4 Reasons Why Tour Operators Need Business Insurance

Though it’s only March of the new year, people are feeling the stress. With smart devices pinging headlines of the latest political news and strikes and protests blocking transportation lines, life can feel overwhelming.

To recharge, customers come to you to help them plan a vacation that’ll take them out of the horse race for a little while. Your tour operating business takes the stress out of planning a vacation. You purchase the airline tickets and hotel rooms, you plan the restaurant outings and sightseeing adventures. You combine all of these lovely deals into one affordable package for your customer.

But, as with anything, things can go south fairly quickly; that’s why you need business insurance for tour operators.

Here are four reasons why you need to bulk up on your small business insurance:

The hotel lodgings were not as described

After your customer arrived at their hotel and check-in to their rooms, they find that room’s walls have water stains and the carpet is peeling up at the corners. As if that weren’t bad enough, it looks like the sheets haven’t been changed the last few visits.

Angry about their hotel room, your customer calls you and demands that you find them another hotel ASAP and refund the hotel costs. You agree to do so. Fortunately, a liability insurance plan will cover the costs of the customer’s demands and help you to get their vacation back on track.

The hotel you booked lost your customer’s reservation

After a 10-hour flight your customer has finally arrived at their hotel and can’t wait to take a hot shower and a quick nap before hitting the town. When they go to check-in to their room, the front desk receptionist informs them that they do not appear to have a reservation.

Your customer calls you to right the situation, as it is part of your responsibility to do so. Contacting the hotel, you give them the reservation number and the date that you made said reservation. It’s learned that by the hotel’s error, the reservation was lost.

You quickly find another hotel for your customer to stay, but not before they threaten to take you to court for not satisfying the agreement. If the customer does sue your operation, a professional liability insurance policy will cover the financial costs of the lawsuit, keeping you in business and free to work with other customers while this one unfortunate incident gets taken care of.

Your shuttle service was involved in an accident that caused the customer to miss their flight
As part of the vacation package you offer your customers, your business provides a shuttle service to take them to and pick them up from the airport. On the way to catching a flight, the shuttle van was side swiped by another car, causing the customer to miss their flight. After getting the customer on another flight and discounting their ticket, you make an appointment with a garage to have your van checked out.

Commercial auto insurance will take care of the costs associated with the accident and will offer a medical compensation payment to everyone in the vehicle who may have been hurt in the accident.

The sunny island getaway was spent indoors due to bad weather

Looking forward to sunbathing on the beach, your customer is trapped inside for the duration of their holiday stay due to inclement weather.

They blame you for not tracking the weather more closely and want a refund. Because you can’t control the weather, you refuse to refund them for the whole vacation. Furious, the customer leaves a damning review of your business and it goes viral. Suddenly you have other customers canceling their packages. This review has caused you to lose a significant amount of business.

Business interruption insurance will cover the costs of the lost business and keep your organization afloat until you’re able to get the company back on its feet.

To really make sure your business is protected, particularly if you digitally store company and customer information, invest in both small business insurance and cyber insurance. If something should happen to your scheduler or customer information be made public, cyber insurance will take care of the financial costs.

For more information on small business insurance and to find a policy that’ll support your tour-operating business, visit CoverHound!