Short-Term Rental Insurance in Myrtle Beach & North Myrtle Beach

If you own — or are buying — a vacation rental in Myrtle Beach or North Myrtle Beach, the question isn’t whether you need insurance. It’s whether the coverage you have actually matches how the property is being rented. That distinction — and specifically how often the property is rented — is one of the biggest factors in what’s available to you, and it’s worth understanding before you apply for anything, not after a claim gets denied.

Here’s the direct answer: these properties are insurable, but the market is narrower than it is for an ordinary primary residence, and rental frequency is usually the first thing that determines which insurers will even look at the risk. A true nightly or daily Airbnb/Vrbo rental generally sits in a narrower part of the market — often placed through excess & surplus (E&S) markets rather than standard/admitted carriers — while a property rented weekly or longer tends to open up more standard-market options. Coastal works in this market regularly, including from our North Myrtle Beach office. The key to getting it right isn’t finding a shortcut around that narrower market — it’s accurately describing how the property is actually rented and matching it to a carrier that’s genuinely built for that use.

Non-admitted or E&S doesn’t mean financially weak. Many E&S insurers are highly rated, and these markets play an important role in insuring risks that fall outside standard carrier appetite.

This page focuses specifically on Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach. For short-term rental insurance elsewhere on the South Carolina coast, see our general short-term rental insurance guide.

Tell us how you plan to rent it →

Does renting weekly instead of nightly change my insurance options?

Yes, materially. Rental duration is one of the first things that determines which markets are realistically available:

• Nightly / daily / transient rentals (the typical Airbnb or Vrbo booking pattern) generally represent the narrowest part of the market. Standard/admitted carrier options are limited, and Coastal typically relies more heavily on E&S and non-admitted markets for this exposure — which, again, doesn’t mean lower-quality coverage, just a different part of the insurance market.
• Weekly rentals open the market somewhat. Additional standard or standard-adjacent options can become available that generally aren’t on the table for nightly bookings.
• Monthly or longer-term rentals open the market further still.

This isn’t a rule that applies identically to every property — the individual property’s other characteristics (roof age, construction, claims history, coastal exposure) still matter once rental duration has narrowed or widened the initial field of available carriers. But rental duration is typically the first filter, before any of those other factors come into play.

Why this matters for how you describe your property: the honest, accurate description of how you actually rent it is what determines the real options available to you — not what would be most convenient to write on an application.

Why won’t the company that insures my primary home just insure my Myrtle Beach Airbnb or Vrbo?

This is one of the most common questions we get, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a vague one. Many companies that readily and competitively insure someone’s primary residence simply don’t write coastal properties operated as true short-term rentals — the combination of coastal exposure and transient rental use falls outside their appetite entirely, regardless of how good a customer you’ve been on your other policies. That’s not a reflection of the property or the owner; it’s a market-appetite decision those carriers have made.

What that means practically: the pool of insurers actually willing to consider a true Grand Strand STR is meaningfully smaller than the pool willing to insure an ordinary owner-occupied coastal home. That narrower pool can affect both pricing and coverage options. It’s also exactly the situation an independent agency with multiple market relationships is built for — rather than being limited to whatever one company will or won’t do, we’re working across several markets that specifically write this kind of risk.

The honest framing is: these properties are insurable, but the market is narrower, and access to the right markets matters more here than it does for a standard homeowners policy. That’s different from — and more useful than — either “this is nearly impossible to insure” or “it’s just like any other homeowners policy.”

For genuine nightly/daily rental use specifically, we currently work primarily through excess & surplus markets, including well-rated Lloyd’s-associated products. As rental duration moves toward weekly or longer, additional standard-market relationships can come into play, depending on the specific property and current carrier appetite at the time of the quote.

What we actually look at beyond the base policy

A lower premium doesn’t automatically mean equivalent coverage — two STR policies can look similar on price and be genuinely different in what they’d actually pay on a claim. Here’s what we review with owners:

• Building/dwelling. We look at the property’s actual replacement cost — not the purchase price or market value. If you already have a number in mind, we’ll review it with you, and we run our own replacement-cost estimate before binding coverage. You don’t need an appraisal or builder estimate just to start a conversation with us.
• Contents. Contents coverage should match what’s actually furnishing the rental, not the value of the home itself. Plenty of owners furnish a rental more economically on purpose and keep their more valuable personal belongings at their primary residence — for those properties, a lower contents limit can be the right call, not an oversight.
• Rental income. If a covered loss makes the property unusable for an extended stretch, how much of that lost income does the policy actually replace? For a property generating meaningful rental revenue, this is worth sizing deliberately rather than accepting a default limit.
• Liability. We look at whether adequate liability protection exists through the policy itself, rather than assuming platform protection (Airbnb’s or Vrbo’s) closes that gap on its own.
• Condominiums. For condo owners, we also review loss assessment coverage and how the unit owner’s policy works with the association’s master policy.
• Deductibles. Deductible choice affects both premium and what you’re actually on the hook for if something happens. It’s worth comparing policies on more than the annual premium number.
• Policy terms worth checking specifically. Water-damage limitations, whether roof damage settles at replacement cost or actual cash value (ACV), rental-income limits, and any restrictive endorsements can all vary meaningfully between programs that otherwise look similar. We’re currently seeing real variation on these specific terms across the STR programs available in this market, which is exactly why we walk through them with you rather than just comparing premium.

