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A July 10 article in Travel Agent Magazine by George Dooley (“Travel Insurance: What Your Clients Should Know”) summarized some of the conditions regarding travel insurance coverage for airline flights and health risks. It also compared some of the coverage offered by 3^rd-party insurers v. credit cards. 

Some of the tips include: ·  There are no requirements for airlines to reimburse passengers for delayed or cancelled flights due to weather or strikes, but most 3^rd-party insurance covers this.  ·  Most credit cards do not cover emergency medical transportation or evacuation, which most 3^rd-party insurance plans do cover. Not all cards include emergency health coverage, another standard coverage in 3^rd-party plans. · Many more covered reasons for Trip Cancellation / Trip Interruption are included with 3^rd-party plans than card plans. · According to Travel Agent, a study of credit card plans found 85% do not include Trip Cancellation coverage. · 3^rd-party plans have broader coverage for Baggage Delay and Trip Delay. · Most U.S. health plans and Medicare do not provide coverage outside the U.S. 

Travel Insured’s line of Worldwide Trip Protector plans, with a few exceptions in the WTP Lite plan and in $0 Trip Cost plans starting on the day of departure, provide strong 3^rd-party coverage to protect in the situations described above by Travel Agent Magazine.

Quarantine in China is no longer unforeseen due to the U.S. State Department public announcement of June 19^th and, therefore, can no longer be a covered reason for Trip Interruption coverage in China. Travel Insured customers; however, can be covered up to the Trip Interruption limits specified on their policy when traveling to other destinations whenever an unforeseen quarantine disrupts their trip. 

Trip Interruption coverage is also available when a hijacking occurs, or a subpoena requires travelers to appear in court as a witness, as long as they are not a principle in the court case. Benefits for covered disruptions may include reimbursement of the unused portion of a prepaid trip, or costs incurred to catch up to a missed tour or cruise departure.

Travel Insured International’s simplified group travel plans, Travel Insured Group Deluxe and Travel Insured Group Lite, have enjoyed newfound popularity since their introduction this past April. One reason is the expanded deadline in both plans for obtaining the waiver of a Pre-Existing Medical Condition exclusion. Covering Pre-Existing Medical Conditions is especially critical to senior travelers for whom group travel programs are most popular. 

Unlike most travel insurance plans that require the purchase of the insurance plan within a shorter deadline, usually within 14 days of the initial trip deposit, to obtain the Pre-X Medical Condition waiver, Travel Insured Group Deluxe and Lite give individual members of your client group more time. Although your group’s insurance plan must be booked and registered with Travel Insured prior to the first insurance payment being made. Your group’s individual members, however, can purchase their coverage at any time prior to their final trip payment and the Pre-Existing Medical Condition waiver will be included if the following conditions are also met:

• The booking for the covered trip must be the first and only booking for the same dates and destination.
  • The plan must be purchased to cover the full, non-refundable cost of the trip
• The traveler must not be disabled from travel at the time he or she pays for the plan.

 Note that Student Basic and Comprehensive Group plans must still be purchased within 14 days of initial trip deposit and meet the other purchase requirements in order for the Pre-Existing Medical Condition waiver to be applied.

Columnist Laura Landro in the July 7 Wall Street Journal presented an update on the health risks of summer travel overlooked by parents and youth heading to student trips overseas, active tours or sleep away camps. The writer said that 40% of 5,000 annual accident-related deaths of kids under 14 occur during summer.

Landro cited examples of trips that have gone wrong:

• A college student visiting Chile got kidney damage from undercooked fish followed by weeks of hospitalization.
• A high school student caught encephalitis in China. Her parents spent $60,000 to bring her home.
• Fresno County, CA, saw outbreaks of norovirus at summer camps.
• A 19-year-old suffered gall bladder attacks studying in Africa, but was saved by travel medical insurance.

The WSJ report offered recommendations: 

• Make sure kids are fit for their selected tour.
• Check out tour operator safety records.
• Question what tour operator preparations are in place for emergencies.
• Obtain emergency health insurance and medical evacuation coverage.

Travel Insured’s Student Comprehensive and Student Post-Departure plans, recommended for overseas group trips, include Emergency Medical Expense of up to $25,000 and Emergency Medical Evacuation coverage of up to $100,000. The Student Basic Plan includes the $100,000 limit in Emergency Medical Evacuation, but does not include any Medical Expense coverage. 

Independent student travelers will find Emergency Medical Expense and Emergency Medical Evacuation coverage, with limits varying by plan selected, included in Worldwide Trip Protector, Trip Protector Gold, Trip Protector Lite and Trip Protector Lite Expanded plans.

