When thinking of a short-term home rental, most people envision a vacation home near a tourist attraction. But actually, the newest ‘sharing economy’ trend is multifamily housing owners listing their units on short-term rental sites. Why aren’t all owners using this opportunity to generate revenue from vacant units? Liability concerns.
Most multifamily owners require renter’s insurance as part of their leasing process, but that only applies to full-time residents. And unlike full-time residents, short-term guests are not as likely to be invested in the community they are staying in and may not take care of the unit as if it were their own. This can increase the risk of liability or property damage occurring. That’s where Assurant, and ApartmentJet come in to play. Their partnership provides multifamily housing owners an insurance solution that covers both nightly and extended stay guests.
ApartmentJet is the only short-term rental platform built specifically for multifamily owners and operators. It allows property managers to manage content and listings across multiple channels, communicate with guests, run background checks, and view portfolio performance from a single application. It also allows owners to insure every single reservation, making certain their risk is properly mitigated.
“Before we wrote a single line of code, we wanted to make sure we designed a short-term rental solution and not just another tool” said Andy Hamilton, ApartmentJet Co-Founder. “We sat down with multiple leaders within the industry, and they all shared the same liability concerns.”
In fact, a National Multifamily Housing Council survey found 74 percent of multifamily leaders’ concerns involved liability risks1.To address this concern, Assurant and ApartmentJet have created a custom short-term insurance policy for the multifamily industry.
“We knew we needed an experienced and trusted multifamily insurance provider to protect all of our clients.” Hamilton continued, “Partnering with Assurant to deliver creative solutions allows our clients the peace of mind to know they’re covered when they book a guest using ApartmentJet’s platform.”
“The industry continues to transform and the trend of disruptor marketplaces like AirBnB and HomeAway are a part of that evolution,” said Kunal Malhotra, Vice President of Product Development and Innovation at Assurant. “Assurant’s mission has always been to understand the obstacles facing the businesses and consumers we serve, and to find ways to enable them to innovate. Partnering with ApartmentJet enables us to help the multifamily industry feel confident when short-term guests stay at their properties.”
About ApartmentJet
Founded in 2016 and based in Chicago, ApartmentJet is a web-based platform to help multifamily property owners and management companies take advantage of the growing market for short-term rentals. With ApartmentJet, property managers can list apartments on short-term rental marketplaces like Airbnb and HomeAway, communicate with guests, run background checks, monitor portfolio performance, and generate revenue from vacant units, guest suites, and corporate housing.
About Assurant
Assurant, Inc. is a global provider of risk management solutions, protecting where consumers live and the goods they buy. A Fortune 500 company, Assurant focuses on the housing and lifestyle markets, and is among the market leaders in mobile device protection and related services; extended service contracts; vehicle protection; pre-funded funeral insurance; renters insurance; lender-placed homeowners insurance; and mortgage valuation and field services. With approximately $32 billion in assets as of December 31, 2017 and $6 billion in 2017 revenue, Assurant operates in 16 countries, while its Assurant Foundation works to support and improve communities.
- “Survey Shows One Third of Leading Multifamily Firms Open to Home Sharing” https://www.nmhc.org/home-sharing-survey/)
