Adventures in Luxury Travel

Mimi Lichtenstein 0:01
If you're a traveler that believes luxury and adventure are not mutually exclusive, then you're in the right place. Every week I take you to a new destination with one of my partners, sharing the hidden gems over the top experiences and active adventures to inspire your next family vacation. I'm Mimi Lichtenstein, an experienced Travel Advisor who has also traveled with my three teenagers and my husband around the world. Let's get started. Welcome to Episode 42 of adventures in luxury travel. Today, Shawn and I take on a topic that some say may be the least exciting topic related to travel insurance. However, Shawn is here to make this topic interesting Angeles confusing so that you are equipped to make the best decision for you. We help you understand when insurance is needed and when it's not. And share hypothetical examples that illustrate how it can help safeguard the money you invested in your trip. Today on Adventures in luxury travel, we are talking about what some people might think is not a very exciting topic with travel, travel insurance. But Shawn, my guest here today is going to help me make it interesting, informative, and maybe a little bit fun. Shawn, welcome to the show.

Shawn 1:18
Oh, thanks. I'll do my best.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:21
We'll try. Well, Shawn, tell us a little bit. So you work for a company Travelex, which is a travel insurance provider.

Shawn 1:29
Yes, Travelex insurance services based at Omaha, Nebraska.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:33
And I will give you the introduction that I personally have called on you many times to get on the phone with one of my clients who has questions about what if this happens? What if that happens? So you've always been such an amazing resource for me, which is why I wanted to have you on to ask all these questions, even though you work for one particular company. We'll talk quite a bit about your company because I work with you guys, mostly, but also a few times where people might go to another company for a different reason. Sure. Okay, so people think travel insurance is confusing, as did I before I was in this industry, and sometimes still do, which is why I love having you on speed dial. When things are confusing, it's hard for people to actually act on them. So they might just say forget it. I don't know if anything's covered, I'm not going to buy it. But today, we thought we would go through a lot of questions that people have sent me or have asked in the past, and Shawn can answer them and help you decide if it's something that you're going to want to get for your next trip. Or maybe you just don't need it. What I like is Shawn simplifies the complex. And there was a quote by Christopher Elliott, who was a consumer advocate saying you should consider travel insurance for every trip, but not every trip needs to be insured. And I agree with him. And I think today, and by the end of this, you'll probably feel similarly. So let's start out with the main buckets. So for travel insurance, there's main buckets, I have cancellation, interruption delay and medical. Rather than diving into the nitty gritty details of each of those. I thought it would be fun to make up a few examples, and I'll throw them out to you and you let me know how it would be either covered or how you know, somebody might handle that situation. Okay, okay.

Shawn 3:12
And I'll answer these in the context of how you know Travelex in terms of our policies, you know it but generally, they would apply, you know, across all travel insurance,

Mimi Lichtenstein 3:21
okay. And we'll also say you guys have a couple of different levels of policy Travelex is select policies, the one I mainly work with, with my clients. So most of the lens that we'll be looking through today is that,

Shawn 3:34
you know, luxury travel and for family trips, it's gonna be the best plan.

Mimi Lichtenstein 3:39
Yeah, and there's one really good bonus for that we'll talk about in a few minutes. Okay, so first example, you're a lawyer, you're married with two kids, you plan to bucketlist Safari a year and a half in advance $100,000 The Safari is going to cost you a month before you're expected to leave your number one clients IPO is delayed till the fifth day of your trip, and you have to cancel it. What happens without travel insurance? I can answer that. So you probably are gonna have 100% loss on the land portion of your trip. And perhaps if you have a flight that gives you credits, you might get credits that you can use within a year on your flights to you know, go back another time or perhaps on another trip. But if you have travel insurance, how does that work with you guys?

Shawn 4:22
So that would be a trip cancellation. It'd be under trip cancellation coverage, right? So we call it Cancel for work reasons. And that is a standard coverage or standard benefit with travel select. So in this instance where this attorney needs to cancel because of an eye you know, an impending IPO. Basically what he would need to do to cover all of his non refundable prepaid costs is provide documentation typically a notarized letter from an officer, you know, at his firm or at his company, explaining the reason the IPO and why he's going to be unable to basically take his vacation so A notarized letter that is a covered reason to cancel. And that would apply to his costs as well as any of his traveling companion or family members costs.

Mimi Lichtenstein 5:08
Okay. All right. So that's super helpful. I want to point out to that Travelex another reason that I like working with you guys, you will have Cancel for business reasons coverage for someone who is an entrepreneur, or someone who is a partner in a firm, whereas some other travel insurance companies don't actually allow that they only allow it if you are an employee at a company. Okay? So another example, you are the CFO of a publicly traded company, you have three kids and one is in college, you don't want to play on your family's bucket list Safari trip, because you know, either works going to interfere like it always does for the prior vacations, or maybe your college kid is going to get a job and they're not going to be able to go. So you never plan the trip, and you never get to go on safari in Africa. Instead, you could take the leap, book the trip, hope for the best. And then perhaps this might happen three months before you go, your college daughter calls you up and said, Hey, Dad, I got a job, you know, in my industry that I want to work in after college, I can't possibly go to Africa, they're saying that I need to start June 1, then what happens?

Shawn 6:15
So in that essence, it could be a cancel for work reasons as well. So the daughter's company or her new employer would have to stipulate, you know, in terms of documentation that she is unable to travel, you know, due to the way her work requirements. And again, that would you know, apply that trip cancellation, if it's covered would apply to the traveling companions on this trip, as long as their itineraries can be matched.

Mimi Lichtenstein 6:39
Okay. And you had mentioned that to me before, and I thought this actually could happen in my life. So if my daughter couldn't go, my college kid couldn't go, the rest of us actually will go, so we would only probably cancel for her. So if it's a covered reason, then you would get the reimbursement back for her portion of the trip. But if it was a parent who couldn't go or you know, a single parent who was going somewhere with three kids, and the parent was required to be at work and had this notarized documentation, then all of the trip costs would also be covered.

Shawn 7:08
Correct? Correct. So all the non refundable prepaid? Yeah,

Mimi Lichtenstein 7:11
thank you. Okay. Good example. All right. Let's transition to medical issues. Lots of times people have medical issues on trips, you never, of course, think you're gonna have an issue. But sometimes that happens, I've had clients who have had to cancel ahead of time because they had a medical issue or when they were away, they needed a root canal. So you know, somebody gets stung by a jellyfish, somebody else steps on a sea urchin, someone you know, all sorts of things can happen. So what if something minor happens, for example, you sprained your ankle, or maybe you get stung by a jellyfish? What are the steps that you need to take? In that case? Well,

Shawn 7:47
you know, first, first and foremost, you got to get you know, you got to get the care, right. So if it's an emergency, super emergency situation, 911, or, you know, whatever the country's emergency code is, that would be the first call. The second top call would be to our world travel protection provider assistance provider. So on everyone's confirmation of coverage, they receive all the emergent phone number for their trip, as well, a travel select, you're invited to download a travel on app that also has all those details. And the travel on app actually has an SOS button. So in that instance, you hit SOS, it's going to go to our travel assistance provider, and they will find the nearest clinic or medical facility, you know, to get an x ray, MRI, whatever, you know, the the medical requirement is, so that should be your second call after getting the care that you need. But they will arrange all of that assistance and if they need guarantee payment with that medical facility, and the travel assistance provider will provide you know, a guarantee.

Mimi Lichtenstein 8:45
Okay, good to know. And then so you already mentioned a little bit about an emergency situation, if you're in a car accident, or you have some other dramatic health issue you call 911. You worry a little bit about the insurance aspect of it after you take care of getting yourself out there. Okay. But then it's similar steps to the other, it's just that you're doing them after you're taking care of yourself. Yeah,

Shawn 9:09
absolutely. You know, a family member or traveling companion that has access to you know, that document to that confirmation of coverage with a number or you know, the the insurance phone and go on the app. And again, hit the SOS button and be connected. So the medical team on the other end is well will coordinate with the attending physician to you know, coordinate all the coverage as it relates to the insured.

Mimi Lichtenstein 9:33
Okay, great. And then on everyone's mind lately, our favorite topic COVID So a lot of places that we travel outside the country right now are requiring COVID tests before you travel. Sure, you know, never in our life before this if you had like a cough, you know, would you have considered canceling your trip, but now you might have no symptoms but you have a positive COVID test and you literally cannot go on your trip no matter how good you feel. though. So if you have trouble X select insurance and two days before your trip, you test positive for COVID. As you go into your clinic to get a test to go to Puerto Rico, let's say what happens.

Shawn 10:14
So, you know, first and foremost, if you go into a clinic, you test positive, obviously, you want to get that documentation of the positive test, because that's going to be required and that trip cancellation claim. So we have treated COVID, like any other sickness, injury before departure or while traveling. So again, a positive test at a medical facility. And even you know, with now, where there's home tests, as long as that home test is viewed via telemedicine, right, so a lot of these home test kits now have the ability where you can get on a video chat with a medical professional, right, and that medical professional kind of monitors you taking that that test, you know, doing the swab, you know, testing excetera. So as long as that video is captured with a telemedicine professional, that's also eligible for trip cancellation as well. So you don't you know, sometimes it's really hard, especially in today's environment to get into a facility, the home test, as long as it's, you know, video telemedicine, then that would be eligible for claim as well.

Mimi Lichtenstein 11:15
Okay. And I think that all those video telemedicine ones or antigen tests, right? None of those are PCR tests, or I'm not 100% Sure. Okay, but it sounds like it doesn't matter. It could be either. Yep. Yep, can be

Shawn 11:26
either one. As long as it's, you know, again, it's got to be that that video of the steps and you know, now everything's done.

Mimi Lichtenstein 11:33
Okay, awesome. And then another example, where you're actually on the trip, and now you have to test before you come back to the United States. Because you have to do that, you know, everywhere, and you test positive for COVID. Again, you might feel fabulous, but you test positive for COVID. What happens?