Travel Insured’s Vice President of Sales and Industry Relations hosted a light-hearted presentation of perfect partnerships, including Vacation.com and Travel Insured, at the Friday, June 16^th general session of the 11^th annual Vacation.com International Trade Show & Conference. After thanking Vacation.com members for helping Travel Insured successfully reach our 15^th business anniversary in 2009, Perry described what has changed since 1994. She noted that box TVs are now flat screens; “brick” cell phones are now sleek razor phones; snail mail has morphed into Email and Yellow Pages have become web search engines.

Among the perfect partners pictured in Perry’s Travel Insured presentation were Bogart & Bacall; Laurel & Hardy; the Lone Ranger & Tonto; bacon & eggs; cookies & milk and, of course, Vacation.com and Travel Insured International! Perry’s message was that Travel Insured has changed with the times to support our Vacation.com partnership with Medical insurance upgrades, Kids are Free, Cancel for Any Reason coverage, Pre-existing Medical Condition waivers, and Cancel for Work Reasons, including Job Loss Protection. They are just some ways Travel Insured has responded to agents’ input for protecting the travel needs of their clients.

Cynthia Perry and her Travel Insured Regional Sales Manager colleagues, including Isaac Cymrot, who moderated an informative seminar on travel insurance selling for a responsive group of agents; Chris Kilburn and Chris Ruey were gratified by the tremendous attendance and interest shown by Vacation.com agents at the Travel Insured exhibition booth on the Trade Show floor. Our team looks forward to next year’s 12^th annual Vacation.com Conference!

Travel agents are getting some help in travel promotion these days from President Obama. Those seeking encouragement for clients hesitant about overseas travel this year need look no further than the White House. The First Family scheduled time during President Obama’s recent foreign diplomatic schedule to enjoy personal, family sightseeing. President and Mrs. Obama visited Prague and Istanbul in April, with Michelle Obama touring Prague’s Jewish Quarter and Castle district, and the President visiting the Hagia Sophia Museum and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. On a recent visit to the Middle East, the President took time with his staff to tour the Pyramids, the Sphinx and other Cairo area attractions.

This month, after celebrating the 65^th anniversary of D-Day during his June 6^th speech and tour of the Normandy beaches, President Obama spent the weekend with his family in Paris. After the President returned home, Michelle Obama stayed for another week with her daughters to visit both Paris and London, where the Obamas celebrated daughter Sasha’s 8^th Birthday by visiting Parliament, Big Ben and the Tower of London, where King Henry the VIII’s 500^th anniversary of coronation is commemorated this year. You can advise clients that the Obamas, like other working families, are comfortable combining personal family travel with the father’s business trip. The First Family even extended the family vacation trip after the President returned home to work, and kept their touring schedule private in Paris and London, allowing them to drop into restaurants without advance public fanfare.

Obama travel photos are readily available online, and might be useful to share with your clients. Remind clients that, although the First Family need not add travel insurance to their international trips, most U.S. health care plans and Medicare, as noted on the U.S. State Department web site (http://travel.state.gov ), do not provide coverage when Americans travel outside the U.S. Encourage your clients to follow the First Family’s travel example, but remind them to add a comprehensive Worldwide Trip Protector or WTP Gold plan, the latter designed for protecting luxury trips, when they do!

The Question of the Month is a new feature that I am introducing.  My Tip of the Month usually relates to the sales side of travel insurance. It includes handling objections and discussing current events that affect the industry.  But it often overlooks actual policy language and coverage for specific situations that do not merit a lengthy conversation. These topics are important nonetheless. 

 Do you have a question about policy coverage or how to handle a specific situation?  This is your opportunity to ask the travel insurance experts at Travel Insured.  Email your question to icymrot@travelinsured.com with “Question of the Month” in the subject line.

Q: My client is booking their cruise now but their airfare is not yet available. How can I cover them for pre-existing conditions?

A: This is by far one of the most frequently-asked questions we receive because it is such a common situation.  The answer is very simple.  First, insure the pieces of the trip that you know when the client makes their initial deposit. Follow the pre-existing condition waiver guidelines:

• The policy must be purchased within 14 days of initial trip deposit.
• The client must insure the full non-refundable trip cost.
• The clients must be medically able to travel at the time of booking.

If these qualifications have been met then your client will be eligible to keep the pre-existing condition waiver should they add costs to their trip.  When they are ready to book the remaining portion or their trip, such as airfare, shore excursions, non-refundable hotel stays or any other prepaid travel costs, you need to contact our Customer Service department. You must update the policy within 14 days of adding costs to the trip or, if not, your clients will lose their coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.

Can you smell that?  It is not the pollen that has engulfed the Northeast and aggravated our allergies, but the smell of cold hard cash getting ready to flood the pockets of many travel agencies over the course of the next 9 to12 months. There is a great deal of pent-up demand from Americans getting ready to travel again, but the question is are you ready?

