Trip Insurance Basics For Your Next Vacation

​Last year I had a guest unexpectedly cancel her trip and call me last minute to let me know that although she had paid all her monies that she would not be arriving as scheduled.  As she had purchased trip insurance she knew her payments would be covered by insurance and she was simply letting me know that the townhouse would be vacant.

I recently did a quick internet check to learn more about trip cancellation insurance.  To my surprise, it seems that purchasing trip insurance is a relatively inexpensive option and runs on average anywhere from 4% to 10% of the total trip cost.  The lower premium tends to be for trip insurance that covers trip cancellations due to medical, job loss, or unforeseen home emergencies while the higher premium covers trip cancellations for “any reason” such as your boss cancelled your vacation.  Click the Read More below to continue reading

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What Most Policies Have in Common:
While several companies offer trip insurance/cancellation coverage, a common factor is to purchase it within 15 days of your initial trip deposit in order to obtain the most coverage options.  Additionally, it appears that the best pricing will be directly from the insurance company itself rather then through a middle provider. As with most items, it is important to read the insurance certificate to best understand the your coverage

Compare Trip Insurance Policies
Two excellent sites to help you compare trip cancellation insurance policies are Insure My Trip at https://www.insuremytrip.com/ and ​Square Mouth at ​https://www.squaremouth.com/  Having used both of them to obtain a listing of quotes, I felt that Square Mouth was easier to use but that is just a personal preference as both sites work well for comparing different policies. Step by step instructions for Square Mouth can be found at  http://www.travelinsurancereview.net/compare-travel-insurance/ for entering your information and applying filters to obtain a quote listing. For example, a quote from AIG for a family of 4 with 2 children under 18 and Mom/Dad age 40 and 50 respectively totaled 7% of the total rental amount and includes a host of covered items including loss of employment, illness, weather related events, etc..  Click to enlarge sample Insurance Certificate shown below.

SAMPLE AIG TRIP CANCELLATION CERTIFICATE OF COVERAGES

​Trip cancellation insurance starts as a basic package and includes many travel related services including medical coverage.  From the basic package, you can add additionally coverages such as adventure sports coverage or international medical coverage. Both Insure My Trip and Square Mouth have filters to allow you find the insurance program that best fits your needs. Help on how to use the site filters can be found HERE.
 
While trip cancellation insurance may not be necessary for everyone or for every trip but there may be instances when the option of added coverage can give you piece of mind as you plan your family’s vacation several months in advance.