Does Airbnb or Vrbo provide enough insurance for my vacation rental?

Short answer: both platforms offer real, meaningful protection — and neither is a substitute for insuring the property itself for how you’re actually using it.

Airbnb — AirCover for Hosts

Airbnb itself states AirCover is not a substitute for homeowners or renters insurance, or for carrying adequate liability and property coverage of your own.

Vrbo — Rental Property Liability Insurance Program

• What it covers: up to \$1M in liability protection for claims against you — for example, a guest injury on the property, or damage a guest causes to someone else’s property (a neighboring unit, for instance). Automatically applies at no cost to bookings processed through Vrbo’s own checkout.
• What it does not cover: damage to your own rental property or its contents. This is a liability-only program — it does not function as property/damage coverage the way Airbnb’s Host Damage Protection does.
• How it works alongside your own coverage: Vrbo describes this as additional protection on top of a liability policy you already carry. If you don’t carry your own liability coverage, a 25% deductible applies to amounts the program would otherwise pay.
• Platform limitation: only applies to reservations booked and paid for through Vrbo’s own checkout — a booking taken outside that system isn’t covered.

The practical gap, plainly stated

Between the two, Airbnb’s program goes further on paper — it’s the only one of the two with a property-damage component. But both programs share the same structural limits: both apply only to that platform’s own bookings, neither responds to weather or named-storm damage, and neither is designed to be a property owner’s primary, year-round coverage. If you list on both platforms, or take any direct bookings, that’s an even more direct gap — protection tied to one platform’s checkout doesn’t follow the property, it follows the booking.

Neither platform’s protection should be treated as a replacement for properly insuring the property for how it’s actually being used. Both programs are worth understanding and factoring in — they’re real, and they do respond to real situations — but the property itself, and your liability beyond what either program caps out at, is what a dedicated policy is for.

Mistakes we actually see Grand Strand STR owners make

1. Describing the property’s rental use inaccurately to fit a different insurance product — for example, representing nightly bookings as weekly rentals because the weekly-rental market has more options. Some current applications specifically require the represented rental period to be accurate, with real consequences for a claim if it isn’t. If a policy is written on the basis that a property rents weekly or longer, your actual rental activity needs to match that representation — you’re the one signing the application, and an inaccurate occupancy or rental-frequency representation can put coverage at risk exactly when you need it. It’s also increasingly easy for an insurer or adjuster to look up a property address and find active Airbnb, Vrbo, or property-management listings, so this isn’t a risk worth taking.
2. Assuming the company that insures your primary residence will automatically insure a coastal Airbnb or Vrbo — it often won’t, regardless of your history with that carrier.
3. Choosing the minimum coverage simply to maximize rental profit — a decision that looks fine until the year it doesn’t.
4. Accepting a high deductible without understanding what that actually means as retained risk — a lower premium tied to a much higher deductible isn’t automatically the better deal.
5. Comparing policies on premium alone, without checking water-damage limitations, roof settlement terms (replacement cost vs. ACV), or rental-income limits.
6. Underinsuring rental income on a property that generates meaningful revenue, leaving a real gap if a covered loss takes it offline for weeks or months.
7. Assuming Airbnb’s or Vrbo’s platform protection replaces a property policy built around the property’s actual use.

What we actually need to get you a real quote

You don’t need to arrive with a full packet of documents — the honest starting point is much simpler:

Send us the property address and tell us how you plan to rent it. We’ll help you determine what else is needed.

From there, we’ll typically work through:

• The property address and your primary residence
• How you plan to use it — nightly/daily, weekly, monthly, or a mix of personal use and rental
• Basic property details — square footage, year built, roof age
• For older homes, whether HVAC, electrical, plumbing, or the water heater have been updated
• A replacement-cost figure, if you have one in mind — we’ll run our own estimate before binding either way
• Whether the property is held individually or through an LLC

None of this needs to be assembled in advance. The rental-use question is the one that matters most upfront, because it’s usually what determines which markets we start with.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does renting weekly instead of nightly change my insurance options?

Yes — rental duration is usually the first factor that determines which markets are available. Nightly/daily rentals generally sit in a narrower part of the market; weekly and longer-term rentals tend to open up more options.

