Monday, September 17, 2007

Travel Insurance for Vacation Rentals by Owner


I received an email from Don, the owner of units 497 and 517 about his experience with the travel insurance option we provide for private owners of vacation rentals.

Many owners are going to a NO REFUND policy and using the travel insurance that is available on ivacationonline.com as a back up. Here is the concept. An owner can not predict the future. Weather, tropical storms, hurricanes, health related problems are all out of the control of any owner.
Many management companies and travel agencies are using travel insurance to solve these issues. The private owner can disclose the NO REFUND policy. This is done in the terms and conditions section on your ivacationonline.com listing. So when the guests reads and agrees to these terms they have the OPTION to buy the travel insurance for their protection. It is now up to the guest to protect them selves.

This makes it totally fair to all parties. The owners fully disclose the NO REFUND policy, they now know they have cash flow to pay the bills and the guest can buy travel insurance, if they want the protection. There are many policies quoted and they are very reasonable. It usually runs about 6% of the cost of the trip.
Here is a REAL LIFE example of how this helped one of the owners on ivacationonline.com and the guest:
Hey Joe,
Needed to let you know how well the IVOL system is working for Gail and I. More specifically the travel insurance. Here's what happened! I recently received a call from a renter that needed to cancel due to a medical situation! I thought to myself, here we go she is going to ask for a refund and the rental is this week! Well travel insurance to the rescue! My renter says " Can you send me a email accepting my cancellation"? I purchased travel insurance!
Whew! Dodged that bullet! I have a no refund policy! Well it gets better I got to keep the rent and I threw an ad on my advertising sites and I booked the property on Friday night and made double rent! I got to tell you! I love travel insurance! Thanks and keep up the great work!

Don and Gail, property 517 and 497

So this is a real life example of how this works for everyone! I personally have dealt with hurricanes and giving back massive refunds. I will no longer be in that position with this system in place.

Think about the NO REFUND policy for your vacation rental by owner. You may not know how happy you are until you have a situation like the above booking.
It just goes to show you that is does pay to do things by the book and run a good business.
We hope you have success in the future with some of these strategies in the vacation rental by owner market.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

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