Live Testing Travel Insurance

It's one of the ironies of buying any insurance, that you have no idea of the quality of the product when you buy. Therefore it's very easy to be drawn into buying on price alone. Well, this past Christmas gave us the opportunity to subject the travel insurance product that we recommend to a real-life test.

We had planned to spend just over a week in Spain over the Christmas period. We booked two hotels (through Little Hotels, naturally), plus a hire car (using the link on our website). Our flights were with Ryanair and of course we used the Staysure insurance from our website.

Unfortunately within hours of landing Margaret started to feel ill, and overnight I also was suffering. Covid, flu or just a nasty cold; we didn't know. So we tried to brave it out and hope that we would be better in a day or two.

There are definitely worse places to be ill: we were in a spacious studio apartment with a lovely terrace and expansive views across the sea. It was warm and sunny. But after a second miserable night we had to accept that enough was enough and we wanted to go home. We changed our flight, informed the hotel we would be leaving and cancelled the second hotel while waiting to make the return journey to the airport.

Back in England, a test revealed we had Covid and we spent some more miserable days over Christmas, but at least we were back in our own home, which was comforting.

Settled back on the road to health, it was time to make our insurance claim. Although our only interest really had been in getting home, we did keep a record of everything we spent to make it happen: paying for the whole stay at the first hotel, a one-night cancellation fee at the second hotel, paying for the whole of the car hire booking and of course the change to our tickets which cost more than the original flight.

We made the claim online and backed it up with emails and scanned copies of receipts, Covid test results and evidence of the pound/euro exchange rate on the day. With New Year getting in the way, it took just over a week to receive Staysure's confirmation that they would settle the claim in full. Then after I had provided them with bank details, the money arrived in three days.

We spent a lot of time researching travel insurance before choosing to partner with Staysure. We were confident that they provided a good level of cover (including Covid) at a reasonable price. But only now can we say with confidence that Staysure provide a genuinely straightforward claim process and pay out quickly and in full. What more could you ask for?

20 Jan 2023, 12:20