In preparation for a new Travel Agent Academy course on TravelSafe travel protection (set to launch this month), travAlliancemedia conducted a survey on travel insurance sales.

The survey found that the vast majority of agents (82 percent) sell travel insurance. More than half (53 percent) say the primary reason they offer travel insurance is to “protect my clients’ investment in their trips.” A significant percentage (20 percent) say their primary reason for offering travel insurance is to “protect clients during the trip.”

Only 3 percent pointed to commission as the reason for selling travel insurance, and another small percentage (3.2 percent) say the primary reason is to protect their agency.

Commission protection

TravelSafe — the first in the industry to offer hurricane, default and cancel-for-any-reason benefits — says it provides the highest coverage limits and most comprehensive coverage available in the industry. Plus, TravelSafe automatically includes commission protection — without commission reduction — on all its programs.

Among TravelSafe Bonus Benefits (when the policy is purchased within a 21-day window of the initial trip deposit) are preexisting condition exclusion waivers (even for clients who are 80-plus), bankruptcy/default protection, the option to buy cancel-for-any-reason coverage and terrorism protection.

The travAlliancemedia survey also found that most travel agents (53 percent) sell both supplier-provided insurance and third-party travel insurance. Some 23 percent sell third-party travel insurance only, and 6 percent sell supplier-provided insurance only.

Third-party insurance

Agents are favoring third-party travel insurance because “in most instances, third-party travel insurance covers more scenarios and provides more extensive benefits” (65 percent), according to the travAlliancemedia survey.

While close to 60 percent of agents responding to the survey believe that third-party travel insurance pays higher commissions, a significant percentage (22 percent) believes supplier insurance and third-party insurance pay about the same, and 5.5 percent believe supplier insurance pays higher commission. TravelSafe’s commission, on average, is 30 percent to 35 percent.

Travel agents in the survey also ranked the product information they most need to effectively present the travel insurance product to their clients. “Benefits to my customers in purchasing the products” was ranked as the most important information that agents need in order to effectively sell the product.

That was followed by product details, details on the insurance company itself, benefits to the agent in selling the products, how to book/calculate costs, tips on how to sell/position the products to consumers and steps needed to become authorized to sell the product.

Course Overview

The TravelSafe Travel Protection Travel Agent Academy course provides information on all of these factors. It details the benefits of third-party travel protection over supplier policies; provides an example of the cost and commission benefits; and gives agents a primer on the most important aspects of the policy. These include bonus benefits (not all plans offer this, and requirements and definitions vary); the “fit to travel at time of purchase” requirement; nonmedical trip cancellation reasons; varying “cessation of services” requirements; critical benefits; and exclusions.

The course also details why TravelSafe provides the best travel protection, including its unique features and benefits.

Finally, the course guides you in how to position the travel protection product; gives you a handy reference sheet you can use to counsel your clients on the benefits of purchasing travel protection; covers the three easy steps to becoming authorized to sell TravelSafe products; and briefs your on how to process the sale.

The TravelSafe Travel Protection Travel Agent Academy provides the answers you’ve been looking for to give you the confidence you need to successfully sell travel protection and better serve your clients.

For further information, access the course at www.TravelAgentAcademy.com.