Shawn 11:49
All right, so there are actually a number of benefits that would apply. So if it's two days before departure, it's probably you know, your trip is pretty much done at that point. So if you test positive, and now you have to quarantine for, you know, 510 14 days, whatever it is, with travel select, there's a maximum benefit for AAA of $2,000 per person, or 250 per day to assist with those. Hotel and meal expenses related to that delay, right. So AAA benefit 2000 per person up to 250 a day to offset those costs. Now, let's say you test positive, you know, you're on a two week trip, but you test positive a week into your trip, right, maybe you're going between a you know, a European country, whatever it might be. So now you got a quarantine mid trip, you're gonna miss a whole week worth of your trip, and it may cost you additional money to get back home because now your trip is all you know, messed up. So tripling the 2000 that I mentioned, to cover the quarantine expenses, trip interruption would apply in this instance. So anything that was non refundable and prepaid, that you're unable to participate in, because now you have to quarantine so that that additional week that you had, all those non refundable expenses are eligible for claim under trip interruption up to 150% of your insured trip costs. And there's quite a bit of coverage there for those items, as well as any additional transportation costs to either catch up within that same trip, or get back home if your fare changes that can also be claimed under trip interruption. And then of course, the medical assistance. So you know, we'll help find a quarantine facility will help get you you know, additional tests as well as any you know, you know, physician or nurse care or PA care that you require, because you know you're demonstrating symptoms. So a number of benefits will apply while you're traveling.

Mimi Lichtenstein 13:44
Great. And so you gave a good example of if you're going from one country to another, but I also reminded myself that there's quite a few countries now where you have to test again when you get in country. So you might have to test two days before you leave. But then when you get there, you have to test again. Now that is riskier than the places where you just test before you go because you might test negative first and then you arrive and you test positive. So good point to mention, because then you're missing pretty much your entire trip. But that goes into the trip interruption, I think you said

Shawn 14:16
option. Yeah. And that provides the most coverage 150% of your insurance trip costs. So yeah, even above and beyond, you know, whatever you insure if you have an additional 50% for those expenses that are related to interruption,

Mimi Lichtenstein 14:29
okay, really good to know, and really important for anybody who's going anywhere where you have to test when you arrive,

Shawn 14:35
you know, those three benefits, what we would call post departure benefits. So once you've left on your trip, those really you know, when you're thinking about planning a trip, I think those benefits in and of themselves, help build confidence and travel. So if something does happen, you know, test positive, what have you, you've got those three benefits that are going to protect you.

Mimi Lichtenstein 14:55
Right. And so I mean, it might have been two years ago, three years ago now that you wouldn't thought you needed, you know, travel insurance. But for these particular cases, you know, it just makes you feel better about going that, you know, there's going to be some assistance if something goes wrong. I do want to point out though, that for example, if you happen to be renting out the triplex suite at the top of the Ritz Carlton in the Turks and Caicos, that costs $15,000, a night trip delay or whatever it is, is not going to cover you staying there for your quarantine period, it is meant, as you said, to assist with the cost. So you either will be moving to a less expensive room if you want to, or you could stay there and you would just pay for a good chunk of it out of your pocket, and then a portion of it would be reimbursed.

Shawn 15:46
Yeah, and I know a lot of you know, hotels and resorts are pretty flexible when it comes to quarantines and, you know, they have discounted rates or even, you know, in some instances or providing, you know, coverage for this hotel expenses related to a quarantine. Yeah,

Mimi Lichtenstein 16:00
yeah. And it really vary so greatly across hotels. So I say if you want to know, ask in advance, or just hope it doesn't happen. I guess one of the to

Shawn 16:12
be, you know, working with a Travel Advisor makes a big difference, right? Because you know, those hotels or properties that you know,

Mimi Lichtenstein 16:19
yeah, well, it's funny, because I did hear of one that isn't somewhere that I send clients, but someone I know had clients at this place in Mexico, and they literally kicked them out after they tested positive for COVID. They kick them out of the hotel, I'm not sure where they went. But we obviously don't want that to happen to any of our clients.

Shawn 16:38
If you're one of our plans, obviously just call our persistence provider. We'll get you a place

Mimi Lichtenstein 16:43
find you somewhere. Okay, good. Yes. We don't want any homeless travelers wandering around. Okay, what about Cancel for any reason? So this has been a hot topic, because people will let's just talk about a couple of things that aren't covered. Fear of travel, for example, isn't covered change of rules by countries isn't covered. If you had an existing trip to the Bahamas, and all of a sudden the rule changes and the coroner or you have to be there's a curfew at five o'clock every night. And you're like, Well, why do I want to go to the Bahamas if I have to be in at five o'clock every night? Those aren't quote unquote covered reasons to cancel. But what some people do do is buy Cancel for any reason insurance. So will you tell us a little bit more about what that is? What it covers? You know what the limitations are? Etc?

