Our guide on holiday cancellation insurance

Travel insurance, in general, is an insurance package that will cover you against any unexpected emergencies or occurrences during your trip. A specified occurrence can result in either a delay or a cancellation of your trip or cover for emergencies that happen during your travels which can sometimes cost you thousands of pounds. Cancelation and curtailment cover is a benefit to cover against certain insured events that may lead to either you needing to cancel or curtail your holiday. It is important to remember if you are purchasing an annual multi-trip travel insurance policy the benefit is normally only applicable from the start date of the policy, not from the date you purchase.

It is also worth checking the cancellation and curtailment section suitability covers the cost of your trip, so you don’t find yourself out of pocket. It is important to read the policy terms and conditions and to make the insurer of your policy aware of any pre-existing medical conditions you may have.

What does travel insurance usually cover?

Different packages will offer different benefits, the package you choose would depend on your individual needs and budget. It’s important to note that when you go on a skiing holiday you would need travel insurance to cover adventure sports.

Depending on your package below a list of what could be covered:

We have seen three major reasons you do need travel insurance:

Trip cancellation/delay: you are protected against the cost of your trip in the case of a delay or cancellation of the trip.

Added expenses: booking a room to sleep in due to travel delays and flight delays or the expense of buying cosmetics due to baggage being lost, delayed or damaged.

Medical bills: in case you are injured or become ill during your trip abroad.

When you take out travel insurance – ensure you are aware of how much you will pay should an emergency arise. Travel insurance policies usually come with excess, generally the lower amount you pay the higher your excess will be. This means if you reduce the amount you pay for your travel insurance policy – you will pay an excess amount in the case that you claim. If you claim from your travel insurance – you will have to pay more of the cost related to the incident that you are claiming for.

Travel insurance can be purchased for a family or if you are travelling alone you would need individual travel insurance.

Use Insurance Comparison and compare travel insurance quotes from major brands. With Insurance Compare you can double-check that your travel insurance policy is the best possible option for you and your travel budget.