When you get a quote for travel insurance, we ask for five things: Your age, your destination country, the dates of your trip, the state where you live, and your total trip cost.

All pretty straightforward… except for the cost.

How do you calculate trip costs? What kinds of expenses count? Do you really need to insure the entire cost of the trip? We’ve got answers for you.

Tips for Calculating Your Travel Insurance Trip Costs

Trip costs are pre-paid costs only. You’re protecting the trip expenses that you stand to lose if you must cancel the trip last-minute. You don’t need to include any planned expenses — things like restaurant meals, attraction tickets you haven’t bought yet, etc. Also, trip costs do not include items you buy for your trip, such as clothing or toiletries.

Include costs you’re obligated to pay, even if you cancel. If you’re going on a cruise or booking a tour, you may pay a deposit upfront, then pay the rest later. But read the fine print: If you cancel the trip, are you still on the hook for the full amount of the vacation? If so, then you need to insure the entire trip cost.

You only need to insure your non-refundable trip costs. Your trip cancellation benefits reimburse you for prepaid costs that won’t be refunded by the original travel supplier. If, for example, your plane ticket is fully refundable, then you’d need to get the refund directly from the airline instead of filing a travel insurance claim.

You can adjust your coverage if your trip costs change. We understand that travel plans can be fluid. If your trip costs increase before you leave, or while you’re traveling, contact us and we can help adjust your coverage to make sure you’re fully protected.

Calculating Trip Costs for a Cruise

Because most cruise lines have strict cancellation policies, it’s essential to make sure your costs are fully protected by travel insurance. Cruise fare is the big one, of course, but you may also need to include:

• Your flight to the port of departure
• Your hotel, if you’re arriving at your departure city a day beforehand
• Ground transportation, which may be booked through the cruise line or separately
• Taxes, fees and port expenses, which can add up to 15-20% of your fare¹. Some cruise lines will refund these fees even if you cancel your cruise last-minute.
• Pre-paid gratuities, if your cruise line charges these
• Drink packages
• Specialty dining packages
• On-board spa packages
• VIP packages (for access to a private sun deck or other perks)
• Pre-paid Wi-Fi charges
• Shore excursions, which can add hundreds or thousands to your cruise trip costs

Calculating Trip Costs for a Vacation

If you’re renting a beach house for the week, calculating trip costs is simple. If you’re planning an international adventure, you may have a much longer list of expenses to include. When you’re getting a quote, click the little calculator icon in the Trip Cost field to get help adding everything up.

Vacation trip costs may include:

• Plane tickets, train tickets, and any other prepaid transportation costs
• Hotel stays: Read the cancellation policy carefully — even if you haven’t yet paid for your hotel, you may have to pay all or part of the costs if you cancel.
• Your vacation rental. Don’t forget the associated fees! For example, if you’re booking your stay through Airbnb, the cleaning fee will be refunded if you cancel your stay. You may still have to pay property fees and service fees, however, if you cancel outside of the free cancellation window.²
• Ground transportation, such as prepaid airport transfers
• Tours or excursions
• Tickets to shows or events
• