Business travel insurance (otherwise known as corporate travel insurance) is an important investment for both employers and employees because travel can be unpredictable, despite meticulous planning – especially if you constantly hop on a plane for work-related trips, or regularly send a few of your brightest interstate or overseas to push company growth. This type of cover can safeguard your business against the likes of delayed or cancelled flights, ill or injured staff, and lost or stolen luggage.
Business travel insurance offers an additional level of coverage on top of standard travel insurance policies for both domestic and international trips. Types of policies available include:
This can be the most suitable policy if you have one employee travelling either once or multiple times throughout a 12-month period. Depending on travel frequency, you can choose single or annual business travel insurance.
Instead of taking out an individual policy for multiple workers within the one organisation, you can instead take out group travel insurance. This can cover either single or multiple trips. When organising a group policy, you must know your worker’s pre-existing medical conditions, as well as their personal details, like their date of birth. There can be a cap on how many employees you can have on the one group policy, however.
For both individuals and groups, a basic policy can cover transport delays and cancellation. With all domestic travel, some providers only cover those travelling more than 250 kilometres from their home.
Many business insurance policies include leisure travel cover for directors and nominated executives, as well as their accompanying
spouses and dependent children. This can be limited to directors and nominated executives. These will also have a cap on
trip length, with some providers allowing a maximum of 45 days.
Business travel insurance policies typically offer the same levels of coverage as standard travel insurance policies, with
a few additions. You can be typically covered for:
Any injury, loss, or damage relating to your profession won’t be covered in some business travel insurance policies. If an
employee suffers bodily injury, sickness, or accidental death, some insurers will offer compensation to the employer (or
policyholder) if they are found payable under any worker’s compensation legislation. This is known as extra territorial workers
compensation, and is typically only available when an employee is carrying out their duties on a temporary basis away from
their state or territory where they are employed. As always, check your policy’s Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to know
what is included in your cover. If you’re taking out a group policy, ensure each traveller has also read the PDS.
There are some limits both you and other insured workers should be aware of before travel commences. Claims resulting from
the following are often excluded:
Certain ages can either go uncovered in some travel insurance policies, or can attract higher premiums. You may also have reduced timeframes for trips in an annual multi-trip policy. If this is the case, you might be required to purchase travel insurance that covers over 50s or over 65s.
Many travel insurance providers will not cover pre-existing medical conditions. This doesn’t mean you won’t get certain levels of cover altogether; certain providers will offer cover for all or some medical conditions via pre-existing medical travel insurance.
