Business owners and employees are increasingly aware that western businesses are often targets of attacks rather than the U.S. government. As companies grow and expand their businesses into global markets, their employees face the risk of working in remote and politically sensitive areas around the world.

Businesses that fail to address the situation and protect their employees may be facing the loss of employees as they choose to take safer positions with less risky travel requirements.

Businesses can, however, protect their employees with travel insurance protection that provides for the specific risks business travelers face, including:

• medical and dental emergencies
• emergency medical evacuations
• political and security evacuations
• kidnap and ransom protection

See our complete business travel insurance tutorial to understand the risks and determine what coverage you and your employees need before their next trip.

Do this, and as a business owner, you just might save yourself and your employees a whole lot of headaches.

While all travelers will benefit from reviewing and implementing these travel safety tips, seniors have a few extra concerns. They have to make sure pre-existing medical conditions are well managed before and during their trip. They have to take enough regular medication to last their entire trip. They also have to be aware of their own physical limits while traveling.

Senior Travel Safety Tips Before a Trip

1. Research the area you’ll be visiting, including State Department alerts and warnings, local weather, language and culture. Buy a guide book and read it before you go. If you have an e-reader, put the guide book on that device because you can take it with you without adding any extra weight.

2. Check your passport to be sure you have adequate time before it expires. Many countries have 3 to 6-month passport validity requirements that can catch a traveler with a valid-but-due-to-expire passport off guard.

3. Consider seeing your doctor before you travel to make sure you have copies of your current prescriptions in case your medication is lost or stolen and you have to get replacements. You’ll also want to check whether you have enough medicine for the duration of your trip. Remember to pack your prescriptions in your carry-on bag in case your checked luggage goes missing.

4. If you’ll be traveling overseas, make 2 copies of your passport page and see our credit card protection tips in case your card is lost or stolen.

5. Get proper travel insurance for your trip and be aware of the need for pre-existing condition coverage as well as evacuation/repatriation coverage. See our tutorial on Senior Travel Insurance for full details.

6. Prepare a personal travel medical portfolio and know how to find medical care on the road and in a hurry.

Senior Travel Safety Tips During a Trip

7. Be aware of your personal limits, get plenty of rest and remember to drink plenty of fresh clean water throughout yoru trip. A day or two to recover from jet lag is not unusual, so take it easy for the first couple of days after you arrive.

8. Avoid the risk of food poisoning by making sure that the food you eat is cooked properly, vegetables and fruits are peeled, and diary products are pasteurized.

9. Avoid pickpockets while you’re traveling and don’t flash a lot of money or expensive jewelry on your trip. When traveling on public transportation, stay awake and alert and avoid overly crowded buses as those are excellent spots for pickpockets.

10. Be aware of the risks of heart disease, obesity, and sitting for long periods of time – these are known risk factors for developing blood clots, so it’s important to avoid alcohol, drink plenty of water, and stand, stretch and move around regularly during your trip. Set your watch (a cell phone will work as well if it will remind you even in ‘airplane mode’) to remind you every hour that it’s time to move about a bit.

 

According to some recent research coming out of the UK, over 90% of skiers would back ski policing policies like:

• speed cameras
• speed limit signs
• breathalyzers

While these safety measures haven’t yet been introduced on ski slopes, the intent of implementing these kinds of safety measures would be to reduce the accidents and injuries caused by skiers going too fast.

Many skiers agree that ‘speed skiing’ is increasingly becoming an issue worldwide on ski resorts, and alcohol has been blamed as one of the largest causes of speed skiing.

Aside from the potentially life changing consequences of skiing out of control, if someone encounters a skiing accident as a result of drinking, their injuries would not be covered by travel insurance. That means, specifically, they would have to cover their own medical costs and evacuation costs if their accident was found to be the result of being under the influence.

All travel insurance plans have an exclusion that applies to all coverages and states it will not pay for any loss caused by or resulting from: “being under the influence of drugs or intoxicants.”

So, if they do implement breathalyzers on the ski slopes, be careful because ingesting alcohol could invalidate your travel insurance coverage.

Many road warriors have excellent immune systems because, after all, they reach a higher level of exposure than people who stay within their communities. While getting exercise, eating well, and getting plenty of sleep can help the frequent business traveler stay well, the high cost of rescheduling travel is a strong deterrent to canceling a trip when they do get sick. Many airlines charge as high as $150 or more simply to change a domestic ticket in addition to the additional cost of the new ticket, and hotels may require you to forfeit a night’s stay.

