October 2009 Newsletter
Travel Industry Award
Travel Insured Wins 2009 Nexion Agent Choice Award
Travel Insured International was the winner of a 2009 Agent Choice Award for Best Sales Support (Insurance) from the host agency Nexion, a subsidiary of Sabre Holdings. The award was conferred by Nexion Inc. General Manager Jackie Friedman, CTC, at an Oct. 3 luncheon during the 2009 CoNexion annual conference at the Hilton Irvine Hotel in Irvine, CA. Travel Insured’s National Accounts Manager Kevin Herlihy accepted the award on behalf of the company.
In a personal congratulatory message sent to Herlihy announcing the award, Friedman noted the sentiment of Nexion agents in voting Travel Insured their recognition. “It is clear that our agents value the tools and resources that you provide to help them ‘accelerate their success,’” Friedman wrote. The Nexion award marked the second time in two months that Travel Insured was honored with a prestigious travel industry recognition for excellence. ASTA at the 2009 industry TradeShow in September presented its Supplier of the Year Award to Cynthia Perry, CTC, Travel Insured’s Vice President of Sales and Account Relations.
Giving Back
Travel Insured Donates $6,500 to SYTA Youth Foundation
Travel Insured International renewed its commitment this year to SYTA, the Student & Youth Travel Association, by donating $6,500 to the SYTA Youth Foundation. The donation was made possible in part by Travel Insured contributing a portion of income generated from bookings of its insurance plans by SYTA member tour operators. The purpose of the foundation is to help finance travel experiences for deserving students and youth that will positively impact their lives.
Travel Insured’s donation check was presented by Kevin Herlihy, National Accounts Manager, to Bob Hoffman, the Immediate Past Chairman of the SYTA Youth Foundation Board of Trustees, who is the Director of Broadway Inbound. Travel Insured International has been involved in SYTA and its Youth Foundation for over five years. The company works with the group to help SYTA educators, students, parents and member travel providers protect the prepaid financial investments that young travelers make in their student travel experiences. Travel Insured offers five different student group plans whose details can be found by clicking on Group Travel Insurance on the home page at www.travelinsured.com.
Additionally, Travel Insured’s family of Worldwide Trip Protector plans is available to students traveling independently, with each plan offering an array of travel protection options designed to fit their individual needs.
October Sales Tip – from Travel Insured’s Isaac Cymrot
Valuable Single Supplements Coverage is Included in WTP Plans
Before we begin today I want you think about the last time you booked a trip for two non-related clients. The specifics of the trip are unimportant. Do you recall what the single supplement price would have been if one traveler needed to cancel but the other decided to continue with the trip? Did you know the supplement amount and inform your clients of the potential extra cost should this situation occur?
Although such travel booking situations are not the norm, they are also not uncommon. Consider the recent story reported by Christopher Elliot and posted on CNN.com, called Socked for my friend's single supplement. The tour operator’s policy in the story is common industry practice. If this has never happened in your business, have you ever seen the potential for a similar situation? This CNN story perfectly fits my sales tip of today because the reason one friend needed to cancel was a covered reason for trip cancellation in our Worldwide Trip Protector plans. The cancellation would have been covered under the category of sickness, injury or death.
Coverage for single supplements when a traveling companion cancels for a covered reason is a value feature in our policies that is often forgotten. Too often your clients will get caught up in what happens if I have to cancel, or if a family member gets sick. They often forget that the most important person is the one they are sharing a room with on their trip.
We all dread a client’s statement that “I’m going no matter what happens” as their excuse for not purchasing insurance. We know there is always something that can potentially occur that would be covered if that client purchased a policy. Having the coverage would save the customer time, hassle and money. In the situation reported on CNN the friend was being honest. She was going on the trip regardless of whether her companion was traveling with her or not. The problem was that because only the friend who cancelled bought insurance the one who traveled still took an unnecessary loss.
I hear from agents every day that the most effective way for them to sell our policies is to recite to clients the true travel stories that have happened in the past. Print this CNN article and keep it tucked in a safe place. The next time you need to reference this story to help convince that reluctant client you will have it close by. Keep in mind that travel insurance protects family members and traveling companions. If your client is sharing a room with someone, related or not, it cannot hurt to talk to them about the potential of paying a single supplement and how to protect their bank accounts against it!
Consumer Advisory
Remind Clients that Complying with “Secure Flight” Avoids Delays
Southwest Airlines at the beginning of October became the latest carrier to inform its regular passengers that it has joined the “Secure Flight” program launched by the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). Most U.S.-based carriers are now requiring the new passenger information with which TSA screeners will be comparing names to government “No-Fly” security lists.
