Hostfully adds guest screening and up to $50K damage protection

By AI, Created 11:05 AM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – Hostfully launched Screen & Protect, a native feature that automatically screens every guest and provides up to $50,000 in property damage coverage per stay across Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and direct bookings. The feature is available now and is aimed at reducing claims friction for short-term rental managers handling multi-channel inventory.

Why it matters: - Short-term rental operators have long faced gaps between platform-specific protection, rental-excluding homeowner policies and security deposits that can spark disputes. - Hostfully’s new feature is designed to give managers one workflow for screening and damage protection across all booking channels. - The launch targets a costly operational pain point: claims can take 8 to 12 hours per incident to manage, and 60% of claims take more than 30 days to resolve.

What happened: - Hostfully launched Screen & Protect, a native feature that automatically screens every guest for risk and provides up to $50,000 in property damage coverage per stay. - The coverage applies across Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and direct bookings. - Hostfully says the feature is available today. - Customers can activate protection for a single property or an entire portfolio from inside the platform. - More information is available at the company’s announcement.

The details: - Screen & Protect uses two layers: automated risk screening before check-in and damage protection after an incident. - The screening checks known risk signals, including prior damage history, flagged email addresses and suspicious phone numbers. - Hostfully says approved guests account for roughly 97% of bookings. - Approved guests receive up to $50,000 in protection per stay. - Bookings with flagged guests are protected up to $1,000. - The protection covers accidental and intentional guest damage, smoke damage in non-smoking properties, unauthorized parties, excessive cleaning, damage from unauthorized pets and ruined linens. - Managers file claims directly inside Hostfully. - Submissions are typically assessed within 48 hours, with payment issued in 3 to 5 business days on average. - The process avoids guest confrontation and platform mediation. - Screen & Protect is not insurance. - The program does not use underwriting and does not have deductibles.

Between the lines: - Hostfully is pitching the product as a replacement for fragmented protection programs that only apply inside one booking platform. - The native integration also removes the maintenance burden of a third-party add-on. - Hostfully VP of Product Duncan McCreery said the company had offered third-party protection through its Marketplace for years, but the new native version removes that friction. - Industry data cited by Hostfully suggests 10% to 15% of bookings carry risk factors that standard platform verification misses.

What’s next: - Hostfully customers can start using Screen & Protect immediately. - The company is positioning the feature as a broader portfolio-level tool for operators who manage bookings across multiple channels. - Hostfully is likely to use the launch to deepen adoption of its property management platform by bundling screening and protection into the core product.

The bottom line: - Hostfully is trying to turn damage handling from a manual, platform-specific headache into a built-in workflow with faster claims and broader coverage.