Shawn 17:30
Yeah, so yeah, so some folks are going to need that you know, that additional confidence or protection in their investment, the acronym is CFR or Cancel for any reason, in this instance of that you want to add that like as a rider to your travel select policy, right, it'll give you the ability to literally Cancel for any reason, as long as you do it 48 hours in advance of your trip. I mean, literally, you could wake up with that hair, as long as it's 48 hours before departure, you could cancel your trip. But there are some restrictions with CIFAR. Obviously giving given folks the ability to cancel for any reason, there's some pretty stringent rules around CFR. So first and foremost, it's only going to provide coverage up to 50% of your insured trip costs. So if I have to cancel for a non covered reason, right, a travel restriction, a country's closest border, and I'm going to cancel my trip, which is not a covered reason, you would use your CIFAR rider to cover that and it's only going to cover 50% of your insured trip costs. And the limit per person that you can insure is $10,000. And the other rule around CIFAR, or Cancel for any reason is that you have to ensure 100% of your your costs. So your trip per person has got to be under $10,000. And then if you're going to cancel for a noncovered reason, you're only going to receive back 50%. Now

Mimi Lichtenstein 18:53
is the $10,000 the 50% or the $10,000. The total per person costs,

Shawn 18:58
the max is the total max that you can insure.

Mimi Lichtenstein 19:02
So you're most gonna get back then $5,000 per person,

Shawn 19:06
correct? Okay. Yep. In that instance, where you insure 10. Okay. Yep. Okay. Now, the one thing I'll just make clear, because I get this question quite a bit is, so I have CIFAR on my policy, right. But I'm going to cancel for a covered reason, right? Yes. So one of my family has gotten sick, a family member has gotten sick. I'm not going to go on this trip because he or she is sick. Now I'm canceling for covered reason. In this instance, I'm going to be covered at 100% of my non refundable prepaid costs, because it's a covered reason as opposed to a non covered reason.

Mimi Lichtenstein 19:38
Yeah. And that actually happened to my client over Christmas. That was my next example, which was, you know, you and your spouse are going to take your four adult children to Maui the last week of December, so it's a big ticket item. And it's got really restrictive cancellation penalties because it's over Christmas. So you're nervous because As COVID is happening in the world, and who knows between now in the next 11 months, what Maui is going to be like, who knows, maybe everyone in Maui will have COVID And you won't want to go. Or maybe again, the you know, the governor shuts down the islands or something. So you get cancelled for any reason insurance just in case some of your trip will be covered. But two weeks before departure, your retina spontaneously detaches, and you need to have an emergency surgery. And when you have your retina reattached, I've learned you can't fly for two months, because of pressure and all that. And so my client was pleasantly surprised, because like, in his mind, he was going to get back 50%. But because this was a covered reason, he would get back 100% of the coverage for his trip.

Shawn 20:45
Absolutely. Yep. Sorry, I got ahead of you a little bit there.

Mimi Lichtenstein 20:49
Yeah, no, no, that's fine. I think I think what's so great is that sometimes you buy insurance for one reason, but the whole point of insurance is you can't predict what's going to happen. So you might end up using it for a different reason. Right? Yeah,

Shawn 21:01
I mean, I think they're, you know, there's two like simple ways to look at travel insurance, to protect your investment, you know, before departure, and then protect your well being while you're traveling. Those are the two simple reasons to buy travel insurance. I think that also applies both internationally as well as domestically.

Mimi Lichtenstein 21:19
Yeah. And people don't think about it as much domestically but you know, sometimes you do have you know, you're going to a ranch out west that's, you know, a luxury ranch out west is a big ticket item. So it's definitely something that you want to consider obviously no COVID testing is required but who knows what else might happen when you're riding on that horse or heli skiing so that brings us to the next topic which is the adventure sport add on. I did the adventure sport add on for my family's trip to Alaska last summer for mainly because we were going to do a Via Ferrata, which is one of my favorite family activities. And I have a printout of what I think is most of your adventures, you need the upgrade and then a few other things, some of which are surprising where you don't need the upgrade. And I'll include this in the show notes. But tell me if I throw out a couple of you. If you don't know the answer off the top of your head of course, no problem but if I get any of them wrong, and you do know let me know. Okay, so you need an adventure sports upgrade for hot air ballooning hang gliding, parasailing, parachuting, skydiving, heli skiing, technical mountain climbs, like on Kilimanjaro, micro flights, or ultra lights, which are really fun and amazing to do in Africa. If you go over to Victoria Falls, and helicopter transfers, helicopter tours and biplanes. Oh, we did that, too. So, so I got the adventure sports upgrade, do those all sound right?

Shawn 22:46
Absolutely. Anything that requires the air to keep you alive, right? Or if it's technical, mountaineering or climbing, right, so glacier travel where ice axe is, you know, you know, harnesses and ropes are required, you know, rock climbing, or like you said an example, Kilimanjaro if you're doing any type of alpine ascent, whether it's considered technical climbing, you would definitely want the adventure sports upgrade and it's only 11 bucks per person. So if even if you don't know that you're going to be doing that on your trip, you might just add it on because you, you know you're in the Caribbean and all of a sudden you decide you got to go parasailing. Right, and if you were to have an injury and didn't have that upgrade, right, that would not be eligible for claim but with the upgrade, it's going to cover it.

