With the majority of coronavirus restrictions now a thing of the past and life almost entirely back to normal, more people are planning to travel in 2022 than they did in 2019. New industry research has revealed that travellers aged over 50 plan to go (and spend more) on multiple holidays abroad this year.
While this is great news for the travel industry, travellers mustn’t get too caught up in the excitement of planning a break and forget to prioritise buying a suitable travel insurance policy. It is recommended that as soon as the holiday deposit is paid, suitable travel insurance should be bought to protect the trip.
Here we look at the benefits of buying a multi trip policy when planning more than one getaway a year.
Travel insurance policies are designed to protect individuals against a range of scenarios that could happen while abroad. For example, losing luggage, curtailing a trip, or even seeking emergency medical assistance while on holiday.
Policies can be bought as a one-off occasion to cover one trip – these are known as a single trip policy. However, in most cases, anyone planning to travel abroad more than twice a year would benefit from a multi trip policy instead.
Multi trip policies offer cover for an unlimited number of trips abroad each year. This means whether individuals go on two or twenty-two trips in twelve months, they’ll be covered under the same policy with the same protection (provided the destinations they are visiting are covered under the policy). This type of cover is especially beneficial to those that enjoy a spontaneous break – as protection is already in place.
In addition to protecting a trip, multi trip policies can work out more cost-effective than buying a single trip policy for every getaway. However, it is worth noting that most annual multi trip policies do come with a maximum trip duration for any one trip. This means that there may be a restriction on the number of days individuals can travel for at any one time without returning to the UK in between. Anyone planning to go abroad for over 31 days at a time, maybe more suited to a ‘Backpacker’ or ‘Long stay’ policy. You find more information about backpacker policies here.
When reviewing a multi trip policy it is also worth checking the cancellation cover limit available per trip. Cancellation cover allows policyholders to claim for the cost of their holiday – up to a certain amount – should the trip not be able to go ahead.
Therefore, anyone planning to splash out on a trip abroad must financially protect themselves and make sure the cancellation cover limit in the policy matches the holiday amount. Cancellation limits can be presented as either per person or as an overall holiday limit in the policy wording – so this is something worth looking out for.
Now, one thing to bear in mind when buying a multi trip policy is that things can change over a year. So, if an individual’s health changes from when protection is first in place, it is their responsibility to update the insurer accordingly.
By this we mean, when travellers first take out a policy they are asked if they have any medical conditions to declare, and if so, they go through a straightforward medical screening process to make sure any conditions are accurately captured.
However, should the traveller later develop or be diagnosed with a medical condition, say six months into the multi trip policy, then they need to contact the insurer and let them know about their change in health.
Now, a newly declared medical condition could cause the policy price to slightly increase. However, paying a small fee to cover the condition not only gives travellers peace of mind that they’re fully protected, but it also means that should they need emergency medical treatment abroad, their travel insurer will take care of any necessary costs. Failure to declare a medical condition could result in a medical bill not being paid by the insurer – and left to the individual to foot – which aren’t cheap!
Of course, it’s always better to be safe than sorry so if a medical condition, or any other details, change over the course of the year, it’s always worth contacting the insurer directly to chat things through.
As always, we’re here to help. So, if you have any insurance-related questions that we might be able to help with, why not contact us at hello@travelinsuranceexplained.co.uk and we’ll do our very best to assist!
