Question: Where did the idea for this group travel insurance profit steam get started?
Answer: Mykonos, in the Greek Islands
Mykonos? How?
A group of Globus passengers was enjoying sightseeing in that historically beautiful destination. One of the passengers loved to talk, even when the tour director was talking! So much so that, while talking, she missed seeing the sign that told her to step down to enter the museum. She didn’t step down – but fell and broke her hip!
She had good care at the Greek hospital but was told that her medical insurance didn’t cover medical treatment outside the USA. Her bill, including assistance to get home, was over $10,000 – lots of money back in the late ‘70’s. All payments came out of the travelers’ pocket!
The tour operator soon realized that similar cases did arise from time to time. That’s when John Martinen, then President of Globus & Cosmos, determined that some type of insurance plan must be developed by the tour operator to protect travelers against such accidents – and protect the operator against lawsuits if there was a chance that a traveler’s attorney thought the operator might be liable or willing to settle to avoid a lawsuit, and that way, get some money for the client and fees for himself.
Martinen talked to a number of USA-based insurance underwriters, and in each conversation he was told that travel insurance was available for sale through travel agents so there was no need to sell travel insurance through tour operators. Martinen pointed out that it seemed not all travelers were offered travel insurance and that if tour operators offered travel insurance, insurance sales would increase — and more travelers would be protected. Insurance underwriters remained uninterested.
A chance meeting with an underwriter in Montreal changed everything. This Canadian underwriter – which did business in the USA – thought tour operators might be a good catalyst for growing their travel insurance sales. Especially if travelers came to know that their own insurance plans almost never cover them outside the USA, and many times not even during travel within the USA. The result was the first travel insurance plan offered to travelers by a tour operator. The tour operator was the insurance seller and all travel agents who offered the insurance to their travelers as a tour package option received payment as they would for any optional tour service.
Both the travel agent and tour operator made money with the insurance. Travel insurance sales went up overall. USA-based insurance underwriters saw the potential and developed their own travel insurance plans. Very quickly, cruise lines, tour operators and other travel service providers were offering travel insurance to their travelers as an option.
Today, travel agents, group organizers and other retail travel sellers, who generally pocket 10% of the travel insurance selling price on a retail plan, realize that the travel insurance commission retained by tour operators, cruise lines and other travel service providers on their own plans, is much larger than 10%. Which begs the question of the day for our readers:
How can retail travel sellers and group organizers today earn more than 10% and thereby increase their travel insurance income stream?
Here’s where you and InSite e-Newsletter enter the picture. InSite e-Newsletter makes Our Travel Protector travel insurance available for all of its subscribers to use for their travelers. Two Our Travel Protector travel insurance plans are available, one for Individuals and one for Groups. Visit www.OurTravelProtector.com
The Individual Plan pays you to enroll your travelers in the plan and also pays a monthly bonus based on volume. An example: book $2,000 of Individual Plan premium and you earn $600 plus a $20 bonus — that’s 31% in earnings. To view the Individual Plan premium table and earnings table, click here. For groups of 10 or more, you have great NET rates using the Group Plan – you can mark up those net rates as you like, perhaps just as you do with other tour components – or, some group organizers provide the insurance at cost. Whatever the mark-up, the money is yours from the start! For the Group Plan net rates, click here.
Using the Individual and Group Plans is a great way to build an income stream – and as a subscriber to the free InSite e-Newsletter, you can start booking Our Travel Protector TODAY! Use the Individual Plan for each of your Individuals or the Group Plan for Groups of 10 or more. Make sure everyone has this insurance. Doing this develops an incredible income stream for YOU! Enjoy that additional income! WHAT A WAY TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS!
And remember, this all started in Mykonos when a lady needed medical care on a tour but lacked travel insurance to pay for it. All of your travelers will be protected if each of them has Our Travel Protector travel insurance, and you will see your income go up with each traveler!