Is short-term rental insurance usually admitted or non-admitted?

For true nightly/daily rental use, it’s commonly placed through excess & surplus (non-admitted) markets. That’s not a downgrade — it’s a different, often highly-rated part of the insurance market built for risks that don’t fit standard-carrier appetite.

Why won’t the company that insures my primary home cover my Myrtle Beach Airbnb?

Many carriers that readily write primary residences simply don’t write coastal properties operated as true short-term rentals — it’s an appetite decision, not a reflection of your property or your history as a customer.

What happens if I tell my insurer I rent weekly but I actually accept nightly bookings?

Don’t do this. If a policy is written on the basis of weekly-or-longer rentals, your actual activity needs to match that — misrepresenting rental frequency can put your coverage at risk at claim time, and insurers can and do verify actual listing activity.

Can I insure a vacation rental if I also use it personally part of the year?

Yes, but how that mix gets underwritten depends on the specific carrier and how the property is actually used the rest of the time — it’s a real factor, not a minor detail, and it’s worth discussing directly rather than assuming it simplifies things.

Does Airbnb’s or Vrbo’s built-in protection mean I don’t need my own insurance?

No. Airbnb’s Host Damage Protection can reimburse damage to your home and belongings but is explicitly not an insurance policy per Airbnb’s own terms; Vrbo’s program is liability-only and doesn’t cover your property at all. Both apply only to that platform’s own bookings.

Can I rent my Myrtle Beach condo short-term if my HOA allows it but the city doesn’t?

City zoning and business licensing requirements apply regardless of what an HOA or condo association allows — both need to say yes, not just one.

What should I check besides the premium when comparing STR policies?

Water-damage limitations, whether roof damage settles at replacement cost or actual cash value, rental-income coverage limits, and any restrictive endorsements — two policies with similar premiums can differ meaningfully on these terms.

Do I need separate flood insurance for a Myrtle Beach vacation rental?

Flood is typically handled separately through the NFIP or private flood market, although some insurance programs may include flood coverage or offer it by endorsement — worth confirming for your specific policy rather than assuming either way. It matters regardless of whether your lender requires it.

What Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach add on top of the insurance question

This isn’t just an insurance decision — it’s a regulatory one, and the two cities aren’t identical:

• Myrtle Beach restricts short-term rentals (defined as stays under 90 days) to specific zoning districts — most traditional residential (“R”-prefixed) zones don’t allow them at all, with the RMV district as the main exception. A business license is required before renting.
• North Myrtle Beach, per the City’s current published guidance: all short-term rentals must obtain a City business license and collect/remit applicable accommodations taxes to the city, county, and state. Operators must comply with existing ordinances covering trash, parking, noise, and occupancy. As of now, the City states there is no special zoning designation or separate STR permit process required beyond standard business licensing — a real, current difference from what’s sometimes described online. (North Myrtle Beach has held public workshops on a proposed ordinance that would add a dedicated STR permit, a required 24/7 “responsible local agent,” and other new requirements — that ordinance has not taken effect as of this writing. We’ll update this page if it’s adopted.)

Before you insure a property for STR use, it’s worth confirming the property is actually zoned and licensed for it — a policy can be correctly written and the property still not be legally rentable on that particular lot.

Common situations we see

Buying a property specifically to run as a vacation rental. If you’re financing the purchase, your lender will generally require the appropriate insurance before closing. Cash buyers should still have coverage effective when they take ownership. Either way, the coverage should be matched to how you intend to use the property from day one.

Converting an existing second home to short-term rental use. If a property has been insured as a personal second home and you start renting it out regularly, that’s a real occupancy change your carrier needs to know about.

Splitting time between personal use and rental income. Simply living in the property part of the year doesn’t, by itself, give it the same underwriting treatment as a genuine primary residence with limited rental exposure — the actual rental activity is what matters, not just the number of personal-use days. There can be additional standard-market options when a property genuinely is the owner’s primary residence and only a portion of it is rented out; that’s a different situation from a second home used personally part-time and rented as a true STR the rest of the time.

Owning through an LLC. That ownership structure has real insurance implications and should be part of the conversation from the start.

For the broader picture of owning and insuring property along the South Carolina coast — buying, renting, or moving here — see our Coastal South Carolina Property Guide.

Wind, named storms, and flood on a Grand Strand rental

• Wind and named-storm deductibles on Grand Strand coastal property are often percentage-based rather than a flat dollar figure — worth knowing as an actual dollar number for your specific policy.
• Flood is typically handled separately through the NFIP or private flood market, although some insurance programs may include flood coverage or offer it by endorsement.
• Loss-of-rental-income coverage, where a policy includes it, responds to specific causes of loss defined in that policy — it isn’t automatically triggered by a mandatory evacuation order on its own.