Relying on the platform alone may leave you exposed to risks that go beyond eligible claims. The safest approach is to treat it as an additional layer while maintaining your own policy and to confirm that policy actually covers short-term rental activity. Our overview of vacation rental insurance sets out what a dedicated policy adds.

Where Claims Usually Fall Apart

Most rejections are procedural: a missed window, no request to the guest first, evidence that proves damage but not responsibility, or a claim that lands on an exclusion. Because that subject needs more room than a checklist, it lives in its own guide to reasons for Airbnb claim rejection, which also covers how to get a decision reviewed.

Prevention Tips That Reduce Claims

You will file fewer claims if you prevent problems early.

• House rules and labels. Post clear rules in your listing and inside the home. Our Airbnb house rules template is a working starting point.
• Forget the deposit, keep the paperwork. Most hosts are no longer allowed to charge a security deposit, either through the Resolution Center or off-platform. Airbnb makes exceptions for hotels and for some hosts, including select software-connected ones, and where a deposit is permitted, it has to be disclosed to guests in the proper fee field. Our post on the Airbnb damage deposit explains who qualifies.
• Guest screening. Identity verification and reservation screening are bundled into AirCover, and Airbnb red flags cover the signals worth watching before you accept. Our guest screening guide goes deeper.
• Room-by-room checklists. Photograph key items during every turnover so you always have current “before” images. This single habit does more for a future claim than anything else on this list.
• Clear tech and care guides. A one-page sheet for Wi-Fi, thermostats, rubbish, and appliance care prevents a surprising share of accidental damage.

A Worked Example You Can Follow

Incident: a coffee spill stains a wool rug, and a bedside lamp is cracked.

Evidence: before-and-after photos of both, a cleaning quote for the rug, and a receipt or current market link for the same lamp model.

Action: you inspect the day the guest leaves, request a specific amount in the Resolution Center with the evidence attached, and the guest declines. You escalate with the same file, comfortably inside the 14 days.

Likely outcome: if the files are clear and the costs are fair, reimbursement follows, with the rug’s cleaning cost reduced by the cleaning fee you already charged and the lamp valued at actual cash value rather than its original price.

Quick Checklist for Busy Hosts

1. Inspect right after checkout.
2. Photograph and video everything, unedited.
3. Get a written estimate or receipt.
4. Request money from the guest in the Resolution Center.
5. Notify Airbnb inside 14 days, and file the payment request form inside 30.
6. Keep all communication inside Airbnb.
7. Store files in a dated folder so the next claim starts with most of the work done.

Airbnb Damage Policy: FAQ for Busy Hosts

1. Does it cover every type of loss?

No. Wear and tear, weather events, mold, stolen currency, and anything happening outside a confirmed stay are all excluded. Read the exclusion table above before you rely on it.

2. How much can Airbnb reimburse?

Up to $3 million USD per stay for eligible damage, plus $1 million in separate liability insurance. Both are ceilings in US dollars, and actual payouts run on the lowest of repair cost, replacement cost, and actual cash value.

3. Is this the same as liability insurance?

No. Host damage protection addresses your property. Host liability insurance addresses injuries and certain third-party claims. Different programs, different rules.

4. What are the filing deadlines?

Ask the guest and notify Airbnb within 14 days of checkout, and file the payment request form within 30 days of checkout. Plan to the 14.

5. Do I still need insurance?

Yes. This is a guarantee that pays after a guest defaults, it only applies to Airbnb bookings, and it excludes whole categories of risk. It is a layer, not a policy.

6. What happened to the Airbnb Host Guarantee?

It was replaced by AirCover in November 2021 and no longer exists. Airbnb’s own help pages for the old program now redirect to AirCover, and any advice still citing it predates the $3 million limit.

Final Takeaways for Hosts

Treat this as a safety net rather than your only shield. Document every stay, keep messages on the platform, ask the guest before you ask Airbnb, and file early with the invoices attached rather than promised. Use fair prices and expect depreciation. Build prevention into your hosting with clear rules, screening, and turnover photos, and the policy becomes a backstop you rarely need.

If keeping up with inspections, photo inventories, and claim paperwork across a portfolio is eating the time you meant to spend growing it, that is exactly the coordination professional Airbnb management takes off your plate.