Offering holiday cancellation insurance

[Craig Douglas]

Hi,

I wanted to ask if anyone currently offers holiday insurance to their guests. I think that this would help in the case of cancellations,even if it wasn/t taken out -at least it was offered- does anyone have any experience of doing this?

I have contacted JL Morris but seems very expensive if you take out the Voluntary Holiday cancellation insurance.
All the best...

Craig

[Mountain Goat]

Craig, I think it would be a good idea, especially if it was a good policy and one could earn commission, but it would be a minefield, especially the cancellation terms which vary so much between insurers.

Some cover holiday cancellation for quite minor occurrences, and some only seriously major, but how 'close' they are to your group members is the biggest variation; pets are another sticking point with insurers.

MG

[Craig Douglas]

Hi MG
Thanks for your prompt reply. apparently the FSA stop you making commission but you can claim your admin expenses!

I don't necessarily want to make anything from this-as I want min admin -I do think offering holiday cancellation insurance is a powerful signal to anyone who has cancelled and wants all their deposit back despite what my T and Cs say.

Do you have any recommendations of any other insurers?

I have also discovered this company
http://travel.schofields.ltd.uk/Cover/cover.htm

all the best...

Craig

[Mountain Goat]

Sorry, Craig, not a clue. When you search for holiday cancellation insurance in Google, you could add UK, as it throws up some specific cover. How about:

http://www.cancellationplan.com/

Looks reasonable value, but there are dozens.

MG

[Craig Douglas]

Hi MG

Thanks for this. I will explore the options thrown up by google next week, and will post on the forum my findings and hopefully my chosen company.

In meantime if anyone else has experience of this, would be good to hear from you.

All the best...

Craig

[allanspence]

Good Evening Craig
Take a look at www.guestfirst.co.uk and see if this is what you are looking for. I send one of their leaflets out with every booking confirmation and although I am sure that the majority do not take up the offer of insurance it does put me in a position of being able to point out to a guest who subsequently wants to cancel that the decision not to take insurance was theirs and consequently the risk lies with them and not us.
Regards
Allan Spence
www.drumnadrochit-lodges.com

[Windy]

Hi Craig

I have a link to Schofields on my site under "Other links that may interest our guests" and in my booking form strongly advise people to take out cancellation isusrance.

I would hold back a step from actually recommending any insurer to guests, but I can say that Schofields treatment of the 2 claims I have had to make under my owners policy has been absolutely exemplary.

[Craig Douglas]

Hi Allan

Thanks for this....you have expressed my initial thoughts very eloquently...its not that I want to make money out of this, just ensure I have done all that is necessary to make things easier when a cancellation does come along.

All the best... Craig

[Craig Douglas]

Good point Windy,

You have given me an idea -i might list a few insurers so guests cant apportion blame if insurance doesnt behave as the guest expected to...thanks

craig

[Craig Douglas]

I notice that rental systems have an insurance policy that if you use their software to enable on line booking it automatically takes £8 towards a guarantee scheme to encourage guests to book. Has anyone any experience of this system.

On first glance it seems reasonable that they only charge 2% as that includes the credit card fee to me of processing the payment. The only problem is that they pass the credit card fee onto the customer which if you add it all together means over 5% of the cost of the holiday goes to them. If anyone is using their system would love to hear it they feel it is value for money.