ISSUES
How Travel Insurance Has Changed
G
Group t ravel and t ravel insurance
i n t h e g ro u p . R e g a rd l e s s o f t h e
go ha nd-i n-ha nd, now more t ha n
organizer’s personal opinion on the
e ver ! W h i le t he u r ge to t r avel i s
appropriateness of travel protection
boom i ng , t ravelers st i l l have some
plans,
a p p r e he n s ion a b ou t t he i r t r a v e l
it b e m a d e avail abl e t o th e t r ip
invest ment.
participants.
response,
tou r
should
According to a recent NerdWallet
c u stomers to con sider pu rcha si ng
su r vey, on ly 20% of U.S. t ravelers
travel insurance.
protected t he value of t heir leisure
t he
pandemic,
tour
trips with travel insurance pre-COVID.
operators ret u r ned money to t hei r
The same survey reported 45% of U.S.-
clients when trips could not operate,
based travelers were likely to purchase
and in turn, sought refunds from their
t r a v e l i n s u r a nc e p o s t-p a ndem ic .
suppliers, impacting the entire travel
W it h more rest r ic t ive ter m s a nd
value chain. Travel businesses were
conditions limiting traveler refunds
g rou nd to a ha lt, forci ng operators
and tour operators more aggressively
to ret h i n k t hei r r i sk ma nagement
enc ou rag i ng (a nd i n some c a ses
st rateg ies to avoid f ut u re no-fau lt
ma ndat i ng) t hat cl ient s pu rchase
r e f u nd s . For m a n y, t he s olut ion
travel insurance, it’s no surprise the
was to proact ively prov ide a t ravel
number of travelers interested in travel
i n su ra nce of fer i ng to t he t raveler
insurance more t han doubled from
alongside the trip purchase.
pre-pandemic levels.
P ra c t i c e point e r: W h en book ing
A word to the wise: Be careful about
g rou p t rav e l , op e ra t or s n or m a l l y
descr ibi ng coverages ava i lable or
interact
organizers—
the amount that may or may not be
not necessarily ever y individual
paid on a claim. This can be difficult
with
trip
GROUPS TODAY March /April 2 02 3
CONTRIBUTORS:
insist
operators shou ld encou rage a l l
During
6
In
operators
By Jef f Ment and Te d M u h l n e r
JEFF MENT is Managing Partner of Ment Law Group and has decades of experience in counseling travel companies, from operators to vendors and trade associations.
TED MUHLNER is Co-President of Redpoint Travel Protection, a provider of travel protection solutions including medical and security evacuation and assistance services to travel organizations, corporations, academic institutions, and consumers.