How STR Platforms Can Recession-Proof Revenue by Offering Insurance

When times get uncertain, great platforms get smarter.

If you’re building the operating system that powers thousands of short-term rentals—from boutique portfolios in Scottsdale to enterprise PMCs managing the coast of Florida—you’ve likely faced a version of this question lately:

How do we deliver more value to our customers… without asking them to spend more?

Your product roadmap can’t pause. Your users can’t afford inefficiency. And your business can’t rely on growth-at-all-costs strategies. That’s why some of the most forward-looking vacation rental platforms are turning to an often-overlooked lever for resilient, margin-friendly growth:

Short term rental insurance.

Whether offered as a native feature embedded directly into your platform or as a flexible marketplace solution, the value-add potential is the same: helping property managers protect what matters—without the operational friction they’d face on their own.

The Strategic Power of Built-In Protection

Short-term rental managers today are navigating tighter margins, rising homeowner expectations, and a constant stream of guest turnover. They’re under pressure to deliver 5-star experiences while also managing risk—risk that their existing homeowners policies or HO/DP3 endorsements often don’t cover.

That’s where your platform can play a transformative role.

By integrating or offering purpose-built coverage like SmartSTR™ Insurance, you enable your customers to secure the protection they need within 1 business day, at prices they can afford—without ever leaving your ecosystem. Whether it’s a click-to-enable setting or an optional offering inside your marketplace, the result is the same: streamlined access to professional-grade protection that supports the business they’re building.

Why Now: 3 Reasons Platforms Are Offering Short-Term Rental Insurance

1. Revenue Growth Without Raising Prices

Insurance offers a rare opportunity: it creates a new revenue stream without requiring a pricing change or feature gating. And it’s flexible. If your platform is focused on seamless workflows and high feature adoption, embedding SmartSTR™ directly into your booking flow ensures automatic alignment with occupancy and reservation data.

But we know embedded isn’t one-size-fits-all. Many platforms choose to offer SmartSTR™ in a marketplace or app store setting, giving their property managers the power to opt in, compare tiers, and activate coverage on their own terms. The beauty of this model is it still monetizes naturally—based on usage—not headcount or door volume. Strategically, if you are looking to optimize your program for conversion while still offering optionality in your marketplace, considering selecting a preferred insurance partner is a great way to indicate to your users this is a trusted insurance program. Going one step further, further marketing efforts on your platform to promote a preferred partner can increase the adoption rate for your PMCs. 

Regardless of the delivery method, platforms can earn share-based revenue while enhancing the core service they already provide. Insurance becomes part of your infrastructure, not an external dependency.

2. Retention That's Built on Real Solutions

This isn’t about marketing a perk. It’s about solving an actual operational pain point for your property managers—one that often leaves them exposed to unexpected expenses, damaged contents, or reputation risk when a unit goes offline. With SmartSTR™, they can access the kind of comprehensive, short-term rental–specific coverage they need, plus the things they really want, like protection for linens or bed bug remediation.

When your platform helps property managers secure the right insurance without the runaround of external brokers, confusing policy documents, or mismatched coverage forms, you’re creating real stickiness. You’re solving a core business challenge in a way that makes them more likely to stay, grow, and refer others to your ecosystem.

3. You Become a Platform That Protects

Property managers today are increasingly looking for platforms that feel like partners, not just software providers. Offering insurance shows your customers that you understand their risk landscape and want to help them operate with confidence.

This protection-first approach positions your platform as an essential business partner. When guests damage property, when units go offline, when issues arise that affect income or reputation, your platform becomes the one that helps them weather the storm. You’re not just enabling operations; you’re enabling recovery, resilience, and long-term growth.

The Industry Is Already Evolving

We’re already seeing leading STR platforms rethink where insurance fits in their user journey. It’s no longer just a referral or checkbox in a support article. Platforms are launching embedded APIs, building SmartSTR™ into onboarding flows, or surfacing it in marketplaces as part of a holistic service stack.

What they’re recognizing is simple: if they have the booking data, the user trust, and the operational touchpoints, they’re in the best position to deliver the protection property managers need. Not by replacing traditional insurance, but by modernizing how it's accessed.

This shift mirrors what we’ve seen in fintech and travel: when platforms take ownership of risk management, everyone wins.

Bottom Line: You Don't Have to Choose One Path - But You Should Choose to Lead

While insurance doesn’t have to be embedded to drive value, to maximize value and enforce your status as an industry leader, embedded insurance can be a key contributor. Providing your PMCs with easy access to relevant insurance designed for the STR business model demonstrates you understand their needs, their concerns, and are addressing the largest risks to their businesses.

Whether your strategy is API-first, marketplace-driven, or somewhere in between, offering SmartSTR™ Insurance is how your platform can do three critical things at once:

• - Generate new revenue
  
• - Drive deeper customer loyalty
  
• - Future-proof your value proposition

When you give property managers the tools to protect their bookings, their owners, and their operations, you become more than just a service. You become essential.

Ready to Learn What This Could Look Like?

At Tint, we work with platforms of all sizes to integrate SmartSTR™ Insurance through embedded APIs, flexible marketplace listings, or co-branded partnerships. Whether you’re just starting to explore monetization opportunities or already supporting thousands of reservations per day—we can help you build insurance into your product story, your business model, and your brand promise.

Let’s protect the future of short-term rentals. Together.