AIBU to ask why people don’t take out travel insurance when booking a holiday?

[Frannyhy]

I’m an Airbnb host. Guest due tomorrow has had to cancel. I won’t refund her, and I’ve just heard that Airbnb have agreed with me after she went to them for help.

She’s going to lose around £600. I’ll normally refund if I can rebook, but I won’t this time because the lady rang me and swore at me when I told her to take the matter through Airbnb.

So to those of you who don’t think travel insurance is necessary, why not?

It comes down to most people being ignorant. They think if they shout and swear they will get their way. She will be calling Air B&B, Citizens Advice and her Credit Card thinking she is entitled to her money back.

House insurance covers me if the trip is <30 days…

I once travelled in an air ambulance from Europe to the UK.
Glad I wasn't footing the bill

Yes that's the thing for which there's no good explanation. Holidays in the UK I can see why you might not bother with insurance, and might choose to self-insure. Holidays abroad you do need the cover for health and repatriation expenses because almost no one can afford to self-insure for those risks.

But regardless: if you are going to buy insurance then book it immediately you book the trip, otherwise you're losing a large part of what you're paying for.

What were the reasons?
Three times ? Did you read what you were covered for?
We often see insurers described as wriggling out of paying. What they're doing is only paying what they have insured for and not paying what's not covered. It really is up to you to check.

My worldwide annual travel insurance, from a Which Best Buy insurer (their premium product with no excess for most things and covering pretty much everything, including getting to the airport) costs me £110. And I'm in my late 60s and can have multiple trips up to 60 days each, for that.

If you shop wisely, travel insurance really isn't expensive.

Just come back from a holiday in Europe and got travel insurance before booking the holiday. Having a husband who has heart problems and diabetes, it doesn’t come cheap, but I wouldn’t travel without.

Must admit, never got it for UK holiday. However, most weekend bookings I make tend to have last minute cancellation options, and haven’t done many week-long holidays recently. May consider it in the future for more expensive Uk holidays.

I used to work in a doctors surgery. Every year we’d get people asking for letters for insurance because they too poorly to travel. However, they never thought to see the doctor when poorly, so the gp had no proof they were actually ill. Consequently, these letters never got written, as the doctor only had their word they were ill.

OP - well done on sticking to your guns.

There are loads of circumstances travel insurance won't cover or will try damn hard not to.

Often you pay a lot in premiums to find it only covers a handful of very very rare situations, you are statistically unlikely to end up in. This is how insurance companies, reinsurers, lloyds names etc often make a lot of money.

Because statistically it costs more to insure every time than to suck up the costs the one time that something does happen.

It does help that we do have the savings to pay if something does go wrong. If people have no money they should get insurance.

I'm so glad you started this thread as I'm going away on holiday next Friday, abroad. When I booked the holiday I went to take our travel insurance, got quotes and for some unknown reason didn't take any of them!

Just sorted it tonight phew what an idiot! I went through my emails looking for the policy but obviously never taken it out! So thanks OP for the reminder

Yes re paying for the ambulance. A friend was taken ill on a plane to a South American destination, an ambulance was called to the airport to take her to hospital. The ambulance crew wheeled her straight to a cash point so she could pay them, luckily they did give her a valid receipt so later she got the money back, but it wasn’t what she was expecting to happen!

Not buying travel insurance for holidays abroad is a false economy and actually quite reckless. If you travel more than once or twice a year, it is worth forking out for an annual travel insurance policy for the family. I made sure I opened a bank account which came with annual travel insurance, so it was 'free' for me and my family.

As for limited cover, well just like every form of insurance, travel insurance does not cover every eventuality. I read the fine terms. During covid, I checked whether it covered covid. Also, terrorist attacks. You never fly against FCO advice because it invalidates cover. I bring a copy of the travel insurance policy with me in my luggage and if a loss occurs check whether it is covered.

I have claimed on 3 separate occasions under travel insurance and each time I was covered to some extent subject to excess and any conditions (e.g. try claiming back from airline first).