We may not see an immediate turn around this summer.  However, if what we read and hear is accurate, demand for travel will begin to increase at the end of 2009 and into 2010.  However, this will not be your typical consumer.  The travel agent industry will be dealing with a cost conscious consumer who will value the service provided more then ever.  Price will be a factor (it always is) but what the consumer gets for that price will be more important.

Remember how poor business was in the fourth quarter last year?  Do not punch me for posing this question, but I ask for a reason.  Think how good the fourth quarter will be this year compared to last if you prepare now and are ready to go when full recovery gets underway.

Leading industry experts have jumped on the opportunity to talk about the value travel agents provide to the consumer.  Go back and read the headlines from just the past month alone and you will find editorial pieces written by the top agents and organizations in our industry.  What have they been writing exactly?  Well to sum it up quickly they have said that the travel agent that has become a true advisor are the one’s that will be in the best position to succeed now and when the boom comes.

Two of your agent colleagues have written articles in the past month that illustrate the opportunity available by making simple preparation.  John Frenaye of Single Parent Travel recently wrote on Travel Research Online (TRO) about having an effective elevator pitch, learning from your mistakes, and how it can be beneficial to both supplier sales reps and travel agents to work together (read both articles at www.travelresearchonline.com). 

Charlie Funk of Just Cruisin’ Plus wrote about the importance of valuing your time for the service you provide (read the article here).  Funk makes the key point that it is vital to stand behind the service that you provide.

Where am I going with this?  Two places:  First, both articles point out that if a business person does not understand their own business, then the customer will not understand the value.  When a potential client asks about your business, and you cannot answer them convincingly in 30 seconds, you greatly increase your chances of not earning the business.  In addition, anytime an agent competes directly against the internet with no other value measurement, price will win every time.

The second point speaks to the meat of these articles. Use your travel supplier partnerships that you have created, or use this preparation time to create them, in order to re-educate yourself for the industry turn around so you can create that value.  We have seen a large number of suppliers recently offer commission deals on cruises and tours. They help to sustain business in the short term, but what happens if you return to making your standard commission?  How are you going to make up for revenue if the promotional incentives quickly disappear? 

Your supplier sales reps face similar sales challenges.  Remember when your client books online your supplier sales rep loses the sales benefit just as you do.  We are a sales team. We want to work with you, not against you, to help increase your commissions. 

When I asked John Frenaye about this team dynamic he summed it up well. “Accessibility.  I know you are tied to company policy, but you are MY rep so go to bat for me. Return my call or email. This is a proactive relationship, so work with me to further both our businesses.”

This works both ways, because supplier reps cannot be effective without the same access from you that you ask from us.  If an agent does not welcome a sales rep into their office and allow the rep to share ideas, the rep is limited in the job he or she can do for you.  In applying this to travel insurance, I recently wrote an article for TRO.  I detailed specific things you can do to improve your travel insurance program.  We want to help you increase your sales because without travel agents we cannot be successful.

If your business is slow this summer, devote some free time to upgrading your knowledge through training. Work with your suppliers to create a business plan.  Learn how to target the right type of marketing to the right clients.  For example, if you are a member of Vacation.com ask about the Engagement Program and other marketing devices that are available.  Let them do the leg work so your family promotions go to families and the best deals on luxury cruising to your top clients.  There are plenty of resources available to you through your supplier sales reps that help you maximize your commissions and hit your sales goals.

Use the time you have now.  Take advantage of the commission deals the cruise lines and tour suppliers are offering, but be prepared for the impending travel boom. Know who your partners are so that when the time comes both you and your partners will be ready to rock and roll!

Each of the Worldwide Trip Protector plans has a Medical Upgrade Option that can serve as a valuable sales tool for your clients who are concerned about today’s medical headlines spotlighting flu outbreaks in destinations or on ships. While all four plans, Worldwide Trip Protector, WTP Gold, WTP Lite and WTP Lite Expanded include Emergency Accident & Sickness Medical Expense as coverage with the base premium, there are several advantages to the Medical Upgrade Option. Anxious travelers will consider the option a bargain for the added premium cost of only $25 per traveler. A first advantage is a valuable increase, except in WTP Gold, in the maximum benefits offered for both Emergency Medical Expense and Emergency Evacuation and Repatriation.

Here are the upgrades by policy: 

 A second and third advantage of the Medical Upgrade in all types of Worldwide Trip Protector plans, including WTP Gold, is to eliminate the $50 deductible in Emergency Medical Expense and to eliminate the Excess Insurance Limitation. This means that all Emergency Medical Coverage with purchase of the Medical Upgrade becomes Primary and is no longer in excess of any other medical coverage you may have.