But even travel insurance doesn't always protect you. There were a lot of people that had travel insurance during Covid and it didn't do an ounce of good because as long as they weren't sick with it and the property was open - they wouldn't pay out - even though many didn't feel safe to travel and resorts were just bare bones with no amenities, so not exactly open. I also heard that people that had reservations for properties that were closed after the storms were told insurance wouldn't pay because their points were returned to a holding account so they didn't technically lose them due to the cancellation - even though many couldn't use them before they expired. Or with weeks some got exchanges that at least give a little more time to use but are very restricted. So I am kind of on the fence as to how much it helps based on what I am hearing about the success rate of claiming.
I understand that travel insurance might help, especially with things like the airfare to and from a closed or partially closed property.
I’m just talking about the points. The OP didn’t get sick or have a trip interruption unrelated to the property. The property itself was unable to provide the accommodation that was promised. Even if not required, I think the property or MVCI should make a goodwill gesture to extend the points or allow the OP to make a reservation for next year. In the grand scheme of things it wouldn’t cost a lot…especially given that much of the property seems to be open…and would show some compassion.
Travel insurance isn’t comprehensive coverage. Most insurance policies, like auto and homeowners, are comprehensive and cover everything but the listed exclusions.
Nearly all travel policies are listed peril policies, much like the old fire (very old version of homeowners) that covered specific events. With a travel policy, it covers only the perils listed in the policy. Typically those are the most common perils like hurricanes (maybe natural disasters depending on wording) or illness of a listed traveler.
A hurricane would cover the listed expenses for the listed amount. It might not return your points (I haven’t looked at the TravelEx policy closely) but it will cover the cost of those points, or at least a major portion of that cost. I think what I glanced at would pay $2,000 for a price tag of $199. If that’s accurate, then the cost of a week in December OF unit at Oceana Palms would be around $3,500 if booked using points.
At one point in time I looked at the coverage and recall not being extremely impressed at the price for our needs. This is the first November hurricane in 40 years for Florida. We’ve been traveling to South FL for 21 years in November or December. At $199, we’ve saved $4,179 over that time. it was a risk not taking the insurance but historically one I was willing to take.
Oddly enough I do take out the insurance on cruises. But that’s because I want the medivac coverage more than trip cancellation.
One of the other considerations with TravelEx is I believe they provide rental car coverage. We have older cars but I keep full coverage on them (it’s inexpensive). If all I had was liability coverage, the trip insurance would likely be less expensive than paying the damage waiver coverage when renting a car.
The long and short of all this is it’s up to the consumer to protect against potential loss, not the business. Anything MBC does for owners is out of goodwill and not required. It’s up to you to select the coverage at the price you feel reasonable or take the risk. For us we typically accept the risk. For us that risk has been the resort being so damaged by an October hurricane our reservations are cancelled. That’s a real possibility this year and it will be a bummer if we can’t go. However, it was 2000 points or $1,360 and we’ve saved $4,179 over the years, so I don’t feel to bad. I’ll lose some money paying change fees on the airfare as well, but we’re still on the plus side of the ledger
