Bed & Breakfast / Historic Inn Insurance

No — and trying to is risky. A standard homeowners policy excludes business activity, so claims tied to your lodging operation can be denied, and if the carrier discovers you're running a commercial enterprise, the policy itself can be voided, leaving even the building uninsured. A historic B&B needs hospitality-grade business coverage layered onto agreed-value historic property coverage. We build that hybrid so both the operation and the building are properly protected.

Because a standard commercial policy treats your inn as ordinary construction and settles losses on modern replacement cost, ignoring the period architecture that makes the property valuable and appealing. The building's original woodwork, porches, and craftsmanship can't be priced on a generic worksheet. We write the property on agreed value with restoration-cost settlement so a covered loss rebuilds the inn authentically, then layer the commercial liability and hospitality coverages on top.

Commercial general liability sized to your guest occupancy and traffic, with attention to the older-building features that drive premises risk — historic staircases, uneven floors, steep porch steps. If you host weddings, retreats, or private events, you also need event and hosted-liquor coverage. Paying guests create commercial exposures a homeowners policy won't answer, so the liability coverage has to be written for a hospitality business, not a residence.

Yes. Liquor liability exposure exists whenever you serve or furnish alcohol, including complimentary wine at check-in or a hosted reception — it's not limited to bars that sell drinks. If a guest you served causes harm, the inn can be held liable. We make sure liquor liability is addressed for the way your inn actually serves alcohol, so a hospitable glass of wine doesn't become an uninsured exposure.

Business income (business interruption) coverage replaces your lost revenue if a covered loss forces the inn to close, while your mortgage, payroll, and fixed costs continue. For an inn the building is the business, so a closure stops the income entirely. On a historic property the restoration period can be long, so we size the coverage to your actual seasonal revenue and add ordinance-or-law time-element coverage for the extra time a code-compliant rebuild takes.

On agreed value with restoration-cost settlement, so a covered loss rebuilds the inn with period-appropriate materials and craftsmanship rather than modern substitutes, with no coinsurance penalty or depreciation argument. We coordinate ordinance-or-law coverage for the code upgrades a lodging rebuild triggers, and we value outbuildings, carriage houses, cottages, and annexes correctly too, so the entire property is insured to what restoration would genuinely cost.

Guest property is addressed through innkeeper's liability and guest-property (bailee) coverage, which we include based on how your inn operates — including situations like valet parking or storing guests' belongings. These are hospitality-specific exposures a residential policy doesn't contemplate. We make sure they're covered so a claim over a guest's lost or damaged property is handled by the policy rather than out of pocket.

Yes — serving food creates food-borne-illness and spoilage exposure that we address in the coverage. If you have a fuller food-and-beverage operation, we expand the coverage accordingly. The ordinary activity of serving breakfast to guests should be insured rather than excluded, and we structure the policy so it is.

We structure the policy with the seasonal and vacancy provisions an inn needs, so quiet months with low occupancy don't trigger a vacancy exclusion that guts your coverage. Standard carriers treat seasonal emptiness as a reason to cut protection; we anticipate the inn's actual occupancy rhythm so the building stays properly covered year-round, including during the slow season.

Yes. We place builders-risk and renovation coverage so the building is protected during the restoration, and we make sure a property purchased to become an inn is insurable from the day you take ownership — including any period of vacancy before it opens. As the project finishes and the inn begins operating, we transition the coverage to the full hospitality-and-property program.

Short-term-rental platform bookings carry their own exposures, and platform-provided protection is typically limited and full of gaps. We account for online-platform bookings in structuring your coverage so you're not relying on a platform's host protection to cover a real loss. Tell us how you take bookings and we'll make sure the coverage matches your actual operation.

Events add liability and liquor exposure beyond ordinary lodging, so we make sure event and hosted-liquor coverage is in place for weddings, retreats, and private functions. We can also advise on requiring insurance from outside vendors and caterers so their exposure doesn't fall back on the inn. If events are a meaningful part of your business, that needs to be reflected in the coverage from the start.

Yes. Rebuilding a lodging use after a loss triggers significant code upgrades — fire suppression, egress, accessibility, electrical — that didn't exist when the building was constructed and that a standard policy excludes. We coordinate ordinance-or-law coverage with the agreed-value limit and size it to the real upgrade and demolition exposure, so a code-compliant rebuild of the inn is fully funded rather than partially uninsured.

It reflects the building's reconstruction value, construction and protection class, your occupancy and guest volume, the services you offer (alcohol, food, events, spa), your revenue for business-income purposes, and claims history. Because we value the building correctly and place it with specialty markets, the goal is coverage that protects both the property and the business. We provide free, no-obligation quotes so you can compare real terms.

Call 844-967-5247 or email josh@contractorschoiceagency.com with the details — the building's age and construction, number of guest rooms, services you offer, whether you host events or serve alcohol, your booking channels, and any restoration plans. We'll value the property on agreed value, build the hospitality liability and business-income coverage around your operation, and place it with carriers who understand historic inns. Quotes are free.