Is your B&B insured when YOU are not in it?

Is your B&B insured when YOU are not in it?
This was asked on the linkedin B&B Bloggers group, and I thought it would be good to discuss here.
Heather from Scotland wrote:
"Following on from a thread about guests not going out during the day it struck me that noone mentioned how tying it can be having guest who do not go out. Our B&B is not insured when one of us I not in it....ie if a guest burns the house down or kicks in our bolted doors while we were out our insurance would not cover us, hence I cannot get any shopping or errands done until everybody is out for the day.
The way the insurance man explained it to me was that a guest has no vested interest in the property and there for no motivation to call the fire brigade and mitigate the damage. Once they have got themselves out they would not employ the same urgency as we would....that is if they have the means or sense to know 'how' to call the fire brigade in teh UK in the first place! Personally I would prefer not to have my house burnt down, insured or not, as it would be personally devastating and it has to be said it would be more likely that a guest caused it than a fault on our part. Prayer candles, hair straightners, exploding chargers, secret smoking have all set off our fire alarms at some point or another.
When I have mentioned this to other B&Bers they have checked their policy and found it is the same as ours where the B&B is 'in' their home and not separate.
How do you all cope/get round this?"
JB I know for our insurance we are requrred to LIVE ONSITE. If I cannot leave when we have guests registered I will shoot myself right now. I am a marshmallow...I am a marshmallow

Never heard of such a thing! Definitely my own insurance, which is quite reasonably priced, doesn't have any such restrictions. It better not, since I don't even live there!
But I'll ask my insurance agent just to be sure. Thanks for bringing it up.

???? I don't remember what ours covered but I am sure it covered everything all the time. This sounds very strange to me...maybe a European thing??

EmptyNest said:

???? I don't remember what ours covered but I am sure it covered everything all the time. This sounds very strange to me...maybe a European thing??.

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EmptyNest said:

???? I don't remember what ours covered but I am sure it covered everything all the time. This sounds very strange to me...maybe a European thing??

Click to expand...

Yes could be.
I know when we bought the inn we had the insurance agent here and that was a qualification. But he never said "Don't ever leave them alone!"
If anyone makes the call or email and finds out from their own liability insurance, please report back. Thank you!

God help us if this is the case. I think I'd just rather not know, because if true...I'd be shooting myself also

mine says I have to have a partner in the business on site at night whenever we have guests in - but otherwise nope

EmptyNest said:

???? I don't remember what ours covered but I am sure it covered everything all the time. This sounds very strange to me...maybe a European thing??.

Click to expand...

EmptyNest said:

???? I don't remember what ours covered but I am sure it covered everything all the time. This sounds very strange to me...maybe a European thing??

Click to expand...

This may also be why a lot of European B&B's require you to vacate the premises during the day. It certainly explains it.

My former insurer required someone here at night when guets were present. I have no clue about the current insurer. It was never mentioned.

If you don't know what your policy covers....READ IT!! It's not written in Chinese. Don't be intimidated by it. Of course, I'm a little biased, since I used to be an insurance adjuster in a former life. But, really, it's not that difficult. Read the basic coverage pages - usually you're looking at a CG0001 (mo/yr). Then, there's a list of endorsements. Usually, these are things that give coverage in certain circumstances vs.limiting it. Think about things like sewage back-up and stuff like that.
If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to help to the extent I can.

gillumhouse said:

My former insurer required someone here at night when guets were present. I have no clue about the current insurer. It was never mentioned..

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We have around insurance we are covered if we are not home and guest are in . The cost is $285.00 per year. It is a rider on our household insurance.

Yes, we are covered. Thanks for making us check!

I did ask and we do have. Just once I had a repeat stay when I wasn't there.