If you were injured at an Airbnb or Vrbo near Beverly Hills, you can usually bring a premises liability claim, and the host is typically the responsible party, not the platform. As a paying guest, you are an invitee owed the highest duty of care under California law. Signing a waiver rarely bars a valid claim, and California generally gives you two years to file under CCP § 335.1.
Call The Injury Partners at (310) 220-0066 for a free 24/7 consultation. You pay nothing unless we win.
Can You Sue for an Airbnb or Vrbo Injury in California?
Yes. A guest injured by an unsafe condition at a short-term rental can bring a premises liability claim in California, and the host is usually the primary responsible party. Airbnb and Vrbo are generally shielded as platforms and rarely pay directly.
Recovery typically comes through the host’s coverage: Airbnb’s AirCover / Host Liability Insurance, Vrbo’s liability program, or the host’s own homeowner or landlord policy. California Civil Code § 1714 and the framework established in Rowland v. Christian (1968) require every property possessor to exercise ordinary care to prevent injury to people on the property. A short-term rental host who fails to fix a known hazard or warn guests about it can be held liable under the same premises liability principles that apply to any property owner in California.
Can You Sue Airbnb for an Injury?
Generally no. Airbnb operates as a platform that connects guests with hosts, not as a property owner or manager. The Communications Decency Act § 230 provides platforms with broad immunity from liability for third-party content and activity, and courts have applied this protection to online rental marketplaces.
There are narrow exceptions. If Airbnb was directly informed of a specific, repeated safety hazard at a listing and failed to remove it or warn guests, the platform may face direct exposure.
Do I Sue the Host or the Platform?
The host is almost always the practical target because they control the property, owe you a duty of care, and carry the insurance your claim will recover from. The platform facilitates the booking but does not own, maintain, or inspect the rental.
Your attorney’s job is to identify every party whose negligence contributed to your injury and every insurance policy available to pay your claim.
Why Trust The Injury Partners for Your Beverly Hills Airbnb & Vrbo Injury Claim
Every client works directly with a founding attorney from the first call through case resolution. The Injury Partners does not use call centers, intake teams, or case managers.
Omeed Hakimianpour is a Super Lawyers® Rising Star for 2025 and 2026, a distinction awarded to only the top 2.5% of attorneys in California. He earned his degrees from UCLA and USC Gould School of Law and trained at Kirkland & Ellis, where he handled complex, high-value matters before turning to personal injury litigation. That background is applied directly against Airbnb and Vrbo insurers and their adjusters.
Daniel Sabet completed the Southwestern SCALE accelerated J.D. in two years and focuses his practice on personal injury and premises liability claims.
The firm maintains a 5.00 Google rating and has recovered over $1 million for clients on a contingency-fee basis. Short-term rental cases are premises liability cases with an extra insurance layer, and The Injury Partners already handles premises liability and slip and fall claims throughout Beverly Hills and Los Angeles County.
Listings and reviews can be edited or deleted after an incident, and fast evidence preservation is one of the first things we address.
What Customers Say About Our Firm
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Who Is Liable for a Short-Term Rental Injury?
Multiple parties can bear liability for an injury at a short-term rental, and identifying each one expands the insurance available to pay your claim.
When the host is not the property owner, the owner or landlord may be liable for structural defects, deferred maintenance, and habitability violations. Property management companies that handle cleaning, repairs, and guest turnover can also be responsible when their negligence created the hazard.
Potentially Liable Party
When This Party May Be Liable
The host
Primary duty to maintain a safe property and disclose hazards
The property owner or landlord (if different from the host)
Negligent cleaning, repairs, or turnover that created the hazard
Maintenance, cleaning, or pool contractors
Vendor negligence (faulty repair, missed pool maintenance)
Another guest or third party
Assault, reckless conduct, or negligence causing injury
Airbnb or Vrbo (the platform)
Narrow cases: ignoring repeated safety complaints about a specific listing
How Airbnb AirCover and Vrbo Host Insurance Work and Why $1M Is Not Automatic
Airbnb’s AirCover for Hosts includes Host Liability Insurance up to $1 million per occurrence for guest bodily injury when the host is legally responsible. The program is underwritten by Zurich Insurance and applies automatically to Airbnb-booked stays at no cost to the host.
