Heads up: travel insurance

[LindySpirit]

I was looking into renting DVC points for an upcoming trip, and they advised that I take out travel insurance in case WDW is forced to close again in the fall. I contacted a travel insurance broker, who sent me all of the options. There are NO “cancel for any reason” (which is what you would need to cover a pandemic-related closure) plans available that cover the cost of 100% of your trip, 50-75% only. So just be aware before you sign a non-refundable DVC rental contract.

 

[starry_solo]

I was looking into renting DVC points for an upcoming trip, and they advised that I take out travel insurance in case WDW is forced to close again in the fall. I contacted a travel insurance broker, who sent me all of the options. There are NO “cancel for any reason” (which is what you would need to cover a pandemic-related closure) plans available that cover the cost of 100% of your trip, 50-75% only. So just be aware before you sign a non-refundable DVC rental contract.

Would a "cancel for any reason" policy include pandemics? I've looked into "cancel for any reason" policies and have never found any that covers 100%, only 50-75%, as you mentioned, but of NON-refundable costs. So, if the owner/broker offers a "voucher," that could be considered an acceptable solution by the travel insurance provider.

You should look into booking directly with Disney at this time. I expect to be doing that for my next Disney vacation in a few years

 

[LindySpirit]

Yes, the CFAR policies include pandemics. But yes, only 50-75% back. We decided to book directly with Disney.

And good point about the “non-refundable costs” — a voucher, even if you can’t use it, may prohibit you from using the insurance.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

This is a really, really bad time to rent DVC points. Get discounts elsewhere. For the next whole year, there is just no knowing for sure what will be open, what travel will be permitted, as even if Covid dies down soon it could return during another season. DVC rental contracts are not consumer-friendly and not what you want to be stuck with if WDW closes (or looks like it might close) as your trip approaches.

On another note, it depends on the insurance company, how they deal with travel vouchers. I had to make a Cancel for any Reason claim last year & after cancelling the flight I got a travel voucher. The insurance company just told customers with vouchers to sign a form stating that they would not use the voucher. I got my claim paid out with no issue at all. The voucher thing was routine for them to handle. So ask your potential insurer how they deal with that if you're concerned. Don't assume that it's automatically not covered as that would be inaccurate.

 

[DaBourques4]

Yes, the CFAR policies include pandemics. But yes, only 50-75% back. We decided to book directly with Disney.

And good point about the “non-refundable costs” — a voucher, even if you can’t use it, may prohibit you from using the insurance.

My CFAR policy did not cover pandemics. I will always rent from Disney from here on out. I lost almost $500.

 

[YawningDodo]

/cries in already-reserved-my-DVC-rental-in-February

This year is the first time I managed to plan far enough ahead to rent DVC and upgrade us to AKL. It's also the last time I plan to rent DVC because that's over $1,600 that's just gone if we can't go next January (and I'm getting off cheap since we're booked for a studio). I know I should have bought travel insurance, but knowing myself I wouldn't have sprung for a cancel-for-any-reason policy and it would have been useless anyway since the regular policies don't cover pandemics.

Lesson learned, but for right now I'm just gambling on it working out--booked our flights since they were dirt cheap in awards miles (seriously, I spent less than half as many miles as I expected to need), though I'm holding off on adding any other non-refundable reservations until the last possible minute. Figure if I lose the money for the room that's a big enough chunk out of my annual vacation budget that I won't be able to afford another trip before 2022, so I might as well gamble the airline miles and a couple hundred dollars for marathon registration as well.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Would a "cancel for any reason" policy include pandemics? I've looked into "cancel for any reason" policies and have never found any that covers 100%, only 50-75%, as you mentioned, but of NON-refundable costs. So, if the owner/broker offers a "voucher," that could be considered an acceptable solution by the travel insurance provider.

You should look into booking directly with Disney at this time. I expect to be doing that for my next Disney vacation in a few years

I am so glad i booked directly with Disney. On the way to disney our trip was delayed and had an unexpected stop in North Carolina we lost our first night/day. Disney was so amazing they pushed our reservation one day so i did not loose the first night cost. We did not have insurance I will always book direct when it comes to super expensive vacations.

 

[cmrdgrs]

I was looking into renting DVC points for an upcoming trip, and they advised that I take out travel insurance in case WDW is forced to close again in the fall. I contacted a travel insurance broker, who sent me all of the options. There are NO “cancel for any reason” (which is what you would need to cover a pandemic-related closure) plans available that cover the cost of 100% of your trip, 50-75% only. So just be aware before you sign a non-refundable DVC rental contract.

Or - find an owner that would refund or rebook if the DVC resort closes. There are many private owners that can honor this type of agreement.

Even many owners that rented their points through brokers during the closure that wanted to do this, but the broker was stopping the owner from giving the refund to the renter.

Good luck!

 

[WDWTRAVELLER]

Travel insurance is always a hit or miss. Some companies are good to deal with and others are just plain scammers