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Laura Heidt heads up the travel insurance desk at Birmingham, Ala.-based Brownell Travel (the oldest travel agency in the U.S.), where she's found success as the agency's resident travel insurance expert — her close rate is an incredible 90-95%.
In this episode of Trade Secrets, the second of a two-part installment on travel insurance, Heidt returns to the podcast to speak with Emma Weissmann (Senior Editor at TravelAge West) and Jamie Biesiada (Senior Editor at Travel Weekly) about all things travel insurance.
We’ll hear from travel advisors Daniela Harrison, Harold Gross and Teodor Mihail, who wonder how to tackle insurance-related issues that arise due to COVID-19. Heidt offers advice on what to do when policies have reached their maximum modification potential (after the trip has been canceled for the third or fourth time); why insurance is due at the time of deposit; and whether third-party insurance providers protect agent commission.
Additionally, the co-hosts dive into the most frequently asked that questions advisors have for Heidt about insurance. For example: Is COVID-19 covered on the policies? How do clients get back to their home hospital? If travelers have an elderly parent, can they cancel a trip due to their illness?
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Laura Heidt of Brownell Travel
Credit: 2021 Jenn MartinsResources Mentioned in This Episode and Related Reading
From TravelAge West
WTTC Announces New Insurance Guidelines for Travel
From Travel Weekly
Insurance Desk Debut a Timely One at Brownell Travel
Selling Clients on Travel Insurance
The Details
Brownell Travel
www.brownelltravel.com
Have a Question?
If you're a travel advisor with a question about the latest travel news, trends, social media, best business practices or more, please send an email to tradesecrets@travelweekly.com. Bonus if you send a recording of yourself asking your question — we may play it on the podcast.
About Your Hosts
Emma Weissmann is a Senior Editor of TravelAge West, a print and online magazine for travel advisors based in the Western U.S. She is also the co-host of Humans of Travel podcast, where she interviews notable individuals in the travel industry about their lives — the highs and lows that make them human.
Jamie Biesiada is a Senior Editor with Travel Weekly. She is an award-winning journalist, including being named the American Society of Travel Advisors’ 2019 Travel Journalist of the Year. Her roots are in community journalism, where she was the editor of several local newspapers and a regional entertainment magazine.
About the Show
Trade Secrets, a podcast from the editors of Travel Weekly and TravelAge West, is where travel advisors ask — and answer — questions. On each podcast, our editors will ask a veteran travel advisor to join them and field listeners’ questions. Topics will range from business advice to industry trends, history and more — as long as it’s travel-related, we want to address it! Find Trade Secrets wherever you get your podcasts, or at www.travelagewest.com/podcasts.
