Travel Protection
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Should You Purchase Travel Protection?
Some type of travel protection is ALWAYS a good idea. It is a relatively small price to pay that will help protect the much larger investment you have made in your trip.
How much and what kind of protection you need can be confusing. According to Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, "The three most important benefits are trip-cancellation, trip-interruption, and medical coverage."
Trip cancellation policies will usually reimburse or credit you for the cost of your trip if you are forced to cancel your plans. Some policies require that the reason for trip cancellation be one of the "covered" reasons such as falling ill, death or illness of an immediate family member, and flood/fire in your home.
Other trip cancellation policies may allow you to cancel your trip for any reason at any time prior to your departure. This is particularly good coverage if you are concerned about the weather and/or hurricanes. Typically, hurricanes are not a surprise and you would be aware that one is close to your destination as long as one or two weeks prior to your departure. While the weather may not be bad enough to cause the cancellation of your flight or the evacuation of your hotel, you may not want to go on your honeymoon or once in a lifetime vacation if it is going to rain every day. With the trip cancellation policy, you can cancel and reschedule without penalty for a time when the weather is better.
Trip cancellation policies are usually inexpensive. Just make sure that whatever coverage you purchase that it protects you up until the moment of departure so you are covered for any type of last-minute difficulty. Some plans require 24 or 48 hours notice prior to departure.
Please note that trip cancellation policies usually do not provide you with any type of coverage once your trip has begun. Therefore, you should also consider some type of coverage to protect you during your vacation.
Trip interruption insurance provides coverage for unexpected circumstances that may cause you to end your vacation early such as illness. Each policy varies so read the details carefully about what types of events/incidents are covered.
Last but not least is medical insurance. Even though you may be completed covered for a medical problem while you are at home, that does not mean you will be covered while on vacation if you are traveling abroad. Oftentimes, your home-based insurance company will have a relatively low cap on the benefits they will provide for health costs incurred abroad.
Most medical coverage provided by purchasing a medical insurance policy is supplemental which means it will reimburse you for whatever amount your home-based health insurance carrier does not cover. Also be sure to find out if the medical coverage you are looking at has a preexisting condition exclusion. If so, it may deny coverage to someone who cancels a trip because of a medical problem that was evident before the policy was purchased.
As always, it is important to read the details to make sure you are getting the protection you need.
A lot of travel policies will include some other elements that may or may not have much real value. If these items are included in the policy at no additional cost, great! But if they require you to pay extra for these things, you may need to think twice about whether they are worth it to you.
Baggage Protection: Airlines will automatically provide coverage for your lost baggage up to a value of $2800 for passengers on flights in the United States. International flight passengers are automatically covered up to $1500 (please check with your specific carrier to confirm the coverage amount). Most baggage insurance policies will only cover you for the amount over what the airlines cover and also excludes most costly valuables such as jewelry, computers, electronics, and cameras. Therefore, this type of protection is usually only worth it if you are traveling with several thousand dollars worth of clothes and toiletries.
Baggage Delay: Baggage delay insurance will usually reimburse you for several hundred dollars of purchases you have to make if your luggage gets delayed for more than 24 hours. However, since most travelers nowadays bring carry-on luggage, the smart travelers will be sure to pack a change of clothes and some other essential items in preparation for such an event.
Collision Coverage for Rental Car: Double check to see if the credit card you use to rent your car offers collision coverage. Most of them do and if so, you do not need this protection.
There are some things that are never covered by travel protection policies.
War and Terrorism: If a war were to break out at or near your travel destination, you would not be reimbursed if you cancel your trip. Coverage for terrorism-related events has expanded since September 11th and some policies will allow you to cancel for a refund if a terrorist attack occurs in a city on your itinerary within 30 days of your scheduled arrival.
Weather: Unless you have the blanket travel protection allowing you to cancel your trip for any reason PRIOR to your departure, you will not be able to receive any type of refund for canceling your trip or ending it early due to bad weather. Only if the weather is so bad that the airlines cease operations will refunds even be considered.
Disease: If an outbreak of a disease (such as SARS or Mad Cow) occurs at your destination, you will not be entitled to any type of refund should you cancel your trip. If you were to actually fall ill due to travel in an affected region, your trip interruption coverage will assist you in getting home and provide coverage for the unused portion of your trip.
I Want to Purchase Travel Protection...Now What?
Considering the possibility of canceling your honeymoon or falling ill during your once in a lifetime vacation is certainly not something that is pleasant to think about. However, it is wise to take a few minutes to seriously consider purchasing some type of policy that will protect you and your investment in such an unfortunate event. It is estimated that as many as 10% of all travelers make some type of claim. Hopefully, you will not be one of them. But it is the one product you would be smart to buy and hope you will never have to use.
To purchase and/or compare Travel Protection Policies available, please see the details below:
Palace Travel Professionals Land-Only Penalty Protection
If you have purchased a minimum of 7 nights at one of the Palace Resorts through our Palace Premier Membership, you are eligible to purchase the Land-Only Penalty Protection for only $69.99 per room. The protection provides the following coverage:
For Reservations Paid in Full (Reservations must be paid in full 60 days prior to arrival):
You may cancel your land-only travel arrangements consisting of your all-inclusive accommodations at any one of the Palace Resort properties in Mexico’s Cancun and Mayan Riviera for ANY reason up to the time of your scheduled departure. You will receive a refund for the full amount you have paid for the accommodations (minus the cost of the protection).
For
Reservations NOT Paid in Full:
You may cancel your reservation for all-inclusive accommodations at any one of the Palace Resort properties at any time for any reason up until 60 days prior to your departure and avoid the $150 cancellation penalty.
Please note: This protection does NOT cover airfare.
To purchase this protection, please request coverage at the time of your reservation. Coverage MUST be purchased at the time of booking and may not be added later.
Comprehensive Travel Protection/Insurance
To compare and/or purchase more comprehensive travel protection/insurance, please CLICK HERE to explore policies available.
For FLIGHT INSURANCE only,
please click on the button below:
