Travel Guard has persuaded Australian travel insurance company iTrek to discontinue a promotion called "The Travel Agent Is Dead."
As part of Sydney-based iTrek’s promotion, participants were asked to enter 30-second TV commercials based on that theme into a film competition.
"We believe that the travel agents’ days are well and truly numbered," iTrek said on the competition website, which has been shut down. “A large percentage of their margins are made by 'bolting on' travel insurance products to customer's flight bookings. Some travel agents have been known to make margins of up to 50% on travel insurance policies. The time has come for the public to see that there is an alternative.”
Chartis Australia underwrites iTrek’s travel insurance products and Travel Guard Asia-Pacific provides its assistance services. But unlike TravelGuard, iTrek is not a Chartis company.
And unlike iTrek, Travel Guard relies on travel agents to sell its insurance products.
"This particular program is in direct conflict with Travel Guard Worldwide’s corporate philosophy and, more importantly, violates the long-established trust we enjoy with our travel agency partners," Dean Sivley, president and CEO of Travel Guard North America, wrote in a letter to travel agents.
"For the past week, Travel Guard has had frequent and regular communications with our colleagues in Australia in an effort to immediately remedy the situation. Though it took some time to sort through the challenges presented by contractual obligations and local Australian laws, we are pleased to inform you that we successfully persuaded iTrek to terminate the promotion."
