The sharing economy is wreaking vast disruption on the travel industry’s legacy companies prompting a panel discussion on how it should react.
Allianz hosted the 21st Century travel in a sharing economy roundtable at its Toronto Eaton Centre office Tuesday morning, covering the effects of Airbnb, Uber and lessons learned from Europe.
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Allianz Global Assistance’s vice president of sales and marketing, Gino Riola advised brokers should stay mindful of changing buying patterns and stay current.
“The challenge you can foresee in the sharing economy is that travellers choose not to go through an intermediary,” Riola said.
“We wouldn’t say that’s so much a concern, but our responsibility is to make sure that insurance stays relevant and that through our product and the education we provide to our brokers that they likewise keep themselves relevant in that situation.”
Much of the discussion was around millennials driving the sharing economy - whether it was to do with technological reaction or price and what it meant for insurance.
One of the panelists, Emily Rayson, chief operating officer at the vacation rental home platform CanadaStays, said they offer an optional insurance feature, but it’s not very popular.
“I don’t think that generation (millennials) cares to be honest,” Rayson said.
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“They can buy the insurance on the (shopping) cart as they book their trip, no-one takes it, the uptick is tiny.”
Adding to the generational discussion was Merit Travel’s president, Jason Merrithew.
“Insurance is a grudge purchase to the millennial generation, our uptick in insurance purchases is actually quite high but we see it sold very differently,” Merrithew said.
“It’s not sold in an online shopping cart, it’s sold in a sense that you’re protecting your investment and the booking timeline is three days before they actually purchase it. If you’re looking at ways to increase insurance you have to hit them much closer to time of travel because it’s a product that’s seen to deliver no value when they purchase it, but enormous value when they’re actually consuming it.”
Riola said that though he doesn’t anticipate a new travel insurance product is needed for stays at Airbnb or trips using Uber, he anticipates some changes.
“The good news is our policies cover the cases (in the sharing economy) - be it for trip cancellation and interruption, or a client getting in harm’s way or having an outpatient procedure because of uncooked chicken or because facilities are not as safe as they should be,” Riola said.
“This is an ever changing environment that’s moving towards new and better things and our job is to be prepared for that.”
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