Recommend May2017 - 36

Celebrating 50 Years of Helping Travel Agents Sell Travel

Allianz Global Assistance USA
$200,000. Yet according to an Allianz
Global Assistance Wave Season
Survey conducted in March, more
than half of the 1,529 respondents
(56.1 percent) believed that it would
cost less than this. It's these types
of misunderstanding Allianz is
continuously working on improving
through marketing initiatives and smart
partnerships; however, there's always
room for progress and Durazo sees "a lot
of room for growth in the U.S. travel
insurance market.
"In five years we think that travel
insurance will be very main stream and
that most consumers will understand
the value of travel insurance and will
elect to purchase it when they book
their trip," he says. "The world has
become a very interesting and dynamic
place and it seems that every day
we're seeing new challenges that
impact travel.
"We've had everything recently from
severe weather to terrorism to Zika and
more that effect traveler's plans and
we expect this trend will continue.
None of this should stop anyone from
traveling, but we think an informed
consumer is going to elect to purchase
travel insurance to protect their travel
investment and get help if they run into
trouble while traveling."

Travel Insurance Made Easy
More than 25 million travelers trust
Allianz Global Assistance USA each
year to protect them while they're
away from home. In these uncertain
times, travel agents especially can
understand the need to protect their
clients' travel investments against
unexpected disruptions.
Just as important as booking travel
insurance for clients is determining the
best provider to sell. Daniel Durazo,
director of communications for Allianz
Global Assistance USA, understands
the confidence travel partners put in
the travel insurance and assistance
provider and is delighted with the
dedication to clients the company
has shown in return over the past
two decades.
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Lending a Helping Hand

"We've been a leader in the travel
insurance industry for more than 20
years," says Durazo. "And we're very
proud of how we take care of our travel
agent partners' customers. Every year
we receive 10,000 requests for help from
travelers. Of those 3,600 are calls for
help with a medical problem.
"And every year we transport more
than 500 customers who require
evacuation by an air ambulance
or some other means," he added.
When local medical facilities do not
have the necessary equipment to
treat an American patient, they are
airlifted back to the U.S. via an air
ambulance, which could cost them,
if uninsured, between $50,000 and

At present, Allianz is launching
a number of innovations and
improvements to simplify its claims
process. "We've recently rolled out a
suite of innovations to make filing a
claim easier, and getting paid faster,"
says Durazo. "One thing consumers
don't like is a lengthy claims process.
We've addressed this by redesigning
our claims forms so they're easier to
understand and easier to use," therefore,
reducing the amount of time clients
spend filing a claim and the back and
forth involved when clients submit an
incomplete claim.
In addition to having the ability to
file a claim online using any mobile
device, clients can also file claims
directly from Allianz's new and
improved TravelSmart mobile app. The
TravelSmart app provides travelers with
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