Trade Secrets, episode 5: Travel insurance, a critical Covid-era topic

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Travel insurance has always been a topic of interest, but the Covid-19 pandemic really propelled it into the forefront in the last 13 months.

Coincidentally, just before the pandemic hit, Brownell Travel brought Laura Heidt on board as its insurance desk manager. Internally, she answers travel advisors' questions about insurance, but she will also work directly with clients. When she does the latter, she has an incredible 90% to 95% close rate.

This week, Laura joins Jamie Biesiada and Emma Weissmann on Trade Secrets to talk all things travel insurance.

In this episode:

1:07 - Meet Laura, and learn about what she does at Brownell Travel

4:45 - Insurance can be a complicated product. That's where Laura steps in.

6:11 - When Laura works with travel advisors' clients to sell them insurance, she has an astounding close rate. How does she do that?

9:44 - Insurance commissions can have a pretty big impact on agencies' profits.

11:04 - It can be daunting for advisors to shift through insurance policies and read the fine print. Industry attorney Jeffrey Ment recommends agents have their clients do their own insurance research and plan-picking. What does Laura think?

13:15 - All about cancel-for-any-reason (CFAR) benefits

16:41 - What does the future hold for CFAR? Will there be major changes?

21:19 - Why does change take so long when it comes to travel insurance?

22:47 - This is the bare minimum insurance Laura suggests for travelers. And it could be a gift to a client from their travel advisor.

25:23 - Declination waivers are important for liability purposes.

Further resources:

For more on Laura: Insurance desk debut a timely one at Brownell Travel

Legal Lingo column by travel attorney Jeffrey Ment

Legal Briefs column by travel attorney Mark Pestronk

Pestronk's resources

Bad news, good sales for insurance

Five things to know about selling travel insurance right now