Smart Consumer

Smart Consumer is a weekly syndicated column that offers smart, actionable advice to customers. If you’re interested in publishing this feature, please contact Elliott directly at [email protected] or (202) 370-7934.


Why you need to buy annual travel insurance in 2021

Is 2021 the year to buy annual travel insurance? It is for Debbie Winsett, who plans several trips to Israel next year.

It comes down to simple math for Winsett: If she had to insure each trip individually, she’d pay thousands of dollars. But she’ll be leading several tours to the Holy Land in 2021, and there’s a more efficient, and less expensive, insurance option for that. It’s a single policy that covers everything.

“I love knowing it would cover weekend trips I might need to cancel, or random other travel throughout the year,” she says.

Winsett is part of a travel insurance trend for 2021.

“We are now seeing a big shift in the market,” says Sasha Gainullin, CEO of battleface, a travel insurance site. “Annual and multitrip policies are becoming more and more popular.”
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Warning! These holiday travel mistakes could kill you

 | Updated December 1st, 2020

Travel could kill you. Literally.

With new COVID-19 cases shattering records, many health experts are warning against all nonessential travel. But if you go — and I’m not saying you should — there are other errors you have to avoid. Because these holiday travel mistakes could kill you.

“Coronavirus is ruthless,” says Mahmood Khan, a professor at Virginia Tech, who directs the business school’s program in hospitality and tourism management. “Every trip that can be avoided will save suffering or even death.”

That’s worth repeating. Taking a trip might be your worst holiday travel mistake. If you can avoid traveling, do it.
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Here are the 21 best places to travel in 2021

So where are you headed in 2021? If you need a few expert ideas on the best places to travel next year, here’s a guide that’ll help.

Ovation Travel Group’s agents have compiled an exclusive list of the top leisure destinations based on advance sales and client aspirations. (Seems like 2020 was a lost year for travel.) If anything, the pandemic has made Ovation’s customers more ambitious than ever. Of the top 21 destinations for 2021, only seven are in the U.S.
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These are the safest hotels during the COVID-19 crisis

 | Updated November 6th, 2020

If you’re thinking of traveling during the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, you might be wondering: Is there a list of the safest hotels during the COVID-19 crisis?

There is. The Safe Travel Barometer, a startup that ranks travel companies based on their cleaning and sanitation practices, shared the list exclusively with me. It’s a handy guide for anyone interested in staying somewhere that takes safety seriously.
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This is what the travel industry is doing for the election

 | Updated November 6th, 2020

What’s the travel industry doing for the election? For business battered by the pandemic and left without government aid, you’d be surprised.

They’re supporting the election in big and small ways.

“Our goal is to try and make the process a bit easier,” says Sarosh Mistry, chair of Sodexo North America, a food service company. “We’re doing it in the ways that we know how and encourage everyone to do their part and make their voices heard in this election.”
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