The Excess and Surplus (E&S) Casualty insurance market for both real estate and hospitality risks has grown increasingly challenging entering 2026, with restrained capacity, tighter coverage terms, exclusions and heightened underwriting scrutiny.

"It's an extremely difficult market," says Ashby Moore, RPS area vice president. "Even for clean accounts, you're seeing General Liability and Excess/Umbrella increases, and this is even before you factor in location or classes that carry heavier exposures."

Challenges Facing the Real Estate Casualty Market

One of the biggest obstacles in the real estate sector stems from financing requirements tied to loans. Lenders are increasingly imposing strict insurance standards on the real estate they're financing, prohibiting exclusions for assault and battery and firearms.

"Insurance policy forms have to meet the lender's standards," Moore explains. "If these exposures are excluded, the financing might not go through, or additional requirements may be put on the lending party.

"Fortunately, we've been able to find solutions where others couldn't," says Moore. "We have been able to get the carriers to understand the insured and really dive into how to make it work by taking a consultant-focused approach, highlighting risk management techniques such as AI-based security systems, off-duty police officers living on-site and online maintenance logs."

Additionally, carriers are looking for insureds to invest in loss control and risk mitigations efforts including annual training for property managers and staff to help identify signs of human trafficking. Human trafficking is becoming a hot topic, and it's important to prepare for this question when putting renewal submission together.

Hospitality: A Hardening Market Driven by Social Inflation

On the hospitality side, social inflation, an aggressive plaintiff bar and nuclear verdicts are keeping the market challenged and pushing assault and battery as well as liquor liability risks to the forefront.

"Assault and battery claims and liquor claims are the two biggest exposures now, with shootings or DUI incidents potentially resulting in millions of dollars in damages against an insured," says Moore.

Insurance policies that were once silent on assault and battery are now explicitly limiting coverage, with sublimits well below standard occurrence amounts. Liquor-driven accounts with 75% or more alcohol receipts are becoming increasingly difficult to place. Additionally, if public transportation isn't widely accessible or a city isn't walkable, liquor claims frequency is on the rise, and the carriers are watching it.

"We're spending time each day explaining the insureds' stories, so we don't see these big increases that are being put out," Moore says, adding that "pricing and terms remains a major pain point for hospitality."

The Need for Expertise

Across both real estate and hospitality, Moore emphasizes that 2026 will bring more of the same in the non-admitted space: continued firming, heightened underwriting and risk selection scrutiny, as well as the need for proactive risk management. Yet opportunities remain for brokers who understand the nuances of their accounts and align with specialized wholesalers.

"Every deal is situational," says Moore. "Santa Monica, for example, isn't the same as downtown Los Angeles, and a high-rise in Miami isn't the same as one in Dallas. You need partners who can navigate those differences. We have the luxury of seeing risk from all around the country."

That's where RPS adds value. With deep market relationships and experience in structuring creative casualty insurance solutions both primary and excess, RPS helps brokers secure coverage others can't.

"Our job is to find answers," Moore says. "When there's no obvious path, we build one."

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