If you shop around, travel insurance is relatively cheap for the risk and for peace of mind. Never buy from the travel agent or site for one trip insurance - that is overpriced. Go on moneysupermarket for an annual policy.

You have 10s / 100s of thousands to pay for medical bills and repatriation?

Nice

I’ve had annual insurance before for £30 and I claimed back 500 for a stolen handbag. So savings certainly wouldn’t be cheaper

You clearly spend a LOT more on handbags than me.
The kind of handbag I would take on holiday could be replaced for £3.99 in a charity shop.

As far as I am concerned, Travel insurance is for medical and / or repatriation costs from abroad, not something I need in the UK.

The 500 would probably include the cost of the contents such as cash (limited amount) and the replacement cost of a new wallet, phone and whatever else was in there.

I get that, but I couldn't get it anywhere near £500.

You have 10s / 100s of thousands to pay for medical bills and repatriation?

But this thread is about insurance for Uk breaks. Hugely less potential cost if anything goes wrong

The property seems to be in the UK but how do we know that the guest is resident in the UK? They could have travelled to UK from abroad.

I have annual insurance that also covers domestic breaks. It paid out a couple of years ago when I had to cancel a short domestic break because DH and I both got covid just before departure. However, on a previous occassion when I lost my passport and had my camera stolen (2 separate occassions) the insurance wasn't very useful: the excess was higher than the costs.

An acquiantance once had to be rescued by helicopter overseas, spend a week in a local hospital, get medivaced to the UK, where he spent a few more weeks in hospital. The insurance picked up all the costs and paid out a 6-figure sum for the injuries he suffered. That really brought home the importance of good insurance.

That's simply not true though. On average, saving will work out cheaper. But that doesn't mean that's true for every single individual.

As I said in my post above. I've probably paid £2000+ in travel insurance over the years, and have received a single £400 pay out.

My acquaintance who had a serious injury abroad probably cost his insurer in the region of £150,000. Even if he pays for insurance for the rest of his life without making another claim, he'll still be quids in.

Depends😉😂...

My annual policy also covers me for uk trips lf 2 booked nights... If I'm ill/partner is or close family member...

Also covered if my car is stolen /broken down...

Travel abroad falls into the "the risk would break you" category, though, due to medical and repatriation costs. Domestic travel doesn't usually fall into this category.

For a lot of people, essential insurance includes house, car, overseas travel, and income. The rest I don't bother with.

I sometimes didn’t have travel insurance on European trips I took in my 20s but I’ve wisened up since. Thankfully I took out annual cover with Aviva when I travelled one Christmas because less than a year later, a month before I was due to go to Bali, I caught covid. Even though I was testing negative 2 weeks before I was due to fly out, I was able to get a private doctors note saying I was suffering from post covid symptoms (which I was) which meant I got all the money back minus about £100-200. The trip cost £3,000 and the annual cover was about £60. Definitely worth it for me.

My NHS doctor was saying she wouldn’t write an unfit to fly note for me since I wasn’t testing positive anymore which I found outrageous considering I was still struggling to walk more than ten minutes at a time and had extreme fatigue and heart palpitations. So if I hadn’t got that private gps note I’d have been screwed! I left that GPs surgery after that incident because my GPs lack of compassion put me off.

My DDad is in his late 70s, a chronic cancer patient, with cardiology and spinal problems. He still has a desire to go on holiday, but he's often quoted £1000s which is often more than the cost of all the holidays he takes a year, so he doesn't bother. My DMum has neurological issues and she also has to pay over the odds (if she's honest with the insurer) for cover. So they now take their chances.

I have a cardiac issue (thanks Dad) and I'm honest with the insurer, at my age it's not so much of a factor and only pay an extra £20-30 on top.

I don’t do it because it doesn’t make financial sense. If I had got cancellation insurance on all my holidays I would have spent far, far more on the insurance than I would ever have been able to claim back.

(But I also wouldn’t swear at the accommodation provider for following their T&Cs like this).