Travel agency insurance helps travel agents cover a lot of potential woes in the travel industry. Because American society is so litigious, it pays for travel agencies to carry insurance as a buffer for a time when someone goes on vacation and gets hurt because of something that the travel agent that booked the trip that was in error or because of something that the travel agent forgot to do.
Negligence
In medical parlance, do something that you weren’t trained to do or forgetting to do something that you were trained to do is called negligence. For travel agents, it is called errors and omissions with a slight variation on the theme when it comes to the way that the law sees it. As a travel agency, you will want to have someone familiar with the law on your side.
You never want anyone that goes on a trip you have booked to have a bad experience, but you cannot cover everything. Even if you could, there are times when you will think that something is clear. For example, if someone books a trip to the top of Everest, it should be clear that they are going to experience extreme, physically demanding conditions that include a lack of oxygen and the possibility of death. The traveler may be ready for those things, but if the family is not, they could sure the travel agency.
Insurance
This is where travel agency insurance comes in. Even if the specific travel agent did not explain explicitly the possible problems that could happen on a trip to Everest and suggest that the Everest attraction at Animal Kingdom would be a close and thrilling second (and better) idea, the insurance company will be equipped to handle the complaint and the lawsuit. Insurance companies deal with these things all of the time. They have a good handle on when someone has a legitimate case and when someone has no case. They also have a handle on how much it would cost to go through the court system. With those things in mind, the insurance can offer a payout that makes sense for everyone involved.
I never thought about this type of insurance before your review. I also hadn’t realized that negligence in medical practices is the same as error and omissions in travel agencies. Thanks for the interesting information.
I never thought of E&O specifically as it relates to a travel agency. As a customer, it would be good to know my travel agent has this coverage.
I had no idea about this kind of insurance. You are right about people being “sue happy” and that’s a shame. I would hope that this would do this trick, but I be that somewhere down the line, someone will find a loophole in just about all insurance.