Mimi Lichtenstein 23:27
Yeah, so that's a good point. You might spontaneously want to do something adventurous so prepare and I think compared to CIFAR which I didn't I don't think I touched on CIFAR is kind of expensive for you know relatively apt whereas the adventure sports add on is inexpensive. For what? Yeah. Okay. And then some of these things that you don't need the adventure sports upgrade for I was a little surprised by one of which is shark cage diving. Yeah. No need at the Sydney Bridge Climb which is personally on my list. Yeah, scuba diving, skiing, canyoning or rappelling, we love to do that kayaking river rafting, snorkeling, Gorilla trekking elephant back horseback, Camelback, or a walking safari, hiking Kilimanjaro climb or another climb that isn't technical. So not using any of those attachments, interactions with animals ziplining and flyboarding.

Shawn 24:24
Correct. Those do not require the upgrade. Yeah. And it's just a matter of, you know, how many, you know, injuries per those activities, right. That's, you know, that kind of mix. Have they decided it's on the list or not?

Mimi Lichtenstein 24:36
Now, that's interesting. So we, you know, I have a lot of friends who have trampolines and I've always been told, like, don't get a trampoline. It's too dangerous. But trampolines aren't on here. So if your kids go on trampolines in a foreign country, you don't need the adventure sports upgrade,

Shawn 24:49
not listed as apparel. So now, I guess it probably

Mimi Lichtenstein 24:52
doesn't happen very often. Not okay. So the next one I want to talk about is what I'm calling quirky items. When somebody puts down payment on a trip, there is a clock that starts that they might not know of, and that clock matters for the next 15 days. Tell us why that is.

Shawn 25:11
Okay. So that clock, there's a couple of benefits, that if you buy insurance within 15 days of the initial trip deposit, right, and so what the initial trip deposit is that first date, that you that you make a financial transaction with a travel supplier. So if I make a deposit today with a travel supplier, the clock starts ticking tomorrow. So I need to buy insurance within 15 days, if I do so there are a couple of benefits really important benefits that would apply to your policy, anyone listed on that policy number one. So if you purchase a plan, within 15 days of initial trip deposit, you have what's called a pre existing medical condition waiver. So if you you know, a family member or traveling companion, and even a non traveling family member has a pre existing medical condition, and something comes up before departure. And now you're going to cancel, right? If you have that, that waiver in place, that is going to be a covered reason to cancel. Without that waiver. Let's say you've purchased a plan outside 15 days, and you're canceling for a pre existing medical condition that is not a covered of that. So it's really important, you may know you know, you and your family members, you have no pre existing medical conditions. But you may not know that a family member that's not traveling with you has a pre existing medical condition. And so if they have an event, you're going to cancel because of that, that pre existing waiver would apply to them as well. So that's gonna be a covered situation. The other important one, and unfortunately, it's you know, it's become fairly prevalent, you know, in the last two years is financial default coverage, right of a travel supplier. So if you purchased within 15 days of that initial trip deposit, and you're booked with a travel supplier that goes into financial insolvency and is unable to move forward with your trip, as long as that insolvency happens two weeks after the purchase date of the policy, that is going to be a covered reason to cancel. There's a lot to kind of remember there, but the most important one is a bite within 15 days and you don't have to insure the whole trip, you can just insure the deposit, and then add to that policy as you go. But you just want to get that initial policy purchase within 15 days for that pre tax waiver as well as financial default coverage.

Mimi Lichtenstein 27:28
And I think it's good to know that the price is the same whether you insure it within those first 15 days or on the 16th day, but the coverage is different.

Shawn 27:37
It is yeah, it's a big deal. Yeah. Especially the pre tax waiver. That's the one that you know, that really can, you know, save you.

Mimi Lichtenstein 27:45
Right? So if you have a family member, you don't even know it, you know, your father maybe is on high blood pressure medication or something like that. And then he has an issue that happens right before you go. If you didn't do it within 15 days, that's not covered, because he's been on high blood pressure medication for the last 10 years of his life. For example,

Shawn 28:04
right now, if you don't mind, I'll get a little specific there. Okay. All right. So in that example, right, so let's say that you don't have the prereqs waiver in place, right? So you bought it 30 days after making the attrition to the the initial trip deposit, right. And your dad has been on high blood pressure medicine for 10 years. So you're gonna cancel because he's having an event related to that high blood pressure, right. So as long as dad has not had any changes in his care, for 60 days from the date you purchase the plan, right? So it's called a medical look back period, if Dad hasn't had any change in the way that high blood pressure has been managed, he hasn't demonstrated any symptoms in the last 60 days hasn't seen it for the physician because something's going on with high blood pressure. Potentially, that would be a covered reason, as long as he hasn't had anything happened within the last 60 days. And you come up and now he does, but safe to say if you have that pre ex waiver in place, it's going to be covered.

