Learn About Travel Insurance Master with Chelsea Capwell
Given I have anxiety, I’m the type of person who plans for the worst but (tries to!) hope for the best. When I travel abroad, I practically lug a pharmacy’s worth of products with me, like cold medicine and other things I might need if I were to get sick. Given that I’m a preparer, I also tend to always get travel insurance when I’m going abroad. If you get sick, break a leg, or worse when abroad, you want to be covered, even if medical costs can generally be cheaper abroad than they are here in the States.
I am an affiliate for Travel Insurance Master, an online search tool with a smart algorithm developed over 5 years, that recommends the best insurance and value for each traveler’s unique trip details. It helps travelers quickly and painlessly find the best insurance options from well-established companies, like AIG and Travelex, to cover their needs. To help my readers learn more about travel insurance, why they should use Travel Insurance Master, and what to do if they want to become affiliates, I interviewed Chelsea Capwell, Travel Insurance Master’s Marketing and Affiliate Manager, to ask some of the burning questions you might also have about this service. My questions are followed by her answers.
Note: this post contains affiliate links. See my Affiliate Disclosure and Marketing Philosophy page for more information.
1) Chelsea, tell us a little about yourself, how you got into the insurance business, and what you love about your job/Travel Insurance Master.
I’ve always had a love of travel, from road trips to flights both domestically and abroad! Growing up, my parents instilled in me to work hard and take full advantage of long weekends, vacations, and summertime getaways to explore new places and gain a new appreciation of more familiar ones.
My travels were never perfect though. Once on my first solo trip and cross-country flight, I had luggage completely destroyed in transit. I went to baggage claim and my clothes were strewn all over the place in the middle of the terminal. I’ve been delayed for 3 days at a layover destination with nothing but a carry on, and many more small and large inconveniences. I personally understand the importance of travel insurance for any trip!
I love working with Travel Insurance Master and building our Affiliate Family! It’s been amazing to get to know affiliates all around the world, from bloggers and content creators, to industry pros. Travel is such a vast industry with so many different experts, that I really learn something new from every single affiliate, and usually add a new destination to my bucket list that I may have never known otherwise!
2) Why should people use Travel Insurance Master instead of getting their insurance through another platform? Meaning, what makes you special and why should people look for quotes through you first?
Travel Insurance Master is a straightforward, user-friendly website that makes finding the best travel insurance easier than ever. No trip is the same so your travel insurance shouldn’t be either! We partner with a number of the world’s leading providers to bring a large variety of plans and benefits to one website.
Our trusted algorithm does the research for you by having you enter your unique trip and traveler details in 3 easy steps to recommend the best plan and value for you. You will also find side by side comparisons of similar plans, and customizable filters so you can quickly narrow down the results by the benefits that are important to you. Looking for Emergency Medical, Adventure Sports, Baggage Loss, or other specific benefits and coverages? Just select the filter on the sidebar and your resulting plans will automatically update! View plan details, certificate, and when you have made your selection, click Buy Plan. Complete your purchase all on TravelInsuranceMaster.com and instantly receive your plan to your email. Whether it’s the first time you have purchased insurance, or the hundredth time, TravelInsuranceMaster.com makes it easy to protect your next trip.
3) Many people go with another well-known travel program since they market themselves as being for the super adventurous type of traveler. Do any of the insurance options in Travel Insurance Master protect us if we want to do things like hang gliding, horseback riding, diving, or hot air ballooning on our trips?
We do! The well-known program you mention is all underwritten by Nationwide. This means they do not have as much variety with their plans as our site offers. I said it once, and I’ll say it again – no trip is the same and your travel insurance plan shouldn’t be either!
One of our multiple providers, Trawick International is also underwritten by Nationwide.
We also have a fantastic Adventure Sports Bundle with AIG Travel Guard that will protect you if you’d like to hang glide, go hot air ballooning, scuba dive (no more than 50 meters), or even climb Mount Kilimanjaro!
With any provider, always view your plan certificate before purchasing for full details and coverages. You also usually have a 10 day grace period after purchase for policy evaluation.