Doctors recommend that if you have a fever and are regular coughing or sneezing, you are probably contagious and shouldn’t fly.  The CDC recommends only traveling when you feel well because staying away from others when you’re sick can help protect everyone’s health, but let’s face it:  staying home is not always good for business and canceling a trip because you’re sick is not always a good career move. Therefore, business travelers may very well be in the position where they must travel when they are sick.

What can you do about it?

• If you are sick and can change your trip, call the airline and politely ask for their help. If you can get a doctor’s note, that may help. If the first representative refuses to accommodate, politely thank them and call back to get a different representative.
• Sick or not, consider carrying anti-bacterial wipes and swiping them across the tray tables, door and sink knobs in airplane lavatories, remote controls (in the hotels too!), and wash your hands every chance you get.
• Always do your best to get plenty of good quality sleep, stay hydrated, get enough exercise and eat well. These are standard operating procedures at home and have to be carried through to your travels as well.
• If you must be on the road a lot, familiarize yourself with the change fees of the various airlines on your routes. For example, Southwest Airlines doesn’t charge cancellation or change fees, but they may not handle the routes you need to travel.

Invest in an Annual Travel Insurance plan

Frequent travelers should invest in an annual travel insurance plan. If you find yourself ill in a hotel room in a foreign country, a call to your travel assistance services line can help you find a local doctor that accepts your travel medical insurance.

If you have to return home on an emergency, you’ll have help scheduling alternative transportation and with trip interruption coverage, you won’t have to pay for those unexpected charges.

Accidents and injuries can occur on a business trip just as easily as on vacation. A serious accident or illness abroad could bankrupt you, as these stories make clear:

• A vacation-turned-horrific-nightmare underscores the need for medical and evacuation travel insurance
• Don’t rely on a Facebook campaign to raise funds after your travel disaster
• Bungled Cruise Ship Evacuation Highlights the Need for Evacuation Coverage

So, be sure your annual plan has medical evacuation coverage to get you back home if you are seriously ill or injured.

See our recommendations for business travel insurance for complete details.

Many travelers prefer the personalized attention and unique ambiance of a bed and breakfast or an inn when they travel, but this type of travel comes with its own unique set of risks that travelers do not always consider.

How inns and bed and breakfasts are different

Bed and breakfast facilities are typically individually owned and run by an innkeeper who may or may not reside on the property. The same is true of many smaller and intimate inns. These are small businesses, and as such, they operate under very different rules than a typical corporate-owned hotel chain.

First, they typically require you stay a minimum number of nights (two is typically the minimum) and the full amount for your entire stay is required up-front.

Second, their cancellation policies are non standard and can be very restrictive. While with many hotels, you can call within 24 hours of your stay and cancel, that’s not true of inns and bed and breakfast facilities. Nearly always, the policy is that the innkeeper will attempt to rebook your room and charge you a simple cancellation fee ($20 and higher is typical). Unfortunately, it’s important to remember that these facilities are not drive-up types of establishments. If the innkeeper is unable to rebook your room with other guests, there is no refund.

In addition, you must cancel long before your arrival (many require 7 full days notice or more). If the inn or bed and breakfast is located near an annual event, such as a festival, or your stay is around a holiday, the cancellation notice period may be significantly extended or non existent.

For example, we’ve read cancellation policies like this:

Your deposit will be refunded less a $20.00 handling fee if we receive your cancellation request before the cancellation period. If a cancellation request is made within the cancellation period no refund will be made UNLESS your room can be rebooked, in which case you will receive a refund less a $20 cancellation fee. Our cancellation period is 7 full days before the check-in date EXCEPT:
* 14 days for holiday periods or 3 or more rooms or for stays longer than 7 nights
* 14 days for the Prescott Frontier Days Rodeo (4th of July week)
* 14 days for The Lodge (30 days for holiday periods)
For all 14 and 30 day cancellation periods, guests will be charged the full amount for ALL room nights reserved less any amounts received for room nights rebooked.

Cover the risks of your bed and breakfast trip

• If you’ve long planned a restful getaway at a quaint inn in the mountain, but your boss cancels your leave, you could lose all your pre-paid costs. A travel insurance package with trip cancellation coverage will help in this instance.
• If you receive a call that your child has been hospitalized and have to abandon your weekend, you’ll lose the money you’ve already paid. A travel insurance package with trip interruption coverage can help in that instance.
• If the inn is hit by a natural disaster, but still open for business, you might prefer to book your stay somewhere else. A trip insurance package with ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage will help in this instance.

Staying at a unique one-of inn or bed and breakfast has it’s delights, but don’t risk your entire travel investment.  See our full page on travel insurance for inn and bed and breakfast stays.