The economic downturn is forcing travel agents to get creative. Among the tactics to get clients to book vacations, they are encouraging the purchase of travel insurance sold through cruise lines and tour operators which offer "cancel for any reason" coverage. But some of these plans don't reimburse with cash, so a client's financial investment remains tied up with the supplier – not available for spending on gas, food, or mortgage payments.
Access America launches "Cancel Anytime" travel insurance
Access America, a leading travel insurance and assistance provider, has announced the introduction of a new plan – "Cancel Anytime" – providing travel agents with a cash-back alternative for their cruise and tour clients who want the greatest cancellation flexibility.
Access America's Cancel Anytime offers 80 percent cash-back, for virtually any reason, anytime a policyholder cancels their cruise or tour for an unforeseen reason. On average, this plan will cost ten percent of the client's total trip cost.
"Cancel Anytime" provides customers with maximum cancellation flexibility
Cash back, not credits
"Cancel Anytime is the result of months of development that included consumer and travel agent research," said Mark Cipolletti, vice president for marketing communications at Access America. "The research revealed that consumers want cash back, not credits, and they even recommended the percentage of cash back that they thought was fair."
Cancel Anytime's introduction will mark the most significant change to travel insurance since the events of September 11, 2001. "This plan essentially does away with Covered Reasons, the list of perils that are specifically covered in a policy, and replaces them with a short list of exclusions. This type of "all risk" insurance will be familiar to our customers because it works like their homeowner and auto insurance," said Cipolletti.
With traditional travel insurance, customers sometimes find themselves in situations where they aren't sure if they are covered. Hurricanes are perfect examples of this. "With Cancel Anytime, as long as the insurance is purchased before the hurricane becomes a foreseeable event, the customer will be covered. They won't have to wait until their destination is deemed uninhabitable," said Cipolletti. Cancel Anytime is also an excellent travel insurance option for travelers who are concerned about economic issues.
About Access America
Access America is the consumer travel insurance brand of Mondial Assistance. Access America travel insurance and assistance products are purchased by millions of travelers each year, through leading travel suppliers including resorts, airlines, travel agents and more. Access America and Mondial Assistance are part of the Allianz Group.
Cancel Anytime is underwritten by BCS Insurance Company and administered by World Access Service Corp., a company of Mondial Assistance.
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