Friday, April 26, 2024
Zac Wilson
DAYDREAM ACHIEVER
As a Certified Travel Advisor an ASTA Verified Travel Advisor and a CLIA Master Cruise Counselor, Zac Wilson is the owner of Daydream Vacations Travel Agency in Granbury, www.DaydreamVacations.com.
Is travel insurance right for you? Is it worth the cost? What does it cover? As a travel advisor, I receive these questions daily. Although many say the answer is not easy, I disagree. Buy travel insurance!
Before I answer any questions, I always tell my clients “I am a travel advisor. I am not a licensed insurance agent and cannot answer specific questions related to the policy or claims.” Then I immediately say, “But I highly recommend the purchase of travel insurance.”
Here is my personal experience as a travel advisor related to travel insurance with my clients over the past eight years.
A wonderful lady celebrating her 40th anniversary on a cruise in the Caribbean was surprised with the passing of a kidney stone in the Bahamas. She had to go to a hospital while in port. Her regular health insurance didn’t cover it due to the international hospital location. The cruise line insurance paid the $5,000-ish claim.
Alaska Cruises are very popular, as they are a great way to visit more remote locations like Skagway. However, if you have a hospital-related emergency like a stroke, heart attack, broken bone, or the like, you will need to be taken by helicopter or floatplane to the neighboring hospital. This is called Emergency Evacuation coverage found in most travel insurance policies. The flight costs between $50,000 and $70,000.
Travel is basically non-refundable. Whether it’s a cruise, airline, resort package, tour, etc, they all have a cancellation policy. It’s filled with important dates that describe how much is non-refundable and when it changes from 25% to 50% to 100%. But the truth is nearly all the cancellations I process as a travel advisor happen within the last week before travel when it’s 100% non-refundable. Whether you’re spending $5,000 on a couple’s getaway, $10,000 on a family vacation, or $20,000 or more on that lifetime milestone daydream vacation, you don’t want to lose your money to an unexpected cancellation.
Airlines are not dependable. There, I said it. Today’s travelers are experiencing more delays, schedule changes, and cancellations than I have ever seen before. You want trip delay, lost bags, and cancellation coverage!
No one wants to talk about it, but your parents are getting older. It happens too often that right before a couple or a family departs for their trip that their parents/grandparents become hospitalized or pass away. This is the most heart-wrenching need for cancelling an expensive trip. And no matter how much you plead, beg, and cry, non-refundable is still non-refundable. Please, buy insurance. I hear it all the time, “I don’t need insurance because I am healthy.” You may be healthy, but it’s not just about you.
It's true that if your trip has no unexpected issues that the cost of travel insurance appears to be a wasteful added cost. However, peace of mind is worth a lot.
Zac@DaydreamVacations.com | 817-559-7150
