Stella Insurance recently announced a new offering in partnership with battleface, a global travel insurance products firm. The travel coverage, said Stella’s chief operating officer Renee Cosgrave (pictured above), is partly a response to an opportunity created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“More than ever before, we’re seeing customers wanting to buy travel insurance,” said Cosgrave. “One of the great things that did come out of COVID is the experience convinced many consumers that they must have travel insurance.”
The offering was also designed based on Stella’s research that showed the majority of travel insurance policies are actually bought by women. There’s also the current global surge in the number of people travelling.
“What we’re seeing through research is 70% of Australians are currently planning overseas travel,” said Sydney-based Cosgrave. “Sixty-eight per cent (68%) of travel insurance policies are generally bought by women who are organising the travel in the family.”
Stella is best known as an industry pioneer in both the UK and Australia for women focused insurance. In a soon to be published podcast interview with IB Talk, Cosgrave said this travel coverage is its latest offering built to “to meet the needs of women”.
What makes this offering completely unique in the travel space is its domestic abuse cover.
“This really taps into the purpose of Stella and is a feature that sits across all our products,” said Cosgrave. “So if you are in a crisis situation or a domestic abuse situation on your overseas travel, we will help you get out of that situation.”
She said the coverage includes additional counselling services on the return from a trip for up to 12 months.
“It is a unique feature for Stella and it’s something that we also have in our motor product and it’s something that we will continue to take through all of our products as we develop them,” said Cosgrave. “It’s such a big focus of our purpose around supporting women.”
This purpose extends, she said, across every aspect of the business including products, partnerships and finding ways to use the firm’s profits for good “to help support and solve some of the issues women face around domestic abuse.”
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released data on Wednesday that showed more than 20% of Australians have experienced violence or abuse from a partner. Most of the 4.2 million people who suffer this abuse are women.
Cosgrave emphasised that “everything we do” concerning the needs of women “is done through insights and research.”
“When we talk about what we call the women focus features that we’ve added to our product, we identified some areas that aren’t generally covered by travel policies, or if they are covered, they’re definitely not articulated to the wider audience around what that cover benefit is,” she said.
Pregnancy cover was one area.
“We really found an opportunity to enhance the pregnancy cover beyond the traditional 19 weeks offered in market,” said Cosgrave. “I’m a mother with a 19-month-old and with a doctor’s clearance I was able to fly up to 32 weeks into my pregnancy, so the way we see it is why shouldn’t your travel insurance cover you if a doctor says you can travel?”
Childcare benefits are another option included in the coverage.
“So, as a parent, if you’re traveling and you’re hospitalized or something happens to you we’re now providing additional cover to be able to get some childcare while you’re in hospital or unable to care for your children,” she said.
There’s also considerable flexibility in the travel offering.
“What we’ve done differently this time with our travel coverage is it is completely flexible and customizable to individual needs,” she said. “So it’s a really modular approach on the quote journey.”
What else could be covered in a travel insurance policy? Please tell us your ideas below
