What Happens If You Offer Travel Insurance 100% of the Time

Offering travel insurance should be as much the part of your booking process as getting your client’s name and birthday: You should do it for every client you sell to.

However, we’ve found that many travel agents don’t always offer insurance. The reasons why can vary, but more common ones include:

• My client really doesn’t need it.
• The policy isn’t an exact match for the needs of my client.
• It’s too late to offer insurance – the trip departs in two days.

If you need some reasons why you should always offer travel insurance to protect your clients, check out this post on understanding the value of travel insurance.

However, what happens to YOU if you start offering travel insurance every single time you book a trip? Let’s take a look at one scenario using averages.

Please note: The calculations shown below are based on averages found online. If you partner with RoamRight, your specific situation may yield different results based on different calculations. These exact results should not be expected.

Step One: Overall Travel Bookings

How much travel is booked each year?

According to an ASTA and Travel Market Report, the average annual sales amount for frontline travel agents in 2013 was $740,638. This includes independent agents, retail leisure agencies, and corporate agencies.

We need to know this number before we can proceed with our estimate.

Step Two: Potential Travel Insurance Orders

How much travel insurance could potentially be booked each year?

Now let’s calculate how much travel insurance would be needed for that average amount of travel.

Many factors go into determining the cost of a travel insurance policy, including:

• The length of the trip,
• The cost of the trip,
• The type of coverage (medical or trip cancellation),
• The age of the travelers, and
• The number of travelers.

Because of this, it’s not possible to assume that travel insurance will always be a specific percentage of a trip cost. However, the US Travel Insurance Association (USTIA) reports that travel insurance generally costs 4%-8% of the total trip cost. So for this example, we’ll split the difference and go with 6%.

Step Three: Commissions and Fees

How much commission could that amount of travel insurance sales bring in?

We now have an estimate for how much travel insurance an average agent could potentially sell in a year. Next we need to determine the income they could make from that insurance.

Commissions and affiliate fees can vary by travel insurance provider, the type of partnership you have with them, and even by product sold. While commission rates can vary anywhere from 10% to 40%, the average commission rate in the industry is around 28%.

Based on this data using averages for calculations, a travel agent could earn $12,442 a year in income if they sold a travel insurance policy with each of the trips they booked¹.

What would you do with $12,442?

The easiest way to maximize your earning potential is to offer travel insurance each and every time you book a trip. While we can’t promise you results of any kind, we can promise you the support and resources you need to offer the right travel insurance plan to your clients.

For more information, or to review your current travel insurance plans with RoamRight experts, contact us today. We’re happy to hear from you!

^{1: Again, this is based on averages using data found online. These exact results should not be expected if you become a RoamRight partner. Your particular program and results will differ.}