Passengers are being required when they purchase an airline ticket to present their full name, date of birth and gender that exactly matches the same information on their government-issued photo ID that they will present to pass through TSA airport security. A TSA spokeswoman told the online news service Wired.com that it is unwise for passengers to decline to provide the information because they feel it invades their privacy. “At the very least there will be a delay at the ticket counter and, ultimately, they could be denied a boarding pass,” said the TSA spokesman.
Travel agents should remind clients of the required information and its importance in avoiding an unnecessary airport delay. Remember that a delay caused by a traveler’s failure to comply with any government travel regulation is not a covered reason for trip delay coverage under travel insurance policies. Additionally, when clients are combining air tickets with a prepaid land or sea vacation, their required birth date information for Secure Flight provides the travel agent the opportunity to quote the price of a Worldwide Trip Protector plan along with the client’s travel purchase. Take advantage of this new travel insurance sales opportunity!
News Update
TV Travel Editor Greenberg Moves from NBC to CBS
After being disappointed when travel editor Peter Greenberg’s position at NBC’s Today and MSNBC ended earlier this year after a successful 14-year run, we were pleased to see that the CBS Early Show and other CBS news programs, became Greenberg’s new home base for travel reporting starting last month (September). Although not everyone selling travel always agrees with Greenberg’s highly-opinionated observations about the travel destinations and suppliers he experiences, he performs the important role for travel agents of stimulating interest among network television audience members in travel.
Most important for Travel Insured is Greenberg’s steady, strong advocacy that travel insurance is a necessary part of travel planning. Consider this paragraph from a Greenberg article that appeared on the MSN Travel site, titled “When is Travel Insurance Worthwhile?” With observations like this, we’re glad Greenburg is back in television:
“While there are no definitive numbers yet, anecdotal evidence suggests that even more people (than 30% of travelers) have purchased travel in the past year,” Greenberg wrote. “In an unstable economy, when people aren’t sure whether they’ll have a job next month, or six months from now, it’s worth paying to have peace of mind that you can cancel your trip at any time, for any reason.”
Facing Traveler Resistance
Writer Asks 3 Questions to “Save Consumers from Vacation Ruin”
The Florida Sun-Sentinel, published in Ft. Lauderdale, is the latest consumer newspaper to reveal a silver lining in public concern about U.S. economic recovery. A positive trend is a new appreciation in the consumer media for the value of travel insurance. The Sun-
Sentinel’s business writer, Jaclyn Giovis, offered readers three questions presented by the U.S. Travel Insurance Association (USTiA) to determine if they need travel insurance.
• Can I afford to lose my vacation investment if something goes wrong?
• If I have to cut my trip short because of an emergency, can I afford to fly home?
• Does my health insurance cover me while traveling in foreign countries?
In addition to the USTiA recommending that anyone answering “no” to any of the questions needs travel insurance, the Sun-Sentinel article wisely talks to Steven Hattem, vice president of the agency CruisesOne, for a piece of key advice. “Travel agents go beyond the scary language [of travel insurance] and help consumers understand what travel insurance really does to protect them,” Hattem is quoted saying.
This is where you, the travel agent, comes in. Asking the three questions with clients, and then helping translate – or getting a travel insurance expert at Travel Insured to help translate - any confusing insurance language into everyday conversation that customers understand, is your key to increasing travel insurance sales. The “3 Questions” approach to engaging clients in travel insurance conversation can help them avoid “vacation ruin.”
Question of the Month From the “No Question is Dumb” Mailbag:
Q: Is there a way to compare both pricing and coverage on your website?
A: Yes! We tried to make the process easier at www.travelinsured.com by putting the Quick Quote engine on the main page when you login. If you look below the blue toolbar on the left hand side of the screen you will find the Quick Quote feature. All you have to do is fill in travel dates, ages (not birthdates) and trip cost per person and you will receive a display of our retail products side by side with pricing. From here you will have the option to purchase the policy and be linked to the purchase page that you are familiar with.
Speaking of the Travel Insured website here is a reminder: Commission Statements are now available electronically and are posted when your commission checks are printed. If you are an agency owner or administrator you will have access to your monthly statements in the Agency Access, Agent Administration section of the website.
Do you have a question about policy coverage or how to handle a specific situation? This is your opportunity to ask the travel insurance experts at Travel Insured. Email your question to icymrot@travelinsured.com with “Question of the Month” in the subject line.