Ready to book your next trip? Your travel planner, be they human or electronic, asks you about travel insurance or trip protection. Is travel insurance a wise purchase? This week, we are asking questions for you to consider. We’ll be back with more information in a future issue. But first , let’s share some stories.
My doctor, quite the photographer, left his camera in a cab while on a trip in the Baltics and could not recover it. Travel insurance reimbursed him for his loss. More recently, a husband and wife were packed and ready to leave for a ten day Birthday cruise leaving on the wife’s birthday; she woke up around 5am with a bloody nose that would not stop bleeding. She had to cancel the trip and called me at 9:15 on a Sunday morning. I immediately started the travel insurance claims process and the couple were reimbursed in record time for the full amount of the money they lost from the cruise line. These are just two of many stories of my travel guests’ using their travel insurance benefits.
Ten Questions to ask:
1) What does the travel insurance/trip protection cover?
2) Is your trip subject to cancellation fees? Will the fees reach 100% of the trip value? and when?
2) Is your trip your deposit is refundable? (If not, I have some suggestions for you.)
3) Do you have medical insurance if traveling outside of the country?
4) Does your credit card provide travel insurance for trip cancellation? Read that fine print very carefully…chance are incredibly high that the credit card does not cover trip cancellation.
5) How much will it cost to get back to the US on an emergency basis? And where will you go? The closest hospital to the US border? A hospital of your choosing near your home?
6) What does it take to be admitted to a hospital in another country? Do you need cash? credit card?
7) Is your local/primary physician contacted if need be?
8 ) Will your prescription medications be replaced if lost or stolen?
9) Will the travel insurance cover continuing medical needs after you return (for a medical issue sustained during the trip)?
10) Is cancel for work reasons coverage included in the travel insurance?
