Leadership / 05.04.22
Ticket Insurance Evolves as the World Revolves Around New Threats and Risks, Part 2
Teddy Durgin
Peter I'anson In Part 1 of this article, we discussed what ticket insurance is, what policies cover and don’t cover and how the pandemic increased their importance and visibility. In Part 2, our four interviewees talk about whether ticket insurance effectively fills the gap on the old “no refunds, no exchanges, all sales are final” policy statement, and do such policies allow for today’s greater flexibility for event organizers?
It was Peter I’anson, Head of Partnerships & New Business at SecureMyBooking.com, who made mention in Part 1 of the dreaded “no refunds, no exchanges, all sales are final” edict.
Casey Callinsky Casey Callinsky, President and Chief Growth Officer of Protecht Inc., then chimes in. “While ticket insurance certainly fills a large portion of that gap, it doesn’t close it completely,” he says. “Event organizers are not in the business of risk mitigation, so Protecht’s ticket protection affords promoters with the opportunity to give potential ticket buyers greater purchase confidence at the time of checkout. There are also benefits of the offering, which go beyond the obvious. For example, we have seen the transference of the service ‘burden’ from the event organizer to our Protecht team. When the consumer has an issue, they call us instead of the venue ticket office. We have also seen a dramatic reduction in charge-backs when our ticket protection service is offered.”
Tom Trotta Tom Trotta, Vice President of Sales & Partnerships, USA for Allianz Partners, concurs. He says, “Ticket insurance is not a replacement for a fully refundable ticket, but it certainly does help to fill a huge gap. Customers can be reimbursed the cost of the ticket [and fees] should they not be able to attend the event for dozens of covered reasons. This not only can give consumers an option should things not go as planned, but it gives them confidence to buy tickets earlier and can help take some of the burden of complaints off ticket sellers.”
I’anson says, “I think we are not the full solution, as we will never get to the stage of 100% of people buying ticket refund protection. However, we play a part alongside other offerings, such as venues that offer exchanges or credits on account up to a couple of days before a show, as most of our refund applications are just before or just after the show.”
Stuart Barclay Stuart Barclay, Sales Director for Protect Group, says, “When businesses are assured that their revenue is protected from customer cancellations and refund requests, they are more equipped to handle ever-evolving business decisions. As revenue is secured, then flexible, in-the-moment and future business planning/strategy can be done with more confidence.”
All four interviewees expressed different opinions on how they see ticket insurance evolving in the months and years to come. Trotta stresses the importance of staying vigilant and seeing where the world is headed. “Each year, Allianz Partners analyzes billions of data points through our real-time quotation integrations and conducts over 2.5 million surveys to understand and anticipate consumer needs,” he says. “We also speak with our long list of partners and with regulators across the U.S. and the globe to understand where the industry is moving. It is essential that we continue to provide the most relevant covered reasons, remove common consumer pain-points and advise our partners on the latest trends.”
For his part, Barclay believes ticket protection will become more and more commonplace across many verticals. “In terms of how the product will evolve in its offering, we’re seeing many of our members choose to forego ‘opt-in’ and automatically include this service on all tickets to enhance the customer experience,” he says. “With the evolution of technology and the heightened demand for instant gratification from consumers, the process and speed for obtaining refunds will just get faster and faster.”
“We see ticket insurance [continuing to be] a competitive differentiator,” Callinsky says. “Evolution is unstoppable, and those who understand the transformation economy will thrive.”
Perhaps I’anson sums it up best: “I think it will continue to adapt to situations in the world.” In 2010, for instance, his firm added volcanic ash clouds [impeding air travel] as something it covered. A decade later, he says, “We covered COVID-19, removing the ‘excluding WHO mandated pandemics’ clause. We won’t be rolling back on these. They are part of giving customers the confidence to buy tickets and help our partners with their sales. Who knows what's around the corner that we may end up covering next? All I ask is please let it be another 10 years before we see something else of this scale!”
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Tags: Leadership , COVID-19 , insurance , Ticket Insurance