Travel Insurance for a Jamaica villa rental … What a Rip Off! Or is it?

Think of the challenges those stranded passengers must have faced trying to rebook their flights. Some had to wait days to get to their destination. It must have been even worse trying to rebook people travelling as part of a group as opposed to people travelling solo or as couples. To top it off, the airlines don’t owe you a dime for delays due to acts of nature, such as snow storms.

And it isn’t just the weather than can cause problems. On a much-anticipated trip to South Africa, which entailed connections in Atlanta and Amsterdam, the initial leg of our flight was delayed due to mechanical difficulties. That, in turn, meant that a later connection out of Atlanta would cause us to be stranded in Amsterdam for almost two days waiting for the next flight to Cape Town.

The other option was to delay starting our trip for two days. The airline representative with whom we spoke acted as though either option was perfectly acceptable, despite the fact that we would have lost 2 or 3 days out of our trip, have additional expenses for our unplanned stay in Amsterdam, and would have lost out on two night’s lodging in Cape Town that we had already paid for!

On top of it, we had booked our tickets late so we got economy seats at almost business class prices. As it turns out, because of the class of the ticket, despite the high price, the agent was not willing to put us on an earlier flight that would allow us to make our connection, even though seats were available.

Fortunately, thanks to our Frequent Flyer status and a conversation with a supervisor, all three of us were able to get on a connecting flight in Atlanta just in time to catch the flight out of Amsterdam and so our vacation was saved. Let’s just say we were really lucky!

And don’t just think of trip insurance for your flight. Think of your villa too!

A friend of ours had planned a week’s vacation at a villa in Jamaica. She switched jobs a few months prior to the anticipated trip and then decided that she didn’t want to take time off so soon into her new job to go on vacation. Unfortunately, she cancelled the booking of the rental property less than 60 days prior to arrival and lost her money. She was very upset and felt that the villa owner was unfair.

Her reason for choosing to cancel her vacation was certainly valid, in her mind. Some people end up cancelling vacations for even better reasons like a personal illness or a death in the family; nevertheless, the bottom line is that a signed villa rental agreement is like a signed lease agreement. It is a valid contract and must be thought of as such.

Although you may have a valid reason why you can’t uphold your end of the bargain, and as much as the villa owner may sympathize or empathize with you, a contract is a contract. You can lose your money if you don’t have cancellation insurance.

To try to put the issue in perspective, consider the following: