Travel Insurance

When we are doing a booking for a trip, regardless of whether it is an airfare, a hotel, or renting a car, insurance always pops up during the booking process. Some of us find it annoying, others find it useful.

We encourage our guests to read all the terms, rules, and policies when they make a reservation. Now doesn't mean that it is a must to have travel insurance is more like "recommended," and I would say it depends.

You may ask depends on what? I will give you a few tips. (some examples below)

Let's say you are booking a room/house/apt for 2 days. This will cost you, depending on the place (hotel brand, Airbnb, VRBO...), around $400. Trip insurance may cost you $40; if something happens, you may get the $400 sometime, depending slightly on the policy. If you wouldn't make it to the destination, would it be a big loss for you?

Let's say you are booking a room/house/apt for 25 days. This will cost you, depending on the place (hotel brand, Airbnb, VRBO...), around $4000. Trip insurance may cost you $185, depending on the policy. Well, if something happens and you loose $4000, would this be a loss you can take? I understand that when you made the booking, you had the money for the trip, but if you don't make it with insurance, you get something back, and you can rebook it later.

You need to keep in mind that short-term rental platforms (Airbnb, VRBO,...) are great, but have specific cancellation policies for a specific time frame type of bookings, usually based on how early you make your booking and how long you stay.

I know sometimes this cancellation policy may not always seem right; sometimes you get a full refund, sometimes partial, and sometimes none.

First of all, short-term rentals are not Hotels with 10s or 100s of rooms, so when somebody cancels a room, or two is not a big deal. For short-term rentals, this is a big deal. 

Some of the hosts are still making payments on their properties, regardless of the management type (private or property management companies). 

For example, if someone makes a reservation for 20 days, and in the last minute, the guest will cancel, and he is expecting the money back. Well, what will happen with the host who was planning to get that money and use it to pay the house payments and utilities? The host would need to take a loss and pay out of his pocket for the house and utilities. This is not good for business. In some places, the rates are much higher (FL, CA, IL) than in others (NM). The profit margins are different. So there are cancellation policies in place to protect the host and guest, depending on the situation.

This was just an example, but this is why sometimes that extra few bucks is worth it for travel insurance, regardless of whether it is for a rental car, hotel, short-term rental, airfare, or other type of trip or rental.

Before you book/rent something, always read the cancellation policy.

Something else to keep in mind, some credit cards carry some type of insurance coverage, some don't. Read your CC terms.

Safe travels.

Annlia House