Insurance puts new spin on vacation coverage

BizPack plan picks up tab if boss asks you to cancel a trip

Chris Walsh, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Sure, you went ahead with that trip to the tropics last year despite catching a cold the night before leaving.

You've also shrugged off hurricane and terrorism threats in the past, determined to follow through with vacation plans come hell or high water.

But you folded like a house of cards when the boss asked you at the last minute to forgo a long-planned vacation to work on a weekend project, sacrificing hundreds of dollars spent on airline tickets, cruises and hotel deposits.

Now, one company is offering travel insurance for just such an event, adding to an array of available coverage for everything from natural disasters to unexpected illness.

Richmond, Va.-based travel insurance provider Access America calls its new product BizPack. It essentially provides coverage for work-related cancellations and changes, focusing on travelers who fear they'll be called into the office just before or at some point during their vacations.

"We polled our travel agency partners to figure out what their customers have asked for," said Emily Porter, vice president of marketing for Access America. "We found that people definitely want this kind of insurance, which nobody has offered before."

A recent Harris Interactive poll done for travel Web site Expedia found that 19 percent of workers surveyed have canceled or postponed vacation plans because of work.

While travelers have been able to purchase insurance that allows them to cancel for any reason - including work - those plans typically are more expensive.

Access America's work-related coverage can be bought as an addition to a more comprehensive insurance plan for $19 per person, no matter how much the trip costs. It guarantees a 100 percent refund if you have to cancel vacation plans or come back in the middle of a trip because you're asked to work, provided you have verification from the boss, of course. It also covers you in the event of a company merger, or if your employer's offices are made "unsuitable" because of a natural disaster or burglary.

So how will it fly?

Time will tell.

"Sometimes there's an initial buzz about a new type of insurance, and if it has merit it usually will catch on," said Bradley Finkle, vice president of the United States Travel Insurance Association, an industry trade group whose president also is chief executive officer of Access America.

Several years ago, for instance, most major travel insurance policies excluded coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, Finkle said. Now, most offer such coverage.

"The market will tell us whether the public sees a real need for this," Finkle said.

Some in the industry, though, are skeptical.

"It's too specific," said Alex Velinov, president of Total Travel Insurance, which allows consumers to research insurance plans online. "People have many other reasons why they want to cancel, so it's kind of difficult to offer a kind of insurance that covers just one specific thing."

walshc@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2744