Why HO-3s balk at hosting
Two ancient exclusions do the work. Business activity: renting for money is business, and an HO-3's liability coverage largely stands down for business arising on the premises — the guest who slips on your stairs mid-booking is a business claim. Property used by roomers/boarders: contents and some property coverages narrow when paying occupants are involved, and theft-by-guest is a classic gap. None of this requires a platform; it's the money that matters. What the platforms added is scale — and a paper trail that makes "I occasionally host" visible to everyone, including claims adjusters.
Which host are you? Three lanes
| Pattern | The insurance answer |
|---|---|
| Occasional — a few stays a year in your primary home | Some carriers tolerate with disclosure; a home-sharing endorsement (where offered) restores liability and guest-related gaps for hosting periods |
| Regular — a dedicated room/ADU, steady bookings | Endorsements strain; carriers differ sharply. Expect underwriting questions and a possible market change — this is the lane where honest conversations with a broker pay most |
| Dedicated STR — a property that exists to host | Not a homeowners risk at all: a DP-3-based or STR-specific policy with commercial-style liability, fair rental value, and guest-damage handling |
The dividing question isn't the platform or the ZIP code — it's occupancy and intent, the same axis our wizard asks about directly (owner/tenant, primary/seasonal, rental). Answer with the real pattern and the routing takes care of itself. Where HO-3 ends and DP-3 begins →
About platform "host protection"
Platform programs provide real but bounded protection — their terms, their triggers, their exclusions, and no coverage for your own home's non-hosting life. Treat them as a supplement riding above your own properly-structured policy, never as the policy. That's not a criticism of the platforms; it's what their own terms say.
Hosting, or about to?
Describe the real usage — the wizard routes owner-occupied, seasonal, and rental correctly.
Four minutes to an indication, then a broker who places hosts in all three lanes. No fee, no obligation.
Get a pricing indication →The disclosure math
Hosting quietly on an undisclosed HO-3 saves a modest endorsement premium and bets the house on nothing going wrong during a booking — a guest injury claim that surfaces the listing history is exactly how "misrepresentation" ends up in a denial letter. Disclosed, the outcomes are all workable: an endorsement, a market change, or a proper STR policy whose cost the bookings themselves usually carry. While you're structuring it, extend the thinking one layer up: an umbrella for the household (confirm it addresses hosting — many exclude business exposure too), and if the STR is a real business over time, entity and tax questions belong with your CPA and attorney — we'll stay in the insurance lane.
Frequently asked
I host one week a year during the tournament. Really an issue?
It's the classic occasional case — and still worth the disclosure call, because one week is all a slip-and-fall needs. Many carriers handle exactly this gracefully with an endorsement or a shrug; what none handle gracefully is surprise.
Does hosting an ADU change my main-house policy?
Yes — a rented ADU mixes rental exposure into an owner-occupied parcel. Solutions exist (endorsements, split structures on the policy), and the Coverage B implications are part of the same conversation.
What about mid-term rentals — a travel nurse for three months?
Sustained single-tenant stays look more like tenancy than hosting; carriers often treat them under landlord logic. Describe the arrangement and let the form follow the facts. The landlord guide →