World First Travel Insurance Blog

We’ve just skinned the secure quote engine from World First to create a site specific to our UK Holiday Cancellation Insurance Cover. Whilst are full range of policies are available, the site has the look and feel of Guest First, and lets the user decide what type of travel insurance they would like to buy.

Guest First has been used by holiday establishments throughout the UK for over 30 years. It means that if you have to cancel or curtail your holiday in the UK due to illness or injury that we’ll settle your bill. No excess and no age restrictions either so if you are holidaying in the UK this year, remember to insure online.

Our Trade Routes solution enables travel agents, tourism operators and domestic accommodation providers to offer comprehensive travel insurance online whilst remaining compliant with the latest regulations from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) referred to as Connected Travel Insurance. We’ve also put in place schemes for local insurance brokers and a timeshare website.

Each site is “skinned” to have the appearance of the third party brand and utilises their logo’s and colour schemes. It means people can click through and buy travel insurance whilst retaining a connection with the brand of the introducing site. This approach is outside of FSA regulation because the third-party is a “passive introducer” (or unregulated in FSA speak). The great thing is that there are no costs to the referring site and we can target premiums and commissions depending on the user profile of the partner we are workng with.

Since our recent survey of travel insurance available online where we looked at matters of compliance with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) we have been busy setting up white label sites under our Trade Routes Solution. More on that in a minute!!

But the exciting news right now, was that the International Travel Insurance Journal published the results of our survey on the front page of their 100th “golden anniversary” edition.

We’ve been working with timeshare organisations for the last few years since realising that there was a need in the market for travel insurance to cover timeshare management charges as a result of holiday cancellation.

Our policies which are all include £5 million to cover medical problems and if you have booked your holiday using redeemable vouchers such as airmiles and Tesco Clubcard Points, we provide travel insurance cover those too.

The list of pre-existing medical conditions we can cover is almost endless. There are quite literally thousands on our system and if they are not, then we can often refer quotes to our specialist nurse team for further medical screening.

Our website lists the most common conditions and we have sections of our site dedicated to the following health problems:

• Angina
• Asthma
• Air Embolism
• Anaemia
• Diabetes
• Haemophilia
• Cancer
• Heart Conditions
• HIV Travel Insurance
• High Blood Pressure
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Travel Insurance if you are pregnant
• Thyroid Problems
• If you have had a stroke

It can be difficult finding cheap travel insurance if you have a medical problem, and you need to speak to a specialist firm with knowledge and experience. At World First we offer annualy policies that cover people up to the age of 74 and single trip cover up to the age of 79. And to make life easier we operate our own in-house medical screening service so you don’t need to ring around lots of different companies when looking to cover your next holiday.

We’ve been arranging travel insurance to cover pre-existing medical conditions since 1973 and during the last few years have seen many developments in the marketplace. The internet and developments in the technology available to us now means that arranging cover for conditions ranging from heart problems to HIV is much easier. We’ve developed our own medical screening software and integrated it throughout our sales process to offer a totally in-house solution, which means when you call us for holiday insurance to cover health problems we can provide a quote and issue cover all in one phone call.

I’m constantly amazed at the repsonses we get from our clients and we’re often told how much cheaper our policies are compared to other insurance providers offering cover pre-existing medical conditions and related health complications. For example, last week we arranged cover for a client with Motor Neurons Disease and Crohns Disease and our premium was just £47.24 and the next cheapest travel insurance quote the client was able to find was more than double that from World First and came in at £112.00 for a single trip policy.

Travel Insurance for Epilepsy is another area we seem to be increasing asked for. We quoted £26.61 for a weeks European cover compared to £156.00 and our policy also included cover for the clients brain tumour.

We’re working hard to develop a new range of policies now for people with seriously impaired lives who have been given a terminal prognosis and hope to launch these via the World First Website in the near future. In the meantime, keep up-to-date with the latest news from our travel archive.

A string of recent natural disasters have revealed the importance of taking out travel insurance before travelling anywhere in the world.

Well, another Easter is upon us and yes it is raining here in the Westcountry. Lets hope the sun comes out as it’s getting busier with people visiting for the Easter holidays. Even when people do book holidays in the UK it is important to remember holiday cancellation and curtailment insurance for your trip or weekend away. It’s often overlooked, but you are entering into a legally binding contract when booking a holiday and you can be charged for a holiday you do not take. We’ve arrange a specialist cancellation insurance scheme for holiday businesses throughout the UK since 1973 and it’s available on the World First website alongside our full range of travel insurance policies that are all available online 24/7.

Just enough time before i leave for the weekend to also list the latest new articles from World First:

• Annual travel insurance could benefit frequent fliers
• Travel insurance ‘vital’ for trips in Britain
• Brits holidaying at home ‘ignoring travel insurance’
• World First extends travel insurance to cover loyalty point holidays

if you are going on holiday this Easter then have a great time, just don’t forget it’s never too late to buy your travel insurance from World First if you visit us online.

World First Travel Insurance is making sure Brits “freebie getaways” are protected this summer ensuring all its policies (including single, annual and those for 65+) cover holidays paid for and travel booked using loyalty scheme points (including Airmiles, Tesco Clubcard, Nectar points and any redeemable vouchers).  With statistics, showing that 41% of loyalty scheme members are planning to redeem their rewards for a holiday this summer this insurance cover is well timed.

The same statistics showed that 61% of consumers plan to take advantage of all of their loyalty schemes to stretch out their wages, and the single biggest benefit is travel.   With the focus ever more on disposable income it is vital that consumers watch what they spend and protect their purchases where they can.

Travel insurance is always recommended when holidays are booked, however not all policies will reimburse the cost of a holiday if it has been booked with loyalty points and subsequently cancelled due to illness or redundancy for example.  Even fewer schemes cover the over 65s. All of World First’s policies include cancellation cover as standard for holidays paid for using loyalty points, ensuring that consumers don’t lose their points or their holiday.

“These latest research figures came as no great surprise to us,” comments Martin Rothwell, Senior Partner of World First.  “We are all looking to stretch our pounds during these tough economic times.   World First wants to let consumers know that it is more important than ever to take out travel insurance whatever sort of holiday booked and however it is paid for. 

“It is also critical to ensure that the policy provides adequate cover.  Many insurers do not cover holidays booked using loyalty points and even fewer cover such holidays booked by the 65+ travellers.  Reading the small print is vital.”

World First’s premiums start at just £14.00 for a week anywhere in Europe and £39.00 for Annual insurance covering every trip for the year, and include the following cover – even if you have paid for your trip with loyalty points:

• Up to £5million to cover emergency medical expenses
• 24-hour emergency repatriation
• Luggage and money
• Travel delay

World First also cover claims arising from terrorism as standard across all their policies and can cover most pre-existing medical conditions too.

Log on to www.world-first.co.uk or call 0845 90 80 161 for more information on cover from World First.

There have been some quite significant changes this week that affect anyone going on holiday to the Channel Islands and residents of Guernsey and Jersey who are booking holidays in the UK. Up until April 1st, there was a reciprocal healthcare agreement meaning a certain amount of care was provided for free when visiting the Channel Island. This agreement has now been ended and in the future, all travellers visiting Guernsey and jersey will need to buy Travel Insurance to cover their trip.

At World First we are able to offer cover for trips to the Channel Islands and for residents from the Channel Islands visiting the UK either for a holiday or to connect with international flights.

An article on our site covers the changes in a bit more detail and includes comment from the Guernsey Press. You can read the article headed “Channel islanders unprepared for holiday insurance changes” by clicking here and get a travel insurance quote at the same time!!