When to purchase trip insurance | Trip insurance with personal time
When to purchase trip insurance
If there is a likelihood your trip being canceled, it is still best practice to book refundable airfare and lodging through Egencia. Purchasing a refundable trip ensures that your department will be able to recover the full cost of the trip in the event of cancellation. When nonrefundable airfare Egencia reservations are canceled, a credit/voucher is typically created available on the specific traveler’s Egencia profile for use with the original airline within a year timeframe (check the details of your bookings for more information on this)
If refundable travel is not possible, trip insurance may be an alternative.
Pending Travel Management Services' review, trip insurance for business travel is reimbursable when purchased under the following conditions:
- Trip is strictly business travel and there is high risk of cancellation
- Refundable airline tickets and refundable/cancellation friendly hotels cannot be secured,
- Trip insurance is a cost-effective option, and approved by the funding department
Any reimbursements paid to expense owners are subject to periodic review and may change based on travel conditions. For more details, please review travel insurance SOP-TVL-03.
Trip insurance with personal time
SOP-TVL-03 covering the purchase and reimbursement of trip insurance has been updated to include guidance on trips that include personal time. Best practice is to not purchase trip insurance on trips that include personal time.
- When trip insurance is purchased and there is personal time involved in the travel:
- If your trip involves personal time, there is a personal gain from the purchase of trip insurance. Automatically, this classifies the trip and associated costs as notexclusively business related. As a result, strict review and a substantiated business purpose for the purchase will be required.
- If the trip insurance covers personal days of the trip, the full cost of the trip is subject to reporting as taxable income to the employee traveler.
Avoid tax implications on employee travelers’ payroll by keeping personal time and business trips with trip insurance completely separate.