If your employer is paying for your business vacation, you might not believe you require travel insurance. It could seem unnecessary to purchase business travel insurance if you have no prepaid expenses. However, a good travel insurance plan offers far more protection than just trip cancellation.
It can be wise to purchase travel insurance for a business trip because:
- If you are injured or become ill while traveling outside of the United States, your employer might not pay your medical expenses.
- You might not be compensated by your employer for lost, broken, or stolen bags and personal items.
If you have an emergency back home and need to cut your trip short, your employer might not pay for a last-minute return airfare. - If you add personal travel to a business trip without travel insurance, you won’t be covered.
- You should also think about purchasing travel insurance if you work for yourself and are paying for your business trip. Without it, you run the risk of losing your vacation investment if unforeseen circumstances cause your plans to change.
What to Look for in a Travel Insurance Policy for Business Travelers
When it comes to travel insurance, business travel and leisure travel are similar, according to Daniel Durazo, a representative for Allianz Partners USA. However, there are a few things to remember. “Business travelers should search for policies that cover business equipment, rental cars, and the travel delays they are all too acquainted with.”
The main categories of business travel insurance coverage and what they cover are shown below.
Cancellation of a trip travel protection for business travel
You don’t need travel insurance for trip cancellation if your employer paid for your trip. But if you are footing the bill for the business trip, trip cancellation insurance might help you keep your money.
You can file a claim to recover your pre-paid, non-refundable trip expenses if you need to cancel a business trip for one of the covered reasons, such as the loss of a family member or severe weather, stated in your policy.
Business-specific justifications are permitted for trip cancellation benefits under some travel insurance policies. For instance, World Nomads’ Explorer plan offers the following acceptable grounds for cancellation:
Important business issue You might postpone your business trip to deal with a situation if your company or the company of your travel companion is directly connected to an acquisition, merger, bankruptcy, default proceedings, or government-ordered product recall.
Physical harm to your business. You might stay behind to assist with the cleanup if your business—or the business of your traveling companion—is rendered inoperable as a result of damage from a fire, flood, vandalism, theft, or other natural disaster. You or your traveling companion must be personally involved as a member of the catastrophe recovery team and be in charge of policy and decision-making with the company to be eligible.
Boss has ordered you to remain. This policy would allow you to cancel your vacation if you or your traveling companion were unable to go because one of you had to stay behind and work. But you’ll need evidence that the necessity exists.
Business partners are frequently mentioned in travel insurance policies’ trip cancellation and interruption coverage, as is the case with the Travel Guard Deluxe plan from AIG Travel and the Explorer Plan from World Nomads. For instance, if your business partner gets hurt or dies before or during your trip, the Explorer Plan enables you to cancel or cut short your trip.
However, not all cancellations will be covered by your travel insurance. You would not be qualified to submit a travel cancellation claim, for instance, if your customer is no longer available to meet you at your destination.
Consider upgrading your travel insurance policy and including “cancel for any reason” travel insurance if you want the most flexibility for cancellations (CFAR). You can cancel your trip for any reason with this add-on, but it will raise the cost of your coverage by an average of 50%. Please take note that you must cancel at least 48 hours prior to your departure time. Typically, CFAR reimburses 75% of your non-refundable travel expenses.
Insurance against travel delays for business trips
Your travel insurance plan’s trip delay benefits may be able to help you out financially if your connecting flight from Miami to Panama City is canceled due to hurricane forecasts.
As qualifying grounds for a delay, problems like inclement weather and airport crises are typically mentioned. Therefore, your hotel stay in Miami, a supper, and some personal care products to get you through the evening can all be covered by your travel delay insurance.
Remember that the majority of trip delay travel benefits don’t begin to pay out until after a waiting period that is specified in your policy, often six hours. For information on the necessary waiting period and the daily and overall maximum benefit per person, review your policy.
Trip cancellation travel protection for business travel
Imagine you’re in the UK on a business trip when your spouse calls to tell you that your son was in a car accident and is in severe condition. In the event that your trip is cut short, your travel insurance would pay for a last-minute coach ticket home and a taxi to the airport. Additionally, it would pay you back for any lost travel expenses, such as a paid-for city tour and translator.
Your policy will specify the acceptable grounds for ending your vacation early; however, not all such grounds will be covered.
You cannot count on your trip interruption insurance coverage to pay if you decide to return home early, for instance, if your prospect decided they didn’t like the proposal you sent and they canceled the meeting after you got in London.
Some travel insurance providers provide a “interruption for any cause” travel insurance upgrade if you desire the flexibility to end your business trip early for any reason (IFAR). Benefits typically start to kick in at least 48 hours into your trip, and you can get reimbursed for up to 75% of your non-refundable travel expenses.
Business travel medical expenditure insurance
The importance of travel medical insurance cannot be overstated. Your health insurance from the United States can offer scant or no coverage abroad. The best way to find out if you have any international benefits is to contact your health insurance provider. Additionally, Medicare is typically not accepted overseas.
If you are harmed or ill while traveling, travel medical insurance can help cover the cost of medical care, diagnostic tests, lab work, medications, and hospitalization—up to the limits of your plan.
After paying your initial trip deposit, you should get travel medical insurance to be eligible for a pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver. If a long-term health issue, such as asthma, comes up while you’re traveling, you can then recover the costs of your medical care.
Medical evacuation travel insurance comes into play if you need to be flown by air ambulance to the closest appropriate treatment facility due to a serious medical emergency. Up to the limits of your policy, it covers the expense of emergency medical transportation.
Unless your employer has purchased coverage for you, you are solely liable for these costs if you don’t have travel medical insurance.
A connection was lost travel protection
Missed connection travel insurance is not required if your work journey entails a brief, direct flight to a nearby state. However, if your trip involves several legs, it’s something to think about.
If a situation, such as an airport delay, forces you to miss a portion of your journey, missed connection travel insurance can assist cover the expense to link up with it. It is typically offered as an add-on to a full travel package, but it can also be purchased separately.
Be aware that some travel insurance policies limit their reimbursement for missing connections to tours and cruises. You should look for a policy without that restriction. For instance, $1,000 in missed connection benefits unrelated to tours and cruises are included in the John Hancock Gold plan and the AIG Travel Guard Deluxe plan.
