When Mark and Star King rented out their Calgary home using the website Airbnb, they decided to be hospitable and leave a welcome note reading: “Welcome to our home! We hope you enjoy your stay and that you easily find everything you need to be comfortable and feel at home,” reports the Toronto Sun.
The King family could not have anticipated that the renters would use fraudulent credit cards to engage in a “drug-induced orgy” that caused an estimated $150,000 in damages.
Among the destruction were piles of garbage, numerous cigarette butts, soiled furniture, pools of alcohol and used condoms. Workers donning hazmat suits and respirator masks had to discard much of the waste, and all “soft” items such as toys and bedding were sent to be chemically treated and then tossed into a dumpster, reports the National Post.
The Kings told news outlets that they would have preferred to see their house burned down to the state of squalor in which it remained.
While Airbnb has publicly announced that it will cover all costs related to these damages, analysts point out that other users may not be so lucky. In fact, this incident should serve as a cautionary tale to homeowners who do not proper insurance coverage before leasing out accommodation to renters.
“If you have a home policy, you are covered for the fact that you are living there, and from time to time friends and family may come and stay with you,” Steve Kee, director of media and digital communications for the Insurance Bureau of Canada told The Globe and Mail.
Kee adds that coverage can be voided as soon as owners leave the house and provide keys to a third party. Insurers are now pushing to educate consumers about these risks, as many Toronto residents are expected to rent out their domiciles during the Pan Am Games.
While the insurance gaps have yet to receive wide-scale attention, some government entities are calling for regulation.
Quebec’s Tourism Minister Dominique Vien has expressed interest in making homeowners pay taxes and subjecting Airbnb users to the same rules as hoteliers, according to the The Globe and Mail.
Unlike Uber, the website welcomes this regulation and requested to be part of its design. It responded to Vien in a statement, “These rules should be straightforward and clear for regular people to follow, and recognize that the vast majority of Airbnb hosts only rent the homes they live in to visitors on an occasional basis.”
