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How does this work for bookings that come from Airbnb and Homeaway?
I didn’t know that. I would imagine that they just do not book my rental if they do not want to purchase it. Wouldn’t they get a total, before booking?
Another question, if the guest booked less than 2 weeks ago but their arrival date is less than 30 days away, are they not allowed to purchase the CFAR because the travel date is less than 30 days away? No matter what, in order to get TI or CFAR TI they must be 30+ days away; am I understanding this correctly?
Curious, you are trying to make it required? I thought by law in the USA you can not make travel insurance a requirement? Are you in another country by chance? Or was there a change in the USA?
I thought I entered Rravel insurance as required, but it does not seem to come up during quote.
OPCD TX said:
What if a guest decided, today, to push their dates back to 3 months from now and there was a cost to move the dates; would today mark the date as if this was a new booking? Since we are applying outstanding balance due, a new reservation date and a new agreement?That is possible yes, but you'd have to adjust the "booked" date to today as well. That is typically not done (it's buried under the booking > Info tab) but that would make sense in the scenario you laid out. The booked date is what CFAR time restrictions hinge off of.
What if a guest decided, today, to push their dates back to 3 months from now and there was a cost to move the dates; would today mark the date as if this was a new booking? Since we are applying outstanding balance due, a new reservation date and a new agreement?
is there a template email for the announcement to send to customers if they'd like to purchase it now ( or would it be worth it now for current reservations?
Normally the CFAR can only be purchased via OwnerRez within 2 weeks of the booking being made. Sometimes, if the guest has the basic travel insurance already, they can call the number in their insurance policy and upgrade with the insurance company directly.
I tested how it appears to some of my bookings 5-6 months out and the CFAR says it is not available for that booking. Can we confirm for sure that existing guests get the option?
I'd like to send out a special notice to my guests telling them, but don't want them to go to the page and find it is not available.
Will the basic coverage (not CFAR) cover a guest if the government closes the destination to travel?
@Sheila: Sorry, I missed that first part! In theory, you can upgrade standard TI to CFAR but you'd have to call RentalGuardian to do that as we don't have the ability built in yet and it would have to still be within the CFAR time frame. So if it's been more than 14 days from initial booking date, you could not upgrade to CFAR.
@Lydia B: Yes, CFAR is still available for pre-existing bookings/guests, however the CFAR limitations apply. Notice above how we mentioned the 14 day rule. The 30 day/final payment is for standard TI, not CFAR. CFAR has it's own special time limitations.
@Ella: Yes, due to NY and WA state insurance laws, the CFAR policy is not legal for residents of that state. Residency is based on billing address. So if your guest has a billing address in a different state, they can use that when buying the insurance.
@Lisa O: The exclusion is for residents (ie. travelers or guests) who live in those states. So when the guest goes to buy CFAR and enters a NY address in their credit card info, the system will kick it back with an error message. The property itself (eg. your rental cabin) can be anywhere, even outside the US
@Sandy R: Yes, it sure can! And we highly encourage that - emailing OTA guests and pushing them to buy it right after the booking comes in. You can create a trigger in OR specifically designed to go out to anyone that does not have TI right after a booking comes in.
Is this something that could also apply to reservations through OTA's like VRBO? Maybe give the guest an option to purchase it after they book?
What does the Exclusion mean? Only residents in these states or because the VR is in these states?
Paul W says:"Also, NY and WA state residents are excluded unfortunately.
can you clarify. Does this mean that any guests that resides in New York state or WA CANNOT purchase the insurance?
Thank you so much!
Paul - Normally you can purchase the insurance up to 30 days before traveling or at any time before final payment. Is CFAR included if guests who are already booked for travel later in the year decide to purchase (assuming the 30 day/final payment conditions)?
Thanks, Paul... Can guests who have already purchased standard insurance for upcoming trips upgrade to CFAR or is this only offered on a moving forward basis for new reservations?
@Sheila: You can't make CFAR required at this time. The guest would have to select it.
@Solterra Beach V: The purchaser (ie. traveler) must be a US resident to buy CFAR. This is a hard and fast requirement at the moment. We are checking to see if there is a program for Canada, but nothing at the moment. The address of the destination (ie. property) doesn't matter - it can be outside the US. Also, NY and WA state residents are excluded unfortunately.
Is there any chance this can be extended to those outside the US?
This is great news! Can guests who have already purchased standard insurance for upcoming trips upgrade to CFAR or is this only offered on a moving forward basis for new reservations?
Also, will we have the option to make CFAR a requirement like (I believe) we can standard insurance?
Deb's Beach Cond said:
Does the CFAR cover cancelling for the co vid 19 virus at 100% or 60%?This depends on entirely when the TI policy was purchased. If it was purchased back before covid-19 was a known event and thus "unforeseen" then it might. On the other hand, if they cancelled because of the scare alone and not because their travel was restricted (ie. government mandated curfew, STR shut down, airline stopped flying) then it may not. So it depends entirely on the time of purchase and the trigger event both.
But CFAR will cover 60% if the standard side does not work regardless. CFAR always works no matter the trigger event or reason.
yay... thankyou for being so responsive to our needs!
YOU GUYS ROCK!!!! THANK YOU
Does the CFAR cover cancelling for the co vid 19 virus at 100% or 60%?
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Due to the coronavirus scare, we've had a zillion requests in the past week to provide a Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) option on travel insurance. We've had CFAR on the backlog for awhile, but the requests over the past week were overwhelming. So we listened! We dropped everything and got it out!
If you already have Travel Insurance turned on, you don't have to do anything to get CFAR. CFAR now rides along as an option in the guest form.
And we've changed how the guest forms look to call out Travel Insurance much more clearly with a bottom "No, I decline" option to force the decision.
In the case of adding on travel insurance after the fact, CFAR also shows there and will smartly detect if it's available and show the guest the correct language and options accordingly.
If you want to turn on travel insurance in your account, you can do that at any time under Settings > Travel Insurance. Read our support article about travel insurance and remember that properties need to have an address on file in order for travel insurance to work.
Enjoy!
OwnerRez changed insurance providers last November. Any policies purchased after November 18, 2019, will be with RentalGuardian, which is what the guidance mentioned above relates to.
Polices purchased prior to November 18, 2019 are from AIG Travel Guard, as you noted. We have received no guidance from them, which isn't a huge surprise - the reason we changed companies was because AIG was exiting portions of the business. We were informed that their existing policies will be honored as issued, but what that means in the current circumstances is anybody's guess.
Unfortunately, we have no better recommendation than to attempt to contact them for a definitive answer. Since we attempted to replace AIG's product with another similar product form RentalGuardian, it is likely that their response will be similar to what RentalGuardian is doing, but the only way to know for sure is to ask them.
Hi Paul,
Is this company the same company that our guests are purchasing insurance from when booking through our OwnerRez system? When I look at those documents they say "AIG Travel Guard" on them.
I have a guest who purchased a policy through her booking in OwnerRez from "AIG Travel Guard" in October 2019. I'm trying to find out if the travel cancellation coverage on that policy will pay for her canceled booking. Do we have any information on this company's stance on Covid-19? I would try to call them but I am sure it will be almost impossible to get through.
Many users have asked about Travel Insurance coverage and what the official policy is. It has changed a bit as time has progressed. RentalGuard and InsureStays have put out an official FAQ at this link:
FAQ's – Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Our Travel Protection Plans
Take a look and read that top to bottom. There is some very good information in there to know.
Additionally, we here at OwnerRez are working quickly to see if we can get the Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) product added in the next few days. No promises or ETA on that but we've been cleared for take-off on the carrier side to add it.
In addition, here are some additional important reference numbers:
