Industry Insights

Allianz Offers Peace of Mind & Revenue OpportunityBy Paloma Villaverde de RicoWith business soaring across the travel insurance industry as travelers become acutely aware of how important it is to travel with a safety net, Allianz Partners has been adding to its product line and making sure “your customers are taken care of,” says Daniel Durazo, director of external communications at Allianz Partners USA. “Customer service is what we focus on,” he says. “We are an extension of travel advisors, and we take care of [your] customers like they’re our own.” Everyone knows, he continues, about the insurance that you use to protect your travel investment, but he says travel advisors have a range of other products to offer their clients, including medical assistance while traveling. “This comes in handy,” he says, “because if you’re a travel advisor and your client has a medical emergency while they’re traveling, who’s going to take care of them and who’s going to help them. It’s typically the travel insurance company. “We offer 24/7 medical assistance. We have the TravelSmart mobile app, through which a customer can reach us with one tap of a button, and where they can find such things as the nearest health care provider. That said, where travel insurance really shines [in this space] is when a person gets really sick or injured. For that, we have [on-call] senior medical consultants that work for us. They’ll consult with your client’s treating doctor, ask for test results and keep an eye on the case to make sure your client is getting the best treatment possible. “They’ll also decide how to get people back to the U.S. We brought a guy back from Italy on a Lufthansa plane—seats were removed, we put him in an ICU pod and he was accompanied by a doctor and a nurse. He’d had a stroke; that flight was about $70,000.”Recommend Standard Image Template In other words, stresses Durazo, “we have all these great resources” that not everyone is aware of. He points to a revamped travel advisor handbook that Allianz revamped in 2022 that has a lot of tips and information. The insurance company also has a booking platform for travel advisors, AgentMax, where they can find the product that best fits the trip and with access to loads of handy information, adds Durazo. There’s no denying, he points out, “travel insurance offers travel advisors peace of mind and it’s a great ancillary revenue opportunity.” Allianz also offers insurance should a hurricane impact your client’s travel plans. He advises travel advisors to bring up this policy, Premier, to clients booking vacations to the Caribbean, Gulf Coast and Southeast U.S. from June to November. “Weather is unpredictable,” he says, “and what many travelers don’t know is that once a hurricane impacting one’s destination is identified and named, it’s too late to purchase travel insurance. It’s always smart for clients to purchase travel insurance right after they book the trip, so they know they’re protected.” After Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida in 2022, Durazo went to Allianz’s claims department to ask about the number of claims and how much had been paid out: 6,206 and $8 million, respectively. And this past December Allianz rolled out new product enhancements that include 12 more covered events for trip cancellation and trip interruption, as well as significant extensions on maximum trip length and maximum policy length. New covered reasons for trip cancellations and interruptions include first responder call to duty, school year extension, veterinary emergency, denied boarding due to a medical reason, inability to receive a vaccination, adoption, new employment, visa refusal, theft or mechanical breakdown, covered illness/injury of a business partner, illness/injury/death of a caregiver and theft of travel documents. These new covered reasons are in addition to the list of 20-plus covered reasons for trip cancellation and/or interruption included in most Allianz Travel Insurance retail plans. Additionally, maximum trip length has been extended from 180 days to 366 days and a travel insurance policy can now be in force up to 1,095 days—up from 770 days. The increase in maximum policy length will now allow travelers who have to rebook a trip the opportunity to move their policy’s effective dates up to three years in the future to match the dates of their rebooked trip. Contact InformationAllianz Partners: https://joinallianzpartners.com/

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