The Adventure Sports Bundle available with select AIG Travel Guard plans includes the following Upgrades:
Adventure Activities Waiver…………..Removes Exclusions for Adventure Activities
Extreme Activities Waiver………………Removes Exclusions for Extreme Activities
Adventure Activities means bungee jumping, hot air ballooning, parachuting, skydiving, Mountain Climbing, motor sport or motor racing, multi-sport endurance competitions, Professional Athletic Event, scuba diving, and any activities materially similar to the above.
Extreme Activities means BASE jumping, cliff diving, fly-by-wire, hang gliding, heli-skiing, heli-snowboarding, wingsuit flying, Mountain Climbing (over 3,000 meters), parkour, scuba diving (beyond 40 meters), and any activity materially similar to the above.
Please note Dangerous Activities are still excluded.
Dangerous Activities means air travel on a privately owned aircraft (whether as a pilot or a passenger), bull riding, running of the bulls, free diving, Mountain Climbing (over 6,000 meters), rock climbing without equipment, scuba diving (beyond 50 meters), or any activity materially similar to the above.
4) Travel Insurance Master claims to have two levels of customer service. Could you please explain?
Yes, Travel Insurance Master offers two layers of customer service protection – from us and our providers. There is no additional cost to use our website to find the right plan for your next trip and we are available to answer questions before, during, and after your trip. It’s an extra layer or peace of mind, with no extra cost!
5) Can anyone use Travel Insurance Master, or do they need to be based in the USA to use your search engine?
Our multiple providers bring a large variety of plans and benefits to our website – with the most options available to US citizens and travelers. However, if you’re abroad, it doesn’t hurt to input your trip details and see if we have something that fits your needs. There are many cost-effective plans without Trip Cancellation for travelers worldwide, just use the filter for Plan Type – No Trip Cancellation on the results page to find them!
6) Travel Insurance Master boasts it provides “Backing by Travel Insurance Master to insure fair claim resolution in case of a dispute…and Add to Your Bottom Line.” Have there been times your customers have had trouble with the insurance they selected, and if so, how did you help them resolve the problem?
Our founders have over 20 years of experience in the travel industry and helping travelers find and purchase insurance! With Travel Insurance Master, and two layers of customer service between us and your provider, we are always able to answer any questions and help you prepare for a claim. In our experience, we have only seen a few instances where something happened and a claim couldn’t be processed. The best rule of thumb is if something happens resulting in additional expenses, even if you are not sure whether it would be covered by travel insurance, keep the receipts just in case!
7) Sometimes people are tempted to skip travel insurance. I’ve always been a big proponent of travel insurance to cover accidents or worse on a trip. However, I also know the struggle of getting an actual covered refund as well as the angst involved with spending money you could be using on an already pricey trip. If we’re trying to convince someone to get coverage to cover the bare minimum, what kind of coverage should we recommend? I.e. could someone just get health insurance and forego things that might add to the cost?
This past year has highlighted the fact that travel insurance is an absolute necessity! The relatively small cost is easily forgotten if your trip goes as planned. It’s when something happens and you did not purchase travel insurance, that it becomes something you’ll never forget!
The beauty of our site is that we are able to recommend the best plan and value for you based on your specific trip details. A plan for a 25-year-old with a trip cost of $2,000 should never be the same as the 35-year-old with a trip cost of $1,500 and our website takes that all into account, ultimate helping you pick the best choice for you!
Comprehensive plans with Trip Cancellation and travel medical options offer the most coverage and are generally the most expensive plans. If you are looking for something more budget friendly, Limited plans with No Trip Cancellation are also available on our website. Generally, plans with No Trip Cancellation are chosen if there is little time before your trip and the chance of trip cancellation are slim, if you are in good health and have a high-risk tolerance, or if the trip is some important that cancellation is not an option.
8) If we are affiliates, and not a licensed insurance provider, are we in any way liable if the customer isn’t happy with their purchase?
If you are an affiliate who is not licensed to sell insurance, you, like Travel Insurance Master, are not liable for recommending an insurance product that a customer determines to not be their best option.
9) You’ve been featured by Forbes, but I notice there isn’t a lot of widespread awareness or a ton of reviews about Travel Insurance Master. Can you provide any insight into this as well as explain why travellers should choose you? And if they like your services, where would be the best place to leave reviews so we can spread the good news?!?
