Business travel becomes big business for Bidvest Insurance Group
Hanri Pretorius, General Manager of Bidvest Travel Insurance.
Bidvest Insurance Group launched their new travel insurance product range in July 2015. A portion of these products have been specifically designed to cater to the needs of businesses where travel forms part of its operations. The Bidvest Corporate Annual Declaration Travel Insurance policy was developed based on feedback from in-depth market research that was conducted, which included speaking to numerous travel agents to obtain real customer insights. Claims that were received and paid out as well as feedback from business customers was also factored into the research to determine what would make the best travel insurance option for corporates.
“Through our research we discovered that a large number of corporate companies no longer base their decision solely on price when purchasing travel insurance, but instead companies who understand the value of their employees also focus on the benefits and assistance services that form part of the corporate travel insurance policy. Bidvest’s Travel Insurance looks to protect companies and their employee’s against unforeseen circumstances while travelling on business related journeys, these circumstances range from covering emergency medical related expenses, pre-existing medical conditions, leisure and sporting activities, trip cancellations, curtailment, trip interruption, baggage loss, travel delay, missed connections and many more unexpected occurrences that are very real to todays business traveller. Our new corporate travel insurance policy looks to give peace of mind to both the employer and employee when travelling for business. Nowadays travelling for business has become a norm for companies of all sizes, so to be without travel insurance puts the employee as well as the company at risk, which is a risk not worth taking”, stated General Manager of Bidvest Travel Insurance, Hanri Pretorius.
The new travel insurance policies cater for both large corporations and small businesses with policies that can be tailored to a company’s specific needs. The Bidvest Insurance policies cover both local and international travel and according to Pretorius, she believes that there is a gap in the market for Bidvest Insurance to cater for businesses’ of all sizes big and small.
Bidvest Insurance Group now have a number of business travel policies to suit an individual business’ needs with very competitive age limits that range up to 81 years old. The range includes Corporate Annual Declaration Policies, Multi Trip/ Frequent Flyer Policies, and the newly launched Business Extreme policy that provides cover to employees who are performing manual labour whilst travelling.
It is imperative for companies that have employees travelling regularly to have travel insurance in place that has flexibility and tailor-made cover that provides peace of mind to staff so they can remain focused on the job at hand. Additionally, the very real possibility of unforeseen events that take place while travelling on business can result in companies having to outlay large sums of money which are unbudgeted for. The bottom line is that Travel Insurance is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but rather a ‘must have’ for any savvy business – big or small.
