There is a lot of excitement right now among homeowners in cities that will host World Cup games. People are hearing that they could rent out their homes for a serious payday, and honestly, the numbers being thrown around are eye catching. Airbnb has even rolled out a World Cup earnings calculator so homeowners can punch in their address and see what they might make. Demand is up, applications to list are climbing, and the conversation in a lot of neighborhoods has shifted from "should I do this" to "how fast can I get my place listed."
That is the fun part. And to be clear, this can be a real opportunity. But there is a question that almost nobody stops to ask in the rush to list and cash in on the opportunity. The practical question that really matters once something goes wrong.
Will your insurance actually respond if something goes wrong?
The Part of the Story Most People Skip
A CBS Texas segment captured this moment really well. With the 2026 World Cup expected to bring huge crowds to North Texas, homeowners are weighing whether to rent their homes for the tournament. But the segment raised a warning that a lot of first-time hosts are not thinking about. Renting your home short-term could create insurance problems if your homeowners policy was never written to allow that kind of use.
That warning is not unique to Texas, by the way. It applies anywhere a homeowner is thinking about turning their house into a short-stay rental for a big event. The location changes. The risk does not.
Why a Standard Policy Can Leave You Exposed
Here is the thing most homeowners do not realize. A standard homeowners policy is built for one purpose: to insure your home as a place where you live. It was not designed for paying guests, short-term rental activity, guest injuries, party damage, or liability claims tied to running what is essentially a small commercial operation out of your house.
Many homeowners policies contain a business activity exclusion. The moment money changes hands for a stay, your carrier may view that as a business use of the home, and a lot of the coverage you assumed was there is gone. If a guest slips on your stairs, if there is a fire, if someone throws a party and trashes the place, or if a neighbor's property gets damaged, you may find out the hard way that your policy does not cover any of it.
And no, having Airbnb's protection does not solve this. AirCover is a secondary layer, not a replacement for your own coverage. It does not make your homeowners policy compliant, and it does not turn a residence policy into a short-term rental policy. The real question is whether your own carrier considers a paying guest a permitted use of the home. If the answer is no, you have a gap, and you may not discover it until you are filing a claim.
This is exactly the kind of gap that gets missed when people focus only on revenue. At Threshold STR, we study the claims that financially wipe out short-term rental owners, and the pattern is almost always the same. The money looked great on the calculator. The coverage was never confirmed before the first guest walked in.
What to Actually Do Before You List
None of this means you should never rent your home during the World Cup. It means you should not confuse "I can list my house online" with "I am properly insured." Those are two completely different things, and ignoring the second is where people get hurt financially.
Before you take a single listing photo, pick up the phone and call your insurance agent or broker, and ask one direct question: If I rent my home to paying guests during the World Cup, will my homeowners policy cover property damage, guest injury claims, and liability? Then ask them to put the answer in writing.
While you have them on the phone, it is worth working through a few more questions. Find out whether a one-time event rental is treated differently from regular short-term rental activity, because some carriers draw that line and some do not. Ask whether you need a short-term rental endorsement, a landlord policy, or a dedicated short-term rental policy to be properly covered. Check what your actual liability limit is, and whether your umbrella policy still applies once you start renting. Get clarity on what AirCover really covers and what it does not replace. And finally, make sure you understand the rules outside of insurance entirely, meaning city permits, registration requirements, HOA restrictions, and local short-term rental ordinances, because plenty of cities require you to register before you ever welcome a guest.
That one phone call may be worth far more than the rental income.
A Quick Gut Check
Insurance professionals have been making this point for months. A recent Burns & Wilcox piece warned that homeowners who temporarily rent without confirming coverage may face real gaps for damage, theft, or guest liability claims. The advice is consistent across the industry. Review your coverage well before your first booking, not after.
So before you chase a World Cup payday, treat insurance as part of the decision and not an afterthought. The tournament may create a genuine hosting opportunity for you. Just make sure that if something goes wrong at three in the morning during a sold-out match weekend, your policy is on your side instead of pointing to an exclusion you never knew was there.
The World Cup will come and go. A denied claim can follow you for years. Get a professional audit to understand your actual coverage and protection gaps before you take that first booking.
Threshold STR helps hosts understand whether their coverage actually protects them before a claim happens. A free risk score takes 5 minutes and shows you exactly where you're exposed.