Product Review: Travel Guard travel insurance

About the company: Travel Guard International is the industry's leading travel insurance provider - covering more than 6 million travelers worldwide each year. Their travel insurance plans offer coverage for vacation and trip cancellation, travel interruptions and delays, emergency medical and health expenses, lost baggage and more. Plus, every Travel Guard insurance plan includes a 24-hour "911" travel emergency service for urgent medical assistance, last-minute or emergency travel and flight changes, lost luggage tracking, pre-trip travel advice, and more.

The big pitch: With every Travel Guard insurance plan you will also receive 24-hour travel assistance.

When I was six months pregnant, my husband and I were celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary when we decided to take what we thought would be our last trip together as a couple before our baby. Hours before we were supposed to leave, I started having contractions, forcing us to cancel our airline tickets, our hotel reservations, and in the end, it cost us a lot of money. Little did I know that had we held a travel insurance policy, we could have been protected from loss.

Travel Guard offers policies catered to your needs as a traveler. They sell coverage for cruises, international travel, single trips, flights, students, travel medical insurance, and annual policies. The company also offers 24-hour protection and assistance for a number of problems that can occur while traveling.

The two biggest risks that travelers can incur are the costs of canceling or changing travel plans and medical care during your trip. Travel Guard not only covers these issue, but they seem to have the broadest scope of coverage in the industry.

The Wall Street Journal recently said, “In the future, you might consider buying insurance to cover the cost of canceling hotel or rental accommodations because the property is uninhabitable. Travel Guard of Stevens Point, Wis., offers such insurance at a cost between 5% and 7% of the trip's total value.”

Moreover, the 24-hour hotline, with live people answering, is a real plus. While other companies offer similar plans, they don't all offer this nifty extra. One problem with the policy, however, is that they have a strike list posted on their web site. The policy does not offer coverage if an airline on their list goes on strike during your vacation time. As much as this is annoying, it is, however, a standard practice in the industry.

It is important, when purchasing this travel insurance, to decide how much coverage you truly need. Consider all possibilities, then decide if the cost of the policy is actually worth it if those issues crop up during your vacation. And when you decide that travel insurance is for you, Travel Guard International should be your first stop.

The Product Trends rating: Four stars. This company offers very reliable customer service and fast claims. If you're interested in travel insurance, this is certainly the way to go. –- Reviewed by Mindy Matter

To try Travel Guard International for yourself, click the image below:

posted by Oz @ 1:10 AM