One of the very most difficult aspects of our business, is when a registered guest calls us and says they have to cancel their trip, and asks us for a refund... Over almost 3 decades, we've of course had to deal with this scenario several times... We do, as matter of policy, refer them to their travel insurance company. That part's easy... The hard part is when tell us they never bought insurance...
Yes, we're sorry... we know you've seen this post before... but we always feel it's important to remind guests of the need to buy Travel Insurance... Folks often ask us: Do I have to have Travel Insurance?
The simple answer is no, you don't... But we strongly recommend it! Many Tour Operators make Travel Insurance mandatory, and every Travel Agent recommends it... But while we don't sell or make Travel Insurance mandatory, we remind guests that with our very unique Small Group, Boutique business model (leasing an entire Villa) and contracting with most of our vendors and suppliers for fixed price services, our overhead expenses are fixed and we must run our Tours at capacity... With this in mind, as it states in your Reservation Form, deposits & all payments are non-refundable... so if YOU would need to cancel your trip for some reason, your Travel Insurance provider could provide your refund to help soften the financial blow. So as a practical application, when guests contact us to tell us they need to cancel, we refer them to their Travel Insurance provider.
You can usually buy travel insurance up until 24 hours before your departure, but we always remind guests that the very best time to purchase simple low cost Travel Insurance to protect your investment in your vacation
is when you first sign up for a trip and make your
very first payment! Then you're protected from that point onward to the end of your vacation. But it's never too late to buy travel insurance!
(Well, maybe after you leave, it's too late... and of course it's a little tough to find home insurance when your house is on fire...)Some folks think: "Why do I need travel Insurance, I'm not going to cancel." So no one ever plans to cancel, but as the old saying goes "Sh*t Happens!" As you might imagine, in our 24 years of running Group Tours for hundreds and hundreds of guests, we've seen folks have to cancel for a variety of reasons - from broken legs to broken marriages.
But travel insurance isn't just about trip cancellation... That's just one small part of the coverage. Most comprehensive Travel Insurance policies cover a variety of medical expenses, dental expense, trip interruption, baggage loss, baggage delay, trip delays, and even trip cancellation issues for covered reasons (ie: job loss, sickness, etc). Many/most domestic health/medical insurances, including Medicare, provides no or limited coverage when out of the country... (On a personal note, we recently used our Travel Insurance policy to cover our expenses related to a 2 day unexpected delay on our return home from Italy due to an Italian Air Traffic Controllers strike. Our policy covered approximately $1000 in expenses for hotels/meals/taxis/etc.)
You can purchase travel insurance anywhere you choose. Here at Adventures to Tuscany, we are an official partner with, and always recommend
www.InsureMyTrip.com and
if you use this link to purchase your Travel Insurance, we receive a very small referral fee from them at no extra cost to you. We've personally used them and recommended them for over 20 years & they make it super simple... it takes just 5 minutes. A basic Comprehensive Travel Insurance plan for a 60 year old to cover the cost of your Adventures to Tuscany Tour can typically be had for as little as $120... a few dollars less if you're younger, a few dollars more if you're older. If you want to also cover your airfare you can estimate coverage at as little as 3 percent. So if you want to also cover a $1200 airfare, you could
estimate an additional $36. Again, this can vary a bit with your age, and the policy you choose.
We also remind you that as a very special benefit: per our Travel Cancellation Protection Policy outlined in your Reservation Form; if Adventures to Tuscany is forced to cancel your Tour for reasons beyond our control, your tour price includes our exclusive Money Back Tour Cancellation Protection. This is not intended as a substitute for the personal comprehensive health and travel insurance we're talking about above! We call it "The Golden Rule" policy! "If Adventures to Tuscany cancels a tour you have reserved, the entire amount you have paid to Adventures to Tuscany LLC for the applicable tour will be immediately refunded to you within 14 days after the tour's cancellation. Or, at your choice, you may choose a credit to transfer to another tour date. Once this occurs, Adventures to Tuscany has no other obligations to tour members on cancelled trips including any additional costs or fees related to other travel reservations or arrangements which are not included in your Adventures to Tuscany Tour price." (ps: the only time we've ever had to do this was during the pandemic when international travel was banned ~ we immediately sent out checks to every guest registered on a cancelled tour) Again: The Golden Rule!
So we promise you, we'll stop bugging you about Travel Insurance... but, we'll gently say it just one last time; "with our Boutique business model, we're unable to provide refunds..." What we do provide is official letters of trip cancellation on our letterhead for you to give to your travel insurance company.
If you have a question about your Tour, or if we can help you with anything at all with your travel planning, please reach out to us... You can email us at AdventuresToTuscany@gmail.com, or just pick up the phone and call us anytime 9am - 7pm Mon - Sat @ 610-657-7894. We're happy to help!
one of our favorites: teenager Lanie Gardner - maybe better than the original...