Vrbo provides a separate $1 million Liability Insurance program administered through Generali that also applies automatically to eligible Vrbo-booked stays.
Neither program works the way most guests expect. The $1 million can be exhausted by a single catastrophic injury such as spinal cord damage, severe burns, carbon monoxide poisoning, or a wrongful death claim.
Adjusters working for these programs are aggressive and routinely argue that the hazard was obvious, the guest was at fault, or that a policy exclusion applies. Common exclusions include intentional acts and assault, auto accidents, communicable disease, and off-premises injuries. As of March 2025, hosts with six or more active Airbnb listings may see AirCover apply only as excess coverage rather than primary.
When AirCover or Vrbo’s program falls short, the host’s own homeowner or landlord policy becomes the next source of recovery.
Is Vrbo’s Liability Insurance Different from Airbnb’s?
Yes. Vrbo’s program provides $1 million in liability coverage but does not include a property damage protection component. Airbnb’s AirCover bundles Host Liability Insurance with up to $3 million in Host Damage Protection for guest-caused property damage, giving hosts a broader package.
Vrbo also imposes a 25% deductible on liability claims if the host does not carry their own separate insurance policy, which can reduce the amount available for your claim. Both programs cover only stays booked through their respective platforms. A direct booking or a reservation through another channel carries no platform coverage at all, which means there may be no AirCover or Vrbo policy to claim against.
California Premises Liability Law: A Guest Is an “Invitee”
As a paying guest at a short-term rental, you are classified as an invitee under California premises liability law. You are owed the highest duty of care the law recognizes.
Under the Rowland v. Christian framework, the host, owner, or property manager must reasonably inspect the property, fix dangerous conditions they knew or should have known about, and warn guests of non-obvious hazards. A broken stair railing the host noticed weeks ago, a pool with no fence or gate, a carbon monoxide detector with dead batteries: each of these represents a known or discoverable hazard the responsible party had a duty to address before you arrived.
If you tripped on an unsecured rug in a dark hallway, the host’s insurer may argue you should have turned on a light, but under California’s comparative negligence rule, that argument reduces your recovery rather than defeating your claim.
What Must I Prove in an Airbnb Premises Liability Claim?
You must show four things: the host, owner, or manager owed you a duty of care (established by your invitee status), a dangerous condition existed on the property, the responsible party knew or should have known about it, and their failure to fix or warn caused your injury.
Evidence that strengthens the case includes prior guest reviews mentioning the hazard, maintenance requests the host ignored, building code or safety code violations, and a history of similar incidents at the property. The Injury Partners reviews the listing’s review history, messages between guest and host, and local inspection records to build this proof.
Can I Still Recover if I Was Partly at Fault?
Yes. California’s pure comparative negligence rule reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault but does not bar it. If the host’s insurer argues you were 20% responsible for your injury, you still recover 80% of your damages.
Insurers routinely raise comparative fault to reduce payouts, especially in short-term rental cases where they claim the guest should have noticed the hazard or avoided the area. An experienced attorney pushes back against inflated fault allegations and keeps the focus on the host’s failure to maintain a safe property.
Common Airbnb & Vrbo Injuries and Hazards
Short-term rentals present hazards that hotels are regulated to prevent but that individual hosts often overlook. The type of hazard determines both the injuries at stake and the parties responsible.
California Health and Safety Code § 17926 requires carbon monoxide detectors in every dwelling with a fossil fuel appliance or attached garage, and § 13113.7 requires smoke detectors. A violation of either statute can constitute negligence per se, and the violation itself serves as proof of the host’s fault.
Pools at short-term rentals are subject to the Swimming Pool Safety Act (Health and Safety Code § 115920 et seq.), which requires fencing and drowning-prevention features. Victims with serious injuries are treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center or UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center.
Do Airbnb Waivers and “Use at Your Own Risk” Disclaimers Bar My Claim?
Usually not. A disclaimer in a listing description or house manual stating the host is “not responsible for injuries” or that guests “use the pool at your own risk” does not shield the host from liability for their own negligence under California law.
