Trip protection: Choosing the best fit for you

Jun 03, 2019 | Aon

So, you’ve purchased your dream vacation and want to protect your investment. Now what?
 
Travel protection comes in many different forms, factoring in many different elements – including how far a person is traveling, how long they’re staying, overall trip cost, final destination and more. Choosing your trip protection doesn’t have to be hard; it’s all about understanding your options.
 
  • Travel supplier plans: Trip protection purchased through your travel supplier – like your cruise line or tour operator – is typically customized and bundles travel insurance with other benefits and services, like 24/7 travelers’ assistance, together in one convenient package. Plans are also tailored to the type of trip being taken and the specific demographics of that travel supplier. These plans give travelers seamless coverage in one easy to purchase package. Purchasing directly through a supplier at the same time as booking travel also ensures that the traveler locks in coverage at that time, with coverage designed for their trip.
 
  • Credit card coverage: Many of today’s credit cards offer valuable perks for every dollar spent – sometimes including certain travel insurance benefits. However, exactly what those benefits are, when they apply, and how to leverage them varies widely from card to card. Before relying on travel insurance through your credit card, be sure to do research, read the fine print, or better yet, call your provider and ask specific questions. Sometimes trying to protect your trip with only the benefits provided through your credit card means missing out on important benefits, such as CFAR, emergency medical evacuation or the ability to waive some exclusions such as pre-existing conditions.
 
  • Travel insurance aggregator: You could also try to act as your own insurance agent by using a travel insurance aggregator site to review and compare many policies side-by-side. Aggregators give you access to sometimes hundreds of different options that you can then review to try and find the best fit. But this vast array of options does come with some additional required legwork. Even the savviest of travelers still need to sort through the various terms and conditions of multiple policies in order to select appropriate coverage for their trip.
 
“Every travel protection plan is different, so it’s crucial to understand the difference,” said Beth Godlin, president of Aon Affinity Travel Practice. “No matter how simple or complex the travel protection plan is, there are details and nuances that travelers should understand in order to make sure they have the coverage they expect.”
 
 
 
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