“Cancel Anytime” with Access America’s Newest Plan

T2F Note: Sometimes, one has to cancel a trip. This new look at trip coverage may spark some interest as we all watch our pennies a little closer.

(BUSINESS WIRE)--The economic downturn is forcing travel agents to get creative. Among the tactics to get clients to book vacations, they are encouraging the purchase of travel insurance sold through cruise lines and tour operators which offer “cancel for any reason” coverage. But some of these plans don’t reimburse with cash, so a client’s financial investment remains tied up with the supplier – not available for spending on gas, food, or mortgage payments. Today, Access America, a leading travel insurance and assistance provider, announced the introduction of a new plan – Cancel Anytime – providing travel agents with a cash-back alternative for their cruise and tour clients who want the greatest cancellation flexibility.

Access America’s Cancel Anytime offers 80% cash-back, for virtually any reason, anytime a policy-holder cancels their cruise or tour for an unforeseen reason. On average, this plan will cost 10% of the client’s total trip cost.

“Cancel Anytime is the result of months of development that included consumer and travel agent research,” said Mark Cipolletti, vice president for marketing communications at Access America. “The research revealed that consumers want cash back, not credits, and they even recommended the percentage of cash back that they thought was fair.”

Cancel Anytime’s introduction will mark the most significant change to travel insurance since the events of September 11th, 2001. “This plan essentially does away with Covered Reasons, the list of perils that are specifically covered in a policy, and replaces them with a short list of exclusions. This type of “all risk” insurance will be familiar to our customers because it works like their homeowner and auto insurance,” said Cipolletti.

With traditional travel insurance, customers sometimes find themselves in situations where they aren’t sure if they are covered. Hurricanes are perfect examples of this. “With Cancel Anytime, as long as the insurance is purchased before the hurricane becomes a foreseeable event, the customer will be covered. They won’t have to wait until their destination is deemed uninhabitable,” said Cipolletti. Cancel Anytime is also an excellent travel insurance option for travelers who are concerned about economic issues.

In addition to providing great Trip Cancellation coverage ($10,000 max.), Cancel Anytime also offers travelers the following benefits:

* Trip Interruption ($10,000 max.)
* Emergency Medical/Dental ($20,000 max.)
* Emergency Medical Transportation ($50,000 max.)
* Baggage Loss/Damage ($500 max.)
* Baggage Delay ($200 max.)
* Missed Connection ($500 max.)
* Travel Delay ($300 max.)
* 24-hour Hotline Assistance

Cancel Anytime must be purchased within 14 days of the initial trip deposit and is available only through Access America partner travel agencies.

Cancel Anytime is being launched in conjunction with the re-release of several existing plans from Access America. Enhancements to these plans include:

* Coverage for Existing Medical Conditions on Access America Basic
* “Kids are Free” on Access America Classic
* A destination website (www.yourdeluxetrip.com) with travel information, advice and links for anyone purchasing Access America Deluxe
* New sporting/electronic equipment coverage on Access America Deluxe

Complete details on Cancel Anytime or other Access America travel insurance plans can be found online at www.accessamerica.com.