Travel peace of mind – for a price

PLANNING AHEAD: Jim Grace, president and CEO of InsureMyTrip, says the biggest concerns facing travelers are weather and injury, both before and during the trip. His company acts as an aggregator of travel insurance to find customers the best policy. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
PLANNING AHEAD: Jim Grace, president and CEO of InsureMyTrip, says the biggest concerns facing travelers are weather and injury, both before and during the trip. His company acts as an aggregator of travel insurance to find customers the best policy. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Hurricanes, blizzards, tsunamis and volcanoes disrupt travel plans. The globe is dotted with political uprisings. Travelers still have to deal with the standard concerns of canceled flights and sudden illness.
That all adds up to reasons people get travel insurance and what’s enabled Warwick-based InsureMyTrip to have a strong and growing customer base buying a little travel peace of mind.
“Things can happen before you leave. The destination might become uninhabitable if a hurricane runs through it, like in the Caribbean,” said InsureMyTrip founder and CEO Jim Grace. “The biggest concerns are weather and injury, both before and during the trip. Then there’s terrorism.”
InsureMyTrip is an aggregator of travel insurance that gives travelers options for policies through 27 insurance providers. Nearly all of the company’s business is conducted online.
Technology has allowed the company to keep constant watch on global developments that have an immediate impact – or a domino effect – on travel plans.
“We had hundreds of people in Japan when the tsunami hit,” said Grace. “We had hundreds of people in Egypt when the Arab Spring broke out.”
Clouds of ash from the eruption of a volcano in Iceland in 2011 caused travel chaos in Europe.
“People are choosing to go on more and more exotic vacations and they’re taking more risks,” Grace said.
InsureMyTrip grew from seeds of personal experience and a technology career.
“I have an engineering degree and my background is in computers, as well as insurance. I worked for my dad in insurance for a number of years,” explained Grace. “I wanted to marry computers and insurance and this was a logical fit. … I saw travel becoming a big product on the Internet.”
Family travel focused the idea for the business.
“I was traveling with young kids. If a kid gets an ear infection and can’t fly, the airline is not going to give you your money back,” said Grace. “Now I have older parents and there are different considerations. My mom was on a trip … tripped and hurt her leg and needed medical care. The insurance paid for medical evacuation to the nearest hospital and then for her to rejoin her group.” The cost of the insurance averages from 4 percent to 8 percent of the cost of the trip, so coverage for a $1,000 trip could be as low as $40, said Grace.
The company has also insured some more-extravagant journeys.
“We’ve insured trips where people charter a big yacht for a vacation in the Mediterranean and the cost of the trip is $400,000 or $500,000 for a week,” he said.
One of the main reasons people buy travel insurance is to cover illness, especially in a country where they don’t speak the language.
“If a person gets hurt, they could call their medical provider and they’d probably tell them to give a call when they get home,” he said. “They’re good domestically, but it’s not their specialty to help you around the world.”
InsureMyTrip acts as an advocate for the traveler and assists with claims. Insurance companies are chosen for their quality and service to customers.
Some of the policies and arrangements are simple. A flight is canceled and a traveler misses a connection to a cruise, so the insurance is likely to cover the cost of the travel interruption, including the cost of getting to meet the ship. Comprehensive policies can include some level of insurance for medical issues and coverage for loss of baggage.
InsureMyTrip is thriving in Rhode Island. The company launched a new website in late November, especially designed to make it easier for customers to get information about insurance products and to work well on mobile devices.
The company added 12 employees during the past year, bringing the total to 58, and is planning to continue hiring for a range of positions in 2014.
“We have analysts, programmers and customer-support people. About half our people are technical staff and the other half is insurance staff,” said Grace.
InsureMyTrip renovated a 17,000-square-foot warehouse in Warwick that has what Grace describes as a NASA-like center where world weather and events are monitored.
“There is something special that happens at our office,” he said. “We have an indoor basketball court, pool tables and Ping Pong tables,” he said.
“We’re an insurance company, but we don’t think like a [typical] insurance company.” said Grace. •

COMPANY PROFILE
InsureMyTrip
OWNER: Jim Grace
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Travel insurance
LOCATION: 100 Commerce Drive, Warwick 02886
EMPLOYEES: 58
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2000
ANNUAL SALES: WND

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