When I was recently booking a room at a Residence Inn on the Marriott website, there was something new to the booking process.
Marriott is now offering travel insurance on the reservation screen where you enter your information and credit card.
The booking I made was for three nights on points, so there wasn’t any room cost to cover. The insurance policy, which is issued by Allianz, costs $7 and provides coverage for trip interruption, trip delay, lost luggage, delayed baggage, and trip delay.
The coverage varies depending on the type of hotel booking you’re making.
Depending on the plan, coverage may include eligible trip cancellation costs due to a covered illness or injury, up to a maximum amount. In addition, the plans can cover other pre-paid, non-refundable trip expenses, such as tours, activities and entertainment and sports tickets.
A nice thing about this coverage is that it applies to anyone staying in the room, friends or family.
However, these coverages may overlap the insurance you already have from your credit card. The Marriott Bold and Boundless cards from Chase provide baggage delay, lost/damaged luggage and trip delay coverage.
The premium Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card from American Express includes lost/damaged baggage, trip cancellation and interruption, and trip delay coverage with higher limits than the other Bonvoy cards.
The only additional coverage from Marriott’s insurance that you don’t get from a credit card is personal items protection for stolen, lost or damaged items. However, if the item is new, you might have coverage through a card’s purchase protection insurance.
Final Thoughts
The insurance offered through the Marriott website when booking a room isn’t any different than the policies you can buy on your own. However, there is the convenience of having the coverage tailored to the cost of the room you are booking. While you may have travel insurance from your credit cards, there are restrictions (such as paying for the whole trip with the card) that make having separate coverage appealing. The ease of paying for insurance when booking the room is excellent for people who don’t want to spend time searching for policies online.
While I wouldn’t recommend paying for the travel insurance offered during the hotel booking process to most travelers, there are some instances where it might be worthwhile.
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