Do You Need Travel Insurance?

The subject of travel insurance is a critical one when planning any vacation. After all, vacation costs can be pretty significant and protecting those dollars should be a prime concern for any traveler. But the question that many individuals have is "when should I buy insurance and when should I consider declining the protection?"
The bottom line with travel insurance, like any other insurance, is risk. How much of your travel purchase is being put at risk. In other words, if you were to cancel your trip, how much, if any of your total trip cost, would you get back. For instance, most airline tickets, while non-refundable, are re-usable. So, for a fee, most passengers can re-use that ticket up to a certain point in the future. You may opt not to purchase insurance if you believe you will travel within that window. Also, hotels and resorts have varying cancellation policies. Some will allow you to cancel the same day as your arrival and receive a refund, while others charge a cancellation penalty for cancellations up to 21 days prior, or even longer. Again, you need to assess your risk before purchasing the protection. As for cruises, we always recommend our clients purchase the trip insurance. Cruise lines will penalize you 100% of your cruise cost for cancellations made within approximately 14 days prior to departure. And even for cancellations inside of 60-70 days, penalties are assessed.
The other major concern, especially when traveling outside the country, is protection while you are abroad. Emergencies happen and you want to make sure you are prepared for these occasions. A good trip insurance policy will cover you for medical expenses you may incur that aren't covered by your health insurance company. It will also cover you for medical evacuations in the case that you had to be flown back to the U.S. Such services can be extremely expensive. As a result of these risks, we recommend that all of our clients carry at least a policy that will cover them for these unexpected expenses when traveling outside the U.S.
Working with your travel agent is critical when deciding on what type of insurance to purchase. Five Star Travel uses only the most secure insurance agencies in the industry. Cancellations don't happen often, but when they do, most travelers are very thankful they purchased insurance. However, there are occasions where purchasing insurance may be futile and only serve to line the coffers of the insurance agency. This is where we as your travel counselors will guide you through the process so you can make the most educated decision in the end. After all, nobody wants to spend money they don't need to spend. But, even more important, nobody wants to stress on their vacation not knowing if they are covered for the unexpected.