Mimi Lichtenstein 29:03
Yeah. And I think we're this first I when I first learned of this, what I thought was interesting is so if I book a trip today and insurance, well now say I booked the trip today, and a month from now I insure it, but the trips not for another year from now. Nothing happens with my dad, you know, in the next however many months and here we come two weeks before the trip. And something happens if he's had no change to his medical history related to that. And since I bought the policy essentially or like you said 60 days, then it would be a covered reason. Rather than having to know the nitty gritty details of all of that just buy the insurance within 15 days of booking your truck.

Shawn 29:43
save yourself a lot of headache,

Mimi Lichtenstein 29:45
right? Yeah, there's a lot of details. Okay. So could you actually clarify for me too, so non traveling close relatives, or how do you define who those people are that are included in your sort of sphere of insurance.

Shawn 30:00
Yeah, so I call it the family tree. So the family tree extends out to aunt uncle niece nephew. Okay. Okay.

Mimi Lichtenstein 30:08
And obviously that also includes right Dad Mom. Exactly. Siblings. Okay. And your siblings siblings? Okay. Yep. Okay.

Shawn 30:19
In that, you know, and that that definition of family member also applies to, you know, adopted children, you know, and so forth. Okay. Yeah, it in the policy, there's a list of bolded list of the definition of a family member.

Mimi Lichtenstein 30:34
Okay. Other reasons to get travel insurance right now, I touched on this before. No, I don't think I did touch on it. But some countries require it. So right now. And of course, things are changing daily. But Turks and Caicos requires it Oman requires it, Chile requires it. Costa Rica used to require it. So they just want to make sure if you're showing up in their country, that you have some coverage for medical care if you get COVID, or something else didn't used to matter. But now it matters more. So sometimes you have to get it, it doesn't have to be a lot of insurance. And it might not be enough to make you you know, feel like you're living in luxury by any means. But the point is that you have to have a minimum level and even even to be able to get into the country. Sure. Okay, we talked a little bit about when it doesn't work, right now, I'm debating getting into the weeds on this or not. But at the moment, I know you're going to make an adjustment to this. But at the moment, if you plan a trip within 21 days, we cannot get Travelex select coverage for our clients if it's that close of a trip, correct? Yeah.

Shawn 31:41
So currently, this is a temporary issue is largely related to Omicron. And what we have seen, you know, in the last six to eight weeks with travel insurance. So basically, we have a 21 day purchase restriction in place. So you have to buy travel insurance, outside of that 21 days, right in order to insure a trip. So that's a temporary restriction, we have a place, we're looking at a solution because we understand kind of what's happening within the industry right now a lot of people are booking legitimate close and trips, right. I'm healthy, my family's healthy. There's, you know, there's capacity at this hotel, I want to go to the island, I'm going in two weeks. So we know that that's happening in the industry right now. So we're working on a solution to be able to ensure those legitimate last minute trips. But for now, we have this 21 Day purchase restriction in place just to make sure that you know, we're financially in a good position.

Mimi Lichtenstein 32:35
Yeah. And I'm sure I'll probably get an email from you. Once you guys do make that change.

Shawn 32:40
Definitely. We'll definitely Sing it loud. It is we can, okay, good.

Mimi Lichtenstein 32:44
All right. Here's another example of a time when I would potentially look to another travel insurance company, in addition, actually, to travel travel x. And this is why. So this is this example is actually made from several years ago, but you're a mom, you have three kids, you're taking them to Nicaragua, your husband's not coming, you have a little bit of a concern about safety or kidnapping for some crazy reason, that's just in your mind what might happen in Nicaragua. So in that particular case, I got global rescue insurance, because they will come in and help you if you are kidnapped, or if you have issues on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, they have a lot of people who work for them who are ex military people and hostage negotiator, people and all sorts of other people who sort of go beyond the scope of what you offer. That being said, it's more like a membership where it doesn't cover like trip cancellation. So if your trip to Mount Everest cost you $50,000 And you have to cancel because you get sick before you go. Global rescue doesn't cover that. So it's really a complimentary insurance to doing more of an insurance like what you guys offer?

Shawn 33:56
Yeah, absolutely. So typically, I mean, there are a number of those services out there. And basically, they can be companions to travel insurance. So you use travel insurance to you know, protect your investment, and then you know, some of those post departure benefits that are important while you're traveling, then you could have this companion membership with global rescue, like you mentioned. So using your, you know, Everest or Kilimanjaro example, you know, you get into emergent, you know, life or death situation up there. Right, you know, you could call on your membership, your global rescue to come get you, you know, in that instance, typically, where I've seen those types of services used is maybe in a civil unrest situation, you're in a country is going through some type of political unrest, and you need to get out of that country right? As quickly as possible. That's where I see those types of services really providing a significant benefit, you know, as a companion to travel insurance.

Mimi Lichtenstein 34:50
I agree. Okay, let's see. Now I have some random questions. Okay. You also offer annual policies correct.

