Concerns about Travel Insurance for VRBO Booked Stays
Thank you again for booking with Breezy Oak Villas through VRBO. We really appreciate your confidence in us and your choice to book a stay at our Florida home.
Do you have concerns about our VRBO Travel Insurance process? You’ve come to the right place!
We understand that this entire process may be new or a bit uncomfortable for some guests, particularly those who have booked a property through VRBO, AirBnB, Whimstay, HometoGo (and on and on…) and never experienced or been asked to do something like this before.
Q. If we are truly providing our guests with free insurance, why are we then asking them to go purchase insurance and pay for it themselves?
We understand your concern and questions, and hope that you’ll bear with us and complete the process we ask you to.
When you do, you’ll discover (just as almost a thousand booking parties with us already have) that we take great care of our guests, and that in return for asking you to do a little more when you book with us, that you get a lot more in return.
All of this is explained in lots of detail below, as we believe very much in being up front with our guests and providing them with lots of information and assurance that they’ve made a great choice to stay with us.
We want your stay with us to be relaxing and care free, right from the initial booking, through your stay, and even afterward.
Asking you to go to the insurance provider directly and book the insurance for your stay yourself has the following benefits:
1) It simplifies things. It is easier for you to book and pay for the insurance than it is for us to purchase it on your behalf.
2) It ensures that the coverage is yours, and for you and your party.
2) Any information you need to provide for the insurance remains confidential between you and the provider.
3) If you are booking the insurance, you have the opportunity to top it up, and add additional coverage for anything else you might want to cover, like flights for example. But why would you want to cover flights if you’ll be driving to Florida? It just makes sense for you to be able to choose your coverage, to cover whatever trip expenses you may or may not have (if you want) in addition to the cost of your stay with us.
4) Coverage may be different, and through different carriers, depending upon where you live. For example, Canadian guests will be covered by a Canadian Insurance company to ensure they’re properly protected, and in CDN $.
5) Your FREE Coverage Includes:
- Trip Cancellation
- Trip Interruption
- Trip Delay
- Lost Baggage / Personal Effect
- Baggage Delay
- Sports Equipment Rental
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment
- Emergency Medical & Dental
- Evacuation/Repatriation of Remains
- Optional Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) Coverage
We are providing you with ALL of this coverage for FREE!
It really isn’t asking a lot to have you, our guest, go to the insurance provider’s website, fill out the forms and pay for the coverage level you choose, and then allow us to provide you with a refund or credit to your booking account that reimburses you 100% for the coverage of your stay with us, and provides the other additional benefits listed above!
In addition to the much greater date flexibility and extended coverage of your booking (for example; if you have to cancel the day before your arrival, your costs are covered with our insurance – that doesn’t happen on VRBO) as our guest, you receive lots of additional benefits!
When you take the time to understand the details, and consider everything that we are providing you with, this is a much better deal, and provides much better coverage, than VRBO’s cancellation policy!
Q. Okay, I understand that you refund me the cost of the insurance for my stay, so my net cost is zero, which makes the insurance free, but why didn’t you explain that earlier?
Simply because we don’t want to overwhelm our guests with a ton of information and things to learn while they are deciding to stay with us.
We love that you found us through VRBO, but you are our guest now, and we’re going to take great care of you, just like we would if you found and booked directly with us through our own website! And part of that means providing you with an opportunity to properly protect your stay. Because you found us on VRBO, which allows guests to cancel at some properties and get their money back (with some limitations) we also want you to be able to cancel your stay with us if necessary, and get your money back (with a lot less limitations, plus a lot more additional benefits), but in a manner that protects us as well, and helps us stay in business!
Unfortunately, that does require a bit more time and effort, for both ourselves and our guests, but doing things right always requires more work than taking short cuts. We know from experience, that in the long run, doing things right is always the better choice. For those guests who book directly with us, rather than go through a site like VRBO, the entire experience is actually easier and simpler.
We genuinely appreciate your patience and understanding in helping us make sure your stay is properly protected, for both you and us!
Q. Why should I trust that I’ll actually get a refund?
You may not need to trust that it will happen at all. Most of our guests pay for their stay with two payments; their initial deposit, and then a second, larger balance payment eight weeks before arrival. This is industry standard in most cases. When you buy the insurance, we’ll process a credit that lowers the balance of your second payment soon after. You’ll be able to confirm that the credit has been applied, in other words the amount of the second payment is reduced, before you even make the second payment. This will happen whether you make your second payment through VRBO or directly with us (the choice is yours) but in either case, the amount will be lowered by the value of the insurance for your stay.
Of course, if you choose to top up the insurance to cover additional trip expenses, your additional payment for that extra coverage will not be refunded/credited. That just makes sense.
How the various possibilities work:
If you purchase the insurance yourself and only cover your stay with us, and nothing else, we refund or credit the amount you paid on your account, so your net cost for the insurance is zero, and we will have paid for it in full – making the insurance completely FREE to you.
If you purchase the insurance and top up, or add coverage for additional protection besides your rental charges, which you are welcome to do or not (but it is a great bargain to add additional coverage when we are covering the basic cost for you already) we refund or credit the portion of the insurance that covers your rental charges with us (we know in advance what the cost of the insurance is for this original portion), so your net cost for the insurance for your stay with us is zero. This means we will have paid for the portion of the insurance that covers your stay with us in full – making the insurance for your stay completely FREE to you.
If you don’t purchase the insurance yourself, meaning we must do so, to make sure the cost of your rental with us is 100% protected, no credit or refund will be provided to you as we will have paid for the insurance for your stay in full – making the insurance completely FREE to you.
If the above information doesn’t provide you with all the assurance and information you need, please don’t hesitate to reach out directly and get in touch with me. I’m always happy to assist our guests and provide any information I can.
Or, spend a few more minutes (before you follow the links provided and book your insurance online!) and read through the in-depth explanations provided below:
Important Notes, Details and Questions
VRBO refunds don’t apply—cancellations must be arranged with us directly and claims must go through the insurance.
If you must cancel your stay, claims must be filed with the insurance provider, not VRBO.
Insurance is supposed to be purchased within 1 week of booking. This is a requirement of the insurance provider. If you don’t buy the insurance, we will be forced to purchase it for you, and the coverage will likely be less (meaning you may not don’t get all of the extra coverage listed). Your stay and rental charges are still covered 100%, with even more flexibility than VRBO’s cancellation policies.
This is a great additional benefit of staying with us!
Why not take a few minutes now to get this important step done?
If you arrange for and purchase your insurance not more than one week after booking with us (completing our booking form, not the one on the listing website), you get a lot of extra benefits at no additional cost. Plus you can increase your coverage to Cancel for Any Reason Travel Insurance if you want.
We refund or credit the cost of insurance for your stay with us, making it absolutely FREE to you!
If a refund is needed instead of a credit, it will be processed as a credit on the card account you provided for your Account/Security Deposit at time of completing our booking form.
This is comprehensive Travel Insurance that covers your stay with us, and so much more.
Still not convinced or have additional concerns?
You may be wondering why all of this is necessary. Perhaps it seems so complex compared to just booking on VRBO. Worse, some may feel uncomfortable because for them, the process is setting off alarm bells that this may involve something unsafe. If one can get a ‘Free’ Cancellation through VRBO, why not just do that? Why go through all these hoops?
These are legitimate and fair questions. The answers may surprise you. Please click here to learn about Protecting your trip and the truth about ‘Free’ Cancellation policies!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns not answered here, please feel free to reach out by phone or email to discuss with us. We’re always happy to help!