Civil Code § 1668 prohibits contracts that exempt a party from responsibility for fraud, willful injury, or violation of law. The California Court of Appeal reinforced this principle in City of Santa Barbara v. Superior Court (2007), holding that a waiver can never excuse gross negligence or intentional misconduct.
Clicking Airbnb’s terms of service when you book does not waive a valid injury claim against a negligent host. The terms govern your relationship with the platform, not your legal rights against the person who failed to maintain a safe property. Hosts who rely on posted disclaimers to avoid accountability are attempting to shift blame that California law assigns squarely to them.
Compensation You Can Recover After a Rental Injury
Guests injured at short-term rentals can pursue both economic and non-economic damages under California personal injury law.
Economic damages include past and future medical expenses, lost wages and earning capacity, rehabilitation, and out-of-pocket costs such as travel changes, lodging, and medical equipment.
Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and disfigurement. California does not cap non-economic damages in personal injury cases outside the medical malpractice context.
For fatal injuries from carbon monoxide poisoning, drowning, or balcony collapse, families can pursue a wrongful death claim for funeral costs, lost financial support, and loss of companionship.
Catastrophic injuries can exceed the $1 million AirCover or Vrbo limit. Being injured far from home, in a property you trusted was safe, adds fear to an already painful situation. We handle the insurance process so you can focus on healing.
What Is My Airbnb Injury Case Worth?
The value of your case depends on the severity of your injuries, the number of liable parties, the available insurance coverage, comparative fault, and whether the injuries are permanent. Cases involving catastrophic injuries or wrongful death with multiple available policies tend to produce the largest settlements and verdicts. The Injury Partners evaluates every case individually during a free consultation.
What to Do After an Airbnb or Vrbo Injury
Take these steps to protect your health and your claim:
Seek medical care immediately. Adrenaline masks injuries, and carbon monoxide symptoms can be delayed for hours.
Report the injury to the host and through the Airbnb or Vrbo app to create an official record.
Screenshot the listing, photos, reviews, and all messages between you and the host before they can be edited or deleted.
Photograph the hazard, the scene, and your injuries. Get contact information from any witnesses.
Do not give a recorded statement to Airbnb’s or Vrbo’s insurer before speaking with an attorney. Adjusters will use your words to argue the hazard was obvious or that you were at fault.
Contact a premises liability attorney to preserve evidence, request the platform’s incident record, and identify every available policy before the host or property owner has a chance to repair the hazard and alter the scene.
Short-Term Rental Rules Near Beverly Hills and Injuries at Unpermitted Rentals
Beverly Hills enacted Ordinance No. 25-O-2918 on September 5, 2025, imposing a complete citywide ban on short-term rentals in all residential properties. Any rental shorter than 12 months is prohibited, and violations carry fines up to $5,000 per day. As of September 2026, the ordinance is being challenged in court, but the ban remains in effect.
Nearby cities take different approaches. Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood regulate short-term rentals through home-sharing ordinances and permitting systems rather than outright bans.
Being injured at an illegal or unpermitted short-term rental does not reduce your rights as a guest. The host is still fully liable under California premises liability law, and operating an unpermitted rental can itself serve as evidence of negligence because it demonstrates a disregard for regulatory compliance. The Injury Partners serves guests and travelers injured at rentals across Los Angeles County and California vacation destinations including Malibu, Palm Springs, Big Bear, and Lake Tahoe.
Speak With a Beverly Hills Airbnb & Vrbo Injury Lawyer at The Injury Partners
Listings, reviews, and physical hazards can disappear fast after an incident. Hosts edit descriptions, property managers repair the hazard, and the evidence your case depends on becomes harder to recover with every day that passes. California’s statute of limitations is two years for most claims, but it can be as short as six months if a government-owned property is involved.
You work directly with an attorney from the first call, and you pay nothing unless we recover compensation on your behalf. The Injury Partners represents Airbnb and Vrbo injury victims from our Beverly Hills office, serving all of Los Angeles County and California vacation destinations.
Reach out to us online, call (310) 220-0066 or email info@theinjurypartners.com for a free consultation. Our Beverly Hills office is at 499 N. Canon Dr., Suite B1, 90210.