Shawn 34:59
We do. For travel advisors. Oh,

Mimi Lichtenstein 35:02
that's so funny, because I have one that's I knew. All right. I didn't realize it wasn't for travelers. Okay. Another question I get sometimes is car insurance. If someone is renting a car abroad, or even renting a car in general, I don't know about you. But like, I'm always wondering, Am I covered on my home insurance might not cover it and my credit for it on my auto insurance, what coverage extends to car rentals.

Shawn 35:25
So it's an optional upgrade to both of our retail plans basic and still act, right. So you can upgrade up to $35,000 worth of collision coverage, because that's typically where you get hit, you know, when you have an accident is on the collision side. That's the expensive car. So both both provide that ability to upgrade for that insurance. Okay,

Mimi Lichtenstein 35:49
so if you are renting a full size range rover, that might not be enough coverage,

Shawn 35:55
definitely not. And there's a cap, I think the luxury cap is $75,000 that anything over 75,000 is because considered a luxury vehicle and would not be eligible for coverage.

Mimi Lichtenstein 36:06
Okay, got it. So you're saying so if I happen to rent a car that was $120,000 car, can I not get coverage, or I can only get Max Coverage of 75,000,

Shawn 36:16
you wouldn't be able to get coverage, his would be considered an exotic vehicle, it would be excluded from coverage. Yeah. So in that instance, I would probably recommend taking the you know, the rental car coverage.

Mimi Lichtenstein 36:28
Okay, good stuff. And then what is so collision so that matters. So what if you are, if you hit somebody else's car is does that collision cover damage to the car you're driving that you rented and the other person's car

Shawn 36:43
up to the limit of the policy? $35.

Mimi Lichtenstein 36:45
So if you hit somebody's Range Rover, you're also in trouble.

Shawn 36:48
Could potentially but depending on the type of you know, auto insurance you maintain in the US there may be coverage, you know, that's specific to your situation, as well as liability or the the other parts of it.

Mimi Lichtenstein 37:01
Okay, so drive carefully. Yes. And then let's see. So, all right, a few examples of when you don't need travel insurance, or maybe you don't need it as much as others. One example I came up with, and sometimes this happens for people when they're doing a trip, let's say they're going on a safari, and the air component, let's just say it's $5,000 per person and the safaris $30,000 per person. So if you're okay, getting a credit on that airline, if you cancel the trip, and you're gonna get a $5,000 credit on the airline, you don't have to insure that portion of the trip that's up

Shawn 37:38
to you. Right, so you can insure whatever components you want to or not, right? So if you're if you're comfortable getting a credit, and you know, you have no intention of ever insurance, that's absolutely fine. Not to insure, okay.

Mimi Lichtenstein 37:51
And then another example is, so if you're flying on an airline, let's just say you're flying Kenyan airlines. And if you canceled the trip, you know, you may never go back to Kenya, you're probably not going to want to have a credit on Kenya airlines. So in that case, if you're flying some obscure airline that you may never use the credit, I would be more apt to say get travel insurance?

Shawn 38:11
Absolutely, definitely. Because yeah, if you're only gonna use it that one time, if all they're going to provide as a credit, you know, and credits are not considered a refund, right. So only a cash refund, or, you know, a credit back to your credit card for that expense would be considered a refund. So I would definitely insure it in that case.

Mimi Lichtenstein 38:29
And that's a good question someone's brought up before, but there's no double dipping. So if you get a credit from your airline for $5,000, for your flight, you can also get reimbursed if you had insured it from you guys and keep the credit. Not a lot.

Shawn 38:43
That is correct, right. So the you know, the basic intent of insurance is to keep you whole, you're never supposed to profit from insurance, it's the intent is just to cover your loss. If it is a corporate loss.

Mimi Lichtenstein 38:54
That's a good reminder. And the same thing goes with hotels, some hotels, particularly right now, if you have to cancel for a variety of reasons, they might extend you a credit for 12 months or 24 months. And in that case, if you're okay with that credit, then you might not need to get insurance, at least for the trip cancellation portion of it. But you might want to get travel insurance for all the other benefits that we talked about during the show.

Shawn 39:17
Sure, yeah. If you're comfortable with you know, those, you know, those cancellation, the penalty schedule for hotels, it wouldn't be required to insure.

Mimi Lichtenstein 39:25
Okay, and so let's just talk briefly about the factors that affect the pricing of travel insurance. I have my little cheat sheet here that I like to reference. So essentially the age of the traveler, the cost of the trip, and a little bit the home state. And the reason the home state is because I think you told me there are two states that price it uniquely Correct,

Shawn 39:50
correct? Yes. Some states have state specific pricing as a result of their insurance regulation. All insurance is regulated at the state level. So you have to have a price Primary residential address in order to enroll in a policy and from that primary residential address, the applicable plan is provided. And yes, you're correct. So for trips under $20,000, in shorter than 30 days, its agent trip costs determined a premium for those trips 20,000. And more. And this is individual 20,000 per person, or longer than 30 days, there are more variables involved in determining that premium.

