Rain, rain go away — or give me my pay.
Travel companies are now offering weather insurance policies as climate change has pushed extreme weather to become one of the biggest factors causing hesitation as people consider booking their next trip.
“Most — if not all — travel insurance policies that cover trip cancellation, trip interruption and trip delays were created to address hurricanes and tropical storms,” Tim Dodge, vice president of marketing at Arch RoamRight, told Forbes.
But natural disasters are no longer the only cause for concern.
Heavy rain storms, unbearable heat, and bad air quality from wildfires have become more common as climate change has led to more extreme and unpredictable weather patterns.
To ease potential travelers’ minds, companies have begun offering refunds and rebookings to those whose beach vacation gets rained out or can’t bear the heat at an amusement park.
“The experience matters so much more than the money to people,” Nick Cavanaugh, founder and CEO of Sensible Weather, who pays travelers if the forecast meets previously agreed upon unwanted conditions, said the Washington Post.
“For many trips, the weather is the make-or-break for the experience.”
Sensible Weather has partnered with over 3,500 businesses to offer “weather guarantees” to automatically reimburse vacationers when the weather isn’t what they had anticipated.
The company added heat protection to its packages — which previously focused on rain and snow — earlier this year and is considering air quality safeguards.
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Parameters for the packages are set at the time of checkout and typically cost about 5-10% of what a traveler is spending.
For example, a customer can pay $3 to guarantee that if it rains for one hour during their $122 one-night hotel stay, they’ll immediately get reimbursed $122.
“It’s a win-win,” Cavanaugh said. “We’re trying to get people money as soon as possible, ideally before the bad thing happens, to sort of maximize the probability that you have a good day.”
And customers seem to be sold.
Since partnering with Sensible Weather, Campspot, a booking site for campsites, RV lots, cabins and more, found that customers were more likely to book a trip after confirming unpredictable weather “was the most stressful part” of planning a trip, Jeff Bettin, vice president of commercial strategy and performance, told the WaPost.
“We think it’s potentially providing more confidence to get over that mental hurdle: ‘Oh, what if it rains?’” he said. “Now you have some peace of mind.”
WeatherPromise, another weather insurance company, also refunds customers if an unreasonable amount of rain interrupts their trip.
“We know that what you would consider bad weather in Miami is completely different from what ‘bad weather’ means in Scotland, so our system automatically customizes every WeatherPromise and suggests a WeatherPromise that allows you to maximize your trip,” co-founder Dan Price told Forbes.
“We customize every WeatherPromise for the specific trip and traveler to design an offer that will fit your destination, type of trip, and dates,” Price explained.
“For some trips, we automatically refund the entire trip cost if you see even a single day of bad weather. Other WeatherPromises might trigger after one or two days of bad weather. Almost all WeatherPromises will refund your entire trip cost if the weather is worse than we promise. No matter what, we believe in transparency, so we always show your exact WeatherPromise including triggers and refund amount before you buy.”
While companies like Sensible Weather and WeatherPromise have connected with thousands of travel partners to provide their weather insurance, some destinations have begun offering the packages themselves.
The InterContinental Singapore is currently offering a “Rain Resist Bliss Package” which gives guests a rebate voucher valued at the price of their one-night room rate when their plans are disrupted by the rain.
The package was curated to give guests “peace of mind” granting them access to 24/7 Butler service and access to Club InterContinental Lounge and the Club InterContinental benefits to help change up their sinking plans.
InterContinental Singapore
Although visitors to SeaWorld amusement parks may be okay with getting splashed by Shamu, they don’t want to be walking around being soaked because of the rain or desperate for a drip because of the heat.
That’s why the park recently “Weather-or-Not” Assurance. The new policy will welcome guests back within 12 months free of charge if their day is ruined by unwanted weather such as rain, lightning, extreme heat, wind, snow, hail and more.
Thanks to these new programs, travelers can be even more excited to book their getaway knowing neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom will completely ruin the experience.
