The Age Old Question: Should I Purchase Travel Insurance for My Colorado Vacation?

The end of March brought with it a lot of snow, a blizzard hit the Denver area with 1 to 2 feet of snow falling on March 23rd.  This was perfect timing for Spring Break skiers and riders to enjoy the powder, but with one catch: only if they could actually get to the mountains.  Denver International Airport closed for most of the day and had to cancel more than 1,300 flights, leaving many hopeful skiers stranded at their home airports as air traffic across the country was disrupted by the storm and flight cancellations. Roads in Colorado closed as well, leaving many people unable to make the trip.

 

Here at SummitCove Vacation Lodging we started getting calls from guests who would be arriving late or had to cancel their trip completely.  Unfortunately, we were unable to offer refunds based on our Cancellation Policy - which is standard in the vacation rental industry.  However, our guests could have been reimbursed for the cost of their lost lodging and often airfare too by purchasing travel insurance when they set up their reservations.   

 

We ask all of our guests if they would like to purchase travel insurance when they are making a reservation with one of our vacation planners.  This insurance costs about 7 percent of your reservation total to add it to your reservation and covers things like flight delays or cancellations, illness that prevents you from traveling or the death of a family member.  There are some additional coverages for lost baggage and emergency accident or sickness with medical expenses during your trip.  The insurance also offers emergency roadside assistance and trip delay expenses, for example if you had to stay the night at an airport hotel if your flight was cancelled.

 

[caption id="attachment_23058" align="aligncenter" width="584"] Traffic backing up on I-70 during a winter storm. Avoid stress by purchasing travel insurance for your next Colorado vacation.[/caption]

According to statistics from the US Travel Insurance Association, one in six Americans say their travel plans have been impacted by medical conditions, natural disasters including severe weather or flight delays.  Only one in five people whose travel plans were impacted had purchased travel insurance. 

 

When you stay with SummitCove Vacation Lodging, all of our guests have the option to purchase travel insurance from RED SKY Travel Insurance.  We have worked with them for years and have found them to be a terrific company when handling claims for our guests.

 

 

We recommend travel insurance for all of guests to protect your investment in the event of an emergency. Although it may seem easy to just say no when asked if you'd like to add trip insurance to your reservation, you may want to think again and say yes next time, especially when you may have thousands of dollars on the line for your upcoming family vacation.  We guarantee you will be glad you have it the next time a big storm rolls in to Keystone or the Denver area.  I-70 road closures happen fairly frequently during the winter months when the weather turns bad and it is not uncommon for people to get stuck for a few hours or sometimes an extra night in the mountains.  When you have trip insurance, you can relax and just enjoy another powder day on the mountain without having to stress about your travel plans!

 

Written By: Cindy Lucero