Mimi Lichtenstein 40:29
Okay, got it. Good to know. The other thing that I love about travel select policy, because I work with so many families is that on the date that you are buying your insurance, if your kids are 17, and under or less than 18. So not turned 18. Yet, they're actually included, their coverage is included at zero extra dollars on your policy, right?

Shawn 40:55
That's correct, as long as you have an eligible adult traveling, and it could be mom and dad or it could just be mom or it could just be dad, or it could be grandma and granddad or you know, just as long as there's one eligible adult one guardian. So in the kids that are traveling as long as they're 17. And under, they're included in that adults price, right. So Mark could be traveling with three kids, so long as they're 17. And under their their trip insurance is gonna be under their mom's premium.

Mimi Lichtenstein 41:22
And so a great example of this is I have a different client in Maui this year. And they have four kids, four little kids 12. And under I think. And so they're let's say I'm just going to make this up, I'm going to make it easily divisible by six. So let's say their hotel cost $60,000. And they were just going to ensure that that's $10,000 per person, essentially, they're paying for the coverage of $10,000 per person for two people. But they're getting coverage of $60,000 for six people. So it's a huge bonus. Yeah,

Shawn 41:55
I mean, yeah, absolutely.

Mimi Lichtenstein 41:56
And it's for again, the day that you buy the insurance. So for example, my daughter and I are going away next month, and I booked the trip and I bought the insurance before she turned 18 She since turned 18. But you know, she was free at the time because she was 17.

Shawn 42:11
Purchasing a policy is the age that you are when you purchase the policy.

Mimi Lichtenstein 42:15
Yeah. So if you're going on a safari a year and a half from now, and you know, your kid will be 18 by then and you're buying it today, you're good to go. Okay, let's see what else Oh, there are while I do want to just mention there are some other insurance companies that do do a CIFAR at a higher percent, like 75%. So that is an option. But it would just depend on the trip again, if that was something that somebody needed to get. And anything else you want to offer before we go.

Shawn 42:41
Yeah, so um, I think the other thing that I would talk about is sometimes you don't want to ensure trip costs, right? So you're you're comfortable self insuring for trip costs, right? However you anytime any trip you tech, be it domestic be it International, you need post departure insurance. So what that means is you ensure a minimal amounts in order to have this post departure benefits, right. So that grid that you just held up, the first grid amount on there is $1 to $250. That's the lowest trip costs, right? So if you insure, let's say you insure $1, under a travel, Select plan for yourself, just have post departure benefits. When you're on your trip, you've got $50,000 worth of medical assistance. And it is 50,000 medical and $500,000 Worth emergency evacuation while you're on your trip, right. So you have a medical event, you fly to San Francisco, you have a medical event. Now of course your US healthcare is going to cover a portion of whatever that event is, let's say appendicitis, you need to have surgery, your US based healthcare is going to cover a portion of that, but only a portion, right, you may be on an 8020 plan. So you get 20% You got to come out of pocket, you may have a deductible and a copay. Right. So all of that would be covered under that post departure plan. So anything that you know, basically that you're at a loss for that event would be covered for ensuring that $1 You have $50,000 worth of medical assistance. So anyone going on a trip should buy at least post departure insurance.

Mimi Lichtenstein 44:18
And I will offer since I have a little chart in front of me that for someone my age, that is a cost of $47 per person for somebody 18 to 34, it's $34 for someone in their 60s, it's $66. And then it goes up a little bit for each age group from there. So it's not super expensive for the random event that you might have happen while you're abroad. Yeah, okay. Or even domestically or domestically, I always forget about. So as usual, you are a wealth of information. I'm so happy that you joined me today. Thank you so much for coming.

Shawn 44:57
Yeah, well, thank you Mimi, was this a great questions and all To all relevant questions that, you know, me and my team are getting every day and you know, we have a team of customer solution specialists, a sales specialists like myself that are, you know, you know, available to answer these types of questions. I appreciate you having me on.

Mimi Lichtenstein 45:13
Yeah. Well, I'm sure I will continue to call on your team for these kinds of questions, because I know you can't possibly think of all the examples so you know, right. And you've probably seen a lot more than I have, but I've seen a lot and you just can't make stuff up. It just it just crazy things happen in the world.

Shawn 45:31
It's very true. Thank you, man. Me. Yep.

Mimi Lichtenstein 45:33
Have a great day. You too. Thanks. Bye. Bye. If you enjoyed today's show, and don't want to miss an episode, you can subscribe and follow the show wherever you listen to your podcasts. And if you haven't already, I would really appreciate it if you can leave a rating and review to let me know what you think and to help others find adventures in luxury travel. I want your honest feedback so I can create a podcast that shares lots of insights to help travelers have more amazing adventures. Visit true Bay travel.com backslash podcast launch for step by step instructions on how to subscribe rate and review adventures and luxury travel today. See you next time. Thank you for listening to this episode of adventures and luxury travel. If you want more travel tips go to true Bay travel.com where you can sign up for our newsletter that shares more inspiring travel ideas around the world. See you here next week.