It’s important to remember Travel Insurance Master is an aggregator. Although we may be a name that is new to you, our providers are some of the top travel insurance providers in the world. They bring the best value, dependability, customer care, and a wide variety of benefits to our website. The best part about TIM is that we bring all of their plans together in one place, so you don’t have to jump from website to website trying to compare plans that aren’t formatted easily to do so. We do all that work for you and help you pick the best plan and value.
We officially launched our website in 2020 after 5 years of development and design! We are able to work with these providers because of our 20 years of experience in the travel industry. Unfortunately, travel was one of the hardest hit industries in the last year, so it’s definitely been an interesting time to be a start up!
We are a small team with people just like you. We’ve been fortunate to be featured in Forbes, Better Homes and Gardens, LegalZoom and more as we have grown in the last year. We have some of our customer and affiliate testimonials featured in Travel Stories on our Instagram @travelinsurema, as well as our blog at blog.travelinsurancemaster.com. If you’d like to share your experience, tag us on social or leave us a Google review!
10) Many people are struggling with travel plans due to the pandemic, as well as things like chronic anxiety exacerbated by the pandemic. What sort of plan would you recommend for someone who is worried they will need to cancel their plan due to pandemic restrictions, or someone who might have a last-minute panic attack about going and decide they’re no longer up for the trip? Are there some plans that cover pre-existing conditions like anxiety, or do all plans exclude pre-existing conditions or “cancel for any reason”?
It’s important to note that travel insurance treats COVID-19 the same as any other illness, and if you are diagnosed with COVID-19 before or during your travels, different travel insurance benefits may provide coverage. However, the fear of contracting COVID-19 is not a covered reason for trip cancellation. If you think you could cancel your trip due to the fear of COVID-19, a Trip Cancellation plan with the Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) benefit allows you to cancel for any reason whatsoever, usually up to 2 days before departure. If you want to purchase CFAR, be sure to buy your insurance early on, usually within 1-21 days of your initial trip deposit depending on your plan.
CFAR is an additional benefit that does not replace your regular trip cancellation benefit that covers you 100% for covered reasons, most commonly when you, your family member, or travel companion gets sick. However, a panic attack is not a covered reason for trip cancellation and is a general exclusion for travel insurance. With CFAR, you usually have to cancel up to 2 days your trip before departure, depending on your specific plan.
Our Covid-19 benefits and examples can all be found here https://travelinsurancemaster.com/page/COVID-19
11) Can a US Citizen with health insurance buy travel insurance for a domestic trip? Or is travel insurance only good for international trips?
Yes! Travel insurance is beneficial on any trip that takes you 100 miles or more from home, including domestic trips and road trips too. That time my luggage was destroyed, or I was delayed for 3 days on a layover, were all domestic trips. The unexpected can always happen!
Travel insurance is much more than medical coverage too. You can find plans with valuable benefits for international and domestic trips like Trip Delay, Baggage Loss and Delay, Rental Car Coverage, Trip Interruption, Employment Layoff, Hurricane and Weather, and much more.
12) What would my followers need to do if they want to become an affiliate with you, and what are the perks they might not get with another program?
Becoming an affiliate is just as easy as finding the right travel insurance with TIM.
Our Affiliate Program is always free, and non-exclusive too. Unlike other programs, we do not have high minimums you would need to reach to receive your payouts. We also actively feature our affiliates on our social, blog, and newsletter. Our program is a great way to truly grow together!
Check our FAQ and more details: https://blog.travelinsurancemaster.com/50-travel-affiliate-program
You can easily create your free account in just a few minutes here: https://travelinsurancemaster.com/create-affiliate-account
Once your account has been approved, we will send you instructions on how to easily generate your affiliate link, share it on your website or social, and start earning!
Conclusion
I’d like to give a special thanks to Chelsea for taking the time to do this interview for my readers. She has graciously offered that my followers can reach out to her with more questions. Email chelsea@travelinsurancemaster.com
Again, I am an affiliate with Travel Insurance Master. If you want to insure an upcoming trip, this is an easy way to compare insurance companies side by side that Travel Insurance Master considers to be most reputable. Travel Insurance Master was featured in this Forbes article. To check out Travel Insurance Master, click here for my affiliate link.
