The Risks of Omitting Travel Insurance from Your Trip Planning Process
While most people plan every detail of their trip, they don’t plan for the unexpected travel mishap. Accidents, illness, lost possessions, or even the weather can all ruin an expensive trip and end up costing more money. The following are different trip scenarios where the risk of omitting travel insurance is greater than people realize.
Non-refundable Deposits, Payments, and Tickets
Many trips require a substantial investment before the trip even starts. Hotel or cruise deposits, airfare, railway fees, and even hard ticket events require payment in advance with no recourse for cancellation. Trip cancellation protection provides a financial safeguard if the trip has to be cancelled for a covered reason. Illness or other medical emergency, an unexpected job loss, and even jury duty can force a change in travel plans at the last minute.
Trip Delays and Interruptions
Delayed departures and missed connections can be annoying, but they can also be costly if you miss your cruise or are stranded in a foreign country. Trip interruption protection can help reimburse the additional cost to get your home or reimburse unused costs when your trip is cut short by circumstances beyond your control, such as weather or medical issues.
Medical Emergencies While Traveling
Travel mishaps can include getting sick on a cruise requiring urgent care, or a serious accident involving a medical or dental emergency and a hospital stay. These expenses add up quickly. Not all medical emergencies are covered, so be sure to read the entire policy carefully. Many policies offer provisions to include pre-existing conditions or high-risk activities.
Other Benefits of Trip Insurance
There are many other benefits such as:
- 24 hour hot-line assistance
- lost, damaged, or stolen possessions
- legal assistance for personal liability
- emergency evacuations or rescues
- accidental death, injury, and disablement benefits
- financial default of a 3rd party such as tour guides, foreign suppliers, etc
- kidnap or ransom insurance
Many benefits are available as add-on coverage, so it is possible to design a personalized policy to cover each specific trip.
Peace of Mind
Many people look at travel insurance as an unnecessary expense. However, vacations don’t always go as planned, and the nature of life is that things do go wrong. Experienced travelers know that the best way to be ready for those vacation mishaps is by traveling safely and stress-free with trip insurance.