For travel companies, making available a meaningful travel insurance option so that participants have the appropriate level of travel insurance is crucial—not just for compliance, but for protecting both travelers and indirectly the business. With ongoing global challenges as well as an individual traveler's personal needs, having a robust travel insurance policy in place is more important than ever.
Beyond fulfilling a "requirement" for participation, it can also become a valuable selling point for your trips. In this article, we’ll explore best practices for including travel insurance as part of your offerings from TravMark, an insurance provider who is solving some of the industry’s toughest challenges.
Why is travel insurance so important?
Travel insurance is often listed as a requirement for participation in a travel program, but many organizations fall short when it comes to following up and collecting these crucial insurance details. Ensuring that your participants are properly insured is important for several reasons:
Protection Against Financial Loss: In today’s unpredictable travel environment, participants who do not have travel insurance often look to the trip provider for refunds when a traveler needs to cancel. While terms and conditions may legally cover your organization, participant frustration can severely damage your brand’s reputation. Having travel insurance often shields a traveler from financial losses due to covered cancellations or interruptions.
Medical Emergencies and Pre-Payment Concerns: Many hospitals or clinics around the world require proof of insurance or pre-payment before providing medical care. If a participant is unable to share their insurance details due to incapacitation, the responsibility often falls on the travel provider to cover these costs upfront. Knowing a participant’s insurance details can help avoid such financial risks and delays in care. In urgent situations, you may even be able to notify the traveler’s insurance provider directly to ensure timely emergency care.
Making travel insurance a part of your offerings
Given these considerations, it’s clear that travel insurance isn’t just a recommendation—it should be an integral part of your sales strategy. Here are a few ways you can avail travel insurance as a value-added service:
Offer Travel Insurance at Initial Booking: Make travel insurance available for purchase at the initial booking. Most travel insurance allow for broadest coverage to be obtained if the coverage is purchased with or closer to the initial booking.
Highlight Insurance as a Safety Measure: In your marketing materials, frame travel insurance as essential for protecting the participant’s investment and peace of mind. With the global travel landscape constantly shifting, participants are more likely to see the value of insurance if it’s presented as a vital component of their trip.
Use Embedded Travel Insurance Quotes: Include travel insurance as a key part of your program offering - right from the start. For example, TravMark is releasing a new feature that allows travel providers to embed travel insurance quotes directly into their website via an iframe. This is a game changer, as it allows participants to see their insurance options in real-time, making it easier for them to purchase the right coverage without leaving your site. By including this as part of your package and/or onboarding material, you also position yourself as a safer and more mature travel provider.
Choosing the right partner is critical
Many Cornerstone members choose to work with TravMark because they’re a leading provider of travel insurance solutions that specializes in serving travel companies. They address many of the challenges we’ve discussed, including making it easier for organizations to make travel insurance available to your travelers. By partnering with them, you can ensure that your participants are offered a comprehensive travel insurance program, and your business is protected indirectly from the risks associated with uninsured travelers.
Comprehensive Coverage Options: TravMark provides custom coverages (not available in all states/countries) such as no psychological exclusion, hospital bedside visit after 3 days hospitalization (many plans require 7 days hospitalization), and primary accident & sickness medical expense coverage.
Seamless Integration: With the new iframe option, you can easily embed TravMark’s insurance quotes directly on your site, streamlining the process for participants and improving conversions. This feature makes it easier than ever to offer comprehensive insurance options as part of your trip packages.
For more information about TravMark’s offerings, visit Activity Insurance and Abroad Insurance.
What do my travelers need to know about travel insurance?
Travel insurance generally costs between 5-10% of the total trip price.
When it comes to allowing coverage of pre-existing conditions, not all travel insurance policies are created equal. Travmark, for example, offers plans for both U.S. and Non U.S. residents. Most plans for Non U.S. residents do not waive pre-existing conditions. However, plans for U.S. residents will allow for a waiver of pre-existing conditions when all conditions are met including not being disabled from travel at time of purchase and purchasing coverage within a certain time frame. Certain plans for U.S. residents allow a waiver of pre-existing conditions within 21 days of initial trip deposit and others allow until final trip payment.
In addition to obtaining a waiver of pre-existing conditions the other item to be aware of is something medically still needs to occur or worsen after the policy is purchased and all plan terms need to be satisfied including treatment by a doctor at time of cancellation/interruption.
Another important factor is to review if the travel insurance plan excludes psychological conditions. For instance, many of Travmark’s plans (not available in all states/countries) do not exclude psychological conditions that affect travelers such as anxiety, etc.
Final Thoughts
Availing travel insurance as a core offering may protect your participants but also can indirectly safeguard your business. Partnering with experts like TravMark can help simplify this process while providing participants with the comprehensive coverage they need. By embedding insurance quotes directly into your website and highlighting the importance of coverage in your marketing, you can turn travel insurance into a key selling point for your trips.
The complexity of travel insurance makes it important to partner with the right team! Both you and your travelers should be sure to review the travel insurance details before purchasing coverage.
For more information on TravMark and their comprehensive insurance options, visitTravMark.