Travelers brace for hurricane season

Posted 6/7/18

As the 2018 hurricane season begins June 1, travel insurance agents expect a 20% increase in insurance sales.

Last year’s destructive hurricane season wreaked havoc on travel plans.

That …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Subscribe to continue reading. Already a subscriber? Sign in

Get 50% of all subscriptions for a limited time. Subscribe today.

You can cancel anytime.
 

Please log in to continue

Log in

Travelers brace for hurricane season

Posted

As the 2018 hurricane season begins June 1, travel insurance agents expect a 20% increase in insurance sales.

Last year’s destructive hurricane season wreaked havoc on travel plans.

That led to a record number of trip cancellation claims and travel insurance sales.

Hurricane Irma, Harvey and Maria and Nate also helped drive online searches for travel insurance to its highest level in five years.

According to InsureMy-Trip, 75% of customers will choose travel insurance.

This provides such benefits as medical coverage, emergency travel services, baggage protection, trip cancellation and trip interruption coverage.

This may help you with reimbursement for prepaid, non-refundable trip costs if you must cancel a trip due to severe weather covered by your polcy: It is a good idea to ask your agent about this.

When airlines and cruise lines cancel due to weather, many plans require that the cancellation be for a certain number of hours, usually 24 to 48.

Some policies cover:

1. Cancel due to a hurricane warning: when a destination is under a NOAAissued Hurricane warning.

2. Cancel because of storm damage at destination: when a hotel, resort, or vacation rental is devastated and made uninhabitable by a storm.

3. Cancel because home is destroyed by storm: when the home of a traveler sustains destructive storm damage.

4. Cancel trip for any reason: this is an optional time-sensitive benefit available on some plans, that allows travelers to cancel a trip for any reason. Reimbursement is usually 50-75% of the pre-paid, nonrefundable trip cost. This benefit includes specific eligibility requirements.

Tip: Travelers concerned about hurricanes should purchase travel insurance early. Once a storm starts forming, it’s considered a foreseeable event and insurance coverage will no longer be available to cover losses related to that storm. Only a few plans offer coverage for a NOAA-issued hurricane warning.

“Choosing to buy insurance before a storm is named is a smart investment,” says InsureMyTrip CEO Jim Grace.

If you’re interested in learning more about protection during hurricane season, visit www.InsureMy-Trip.com or call 1-800-551-4635.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here