Insurance built for vacation rental property managers
Not host insurance. Not a stack of generic commercial policies. One program that covers your managed homes, your guests, and your company — designed by people who ran PM insurance for a decade.
By Andrew Bate, Co-founderReviewed by Stuart BateUpdated
In short
A vacation rental property management company needs four layers of insurance: guest damage protection for everyday incidents, liability coverage on every managed home, company insurance (general liability, E&O, workers' compensation), and a way to issue certificates of insurance on demand. Velaris packages all four into one program connected to your PMS, priced at $9 per reservation plus the damage you retain.
Why property managers fall through the cracks
Insurance products in this market are built for individual hosts or for generic small businesses. Managing other people's homes for paying guests is neither.
- Your homeowners policy — and your owners' policies — exclude commercial short-term rental activity
- Platform protection (AirCover, Vrbo's programs) only applies to bookings made on that platform
- Owner management agreements increasingly require specific insurance provisions and proof of coverage
- Deposits cap recovery, create chargebacks, and make owner relationships harder after damage
- Generalist brokers review your risk once a year; your portfolio changes every day
Four layers, one program
A guest-paid damage waiver program: guests pay $69–$199 per reservation, you keep the revenue, retain predictable damage up to your chosen retention, and insurance responds above it.
Learn more →Liability coverage across every home you manage, with homeowners auto-enrolled at onboarding and the option to opt out with proof of equivalent coverage. Limits from $100K to $1M per occurrence.
Learn more →Coverage for the management company itself: general liability, E&O (including claims tied to guest screening decisions), workers' compensation, cyber, D&O, and umbrella.
Learn more →COIs generated on demand for homeowners, HOAs, and municipalities — including named additional insureds and the limits your jurisdiction requires.
Learn more →Built around your portfolio size
The right structure depends on how many homes you manage. The economics change meaningfully at ten properties — that's when retained-risk programs start beating per-night insurance.
A damage waiver program plus per-home liability gets you professional-grade protection without enterprise complexity. Start online and be live in days.
Start your quote →At ten-plus homes you're carrying real aggregate risk: owner contracts with insurance clauses, COI requests, staff on payroll, and damage volume that deserves program economics instead of per-night insurance pricing. This is the portfolio Velaris was designed for.
Book a program review →Custom retentions, portfolio-level analytics, multi-state COI handling, and coverage that follows your inventory through your PMS as it changes daily.
Talk to the founders →What insurance does a vacation rental property management company need?
Eight lines across two layers: coverage that follows the homes you manage, and coverage for the company that manages them. Generalist brokers tend to sell the second and assume the first is the owner's problem.
| Coverage | What it protects | Typical limits | Layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guest damage program (waiver + insurance) | Managed homes' contents and structure against guest damage | Program limits you choose; guest fee $69–$199 per reservation | Portfolio |
| Per-property liability | Guest bodily injury and third-party property damage at each home | $100K–$1M per occurrence | Portfolio |
| Guest injury (medical payments) | Small no-fault medical bills for injured guests | $1,000–$10,000 per person is typical | Portfolio |
| Business interruption | Lost rental income while a home is repaired | Based on booking history | Portfolio |
| Company general liability | Your operations, staff, and premises | $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate is the common benchmark | Company |
| Errors and omissions (E&O) | Claims that your professional decisions caused an owner's loss | $1M per claim is a common starting point | Company |
| Workers' compensation | Injured housekeeping and maintenance staff | Statutory, by state | Company |
| Cyber, D&O, umbrella | Data breaches, management decisions, catastrophic liability | Sized to the portfolio | Company |
Proof of coverage is the operational layer on top: owners, HOAs, lenders, and city permit offices all ask for certificates of insurance, and cities such as Chicago, Nashville, and New Orleans tie short-term rental permits to $1M liability limits. Definitions for every line are in the insurance glossary.
The insurance clauses in your management agreement
Most management agreements written in the last few years include the same four provisions. Each one is a promise that has to be backed by an actual policy.
- Owners must carry property insurance that permits short-term rental use — and most homeowners policies don't
- The manager must carry general liability at a stated limit and produce a certificate of insurance on request
- Owners are named as additional insureds on the manager's liability policy, or vice versa
- Indemnity clauses run in both directions — which creates contractual liability that only some policies cover
Questions to ask before you buy
Property manager insurance questions
What insurance does a vacation rental property management company need?
A professional PM company typically needs four layers: (1) guest damage protection for everyday incidents, (2) liability coverage for every managed property, (3) company coverage — general liability for your operations, E&O for your professional decisions, and workers' comp if you have staff, and (4) proof-of-coverage machinery: COIs for owners, HOAs, and municipalities. Velaris packages all four into one program connected to your PMS.
Why is 10+ properties the point where a program makes sense?
Below ten homes, damage is sporadic and a simple waiver may be enough. Above ten, damage becomes statistically predictable — which means you're overpaying if you insure every dollar of it. A program lets you retain the predictable layer (funded by guest fees you keep) and buy insurance only for the volatility above it. That's how larger operators have always bought coverage; Velaris brings it to portfolios of ten and up.
Do my homeowners need their own insurance too?
Owners keep their own property coverage for the structure. What they usually lack is liability protection for commercial guest activity — which is why Velaris auto-enrolls each home in liability coverage at onboarding, with an opt-out for owners who can show equivalent coverage. You stop chasing declarations pages, and every home in your portfolio meets your management agreement's requirements.
How does Velaris connect to my PMS?
Read-only. Velaris integrates with 80+ property management systems — including Hostaway, Guesty, Lodgify, iGMS, Escapia, Streamline, Track, OwnerRez, Hostfully, and Hospitable — so every confirmed reservation enrolls automatically and claims are pre-filled with booking data. Nothing about how your team works changes.
What does it cost?
Program administration is a flat $9 per reservation, plus the actual damage you retain below your selected retention. Guest damage fees you charge ($69–$199 per reservation is typical) are your revenue, not ours. Company insurance lines are quoted per portfolio. See the pricing page for the full economics.
Can you handle owners and properties in multiple states?
Yes. Multi-state portfolios are normal for Velaris programs — coverage requirements, COI formats, and regulatory differences are tracked per jurisdiction, and our regulations guide summarizes what the most active STR states require.
Works with your PMS
Managing 10 or more homes?
That's exactly who this program is for. Bring your reservation count and current damage costs — we'll show you the economics on a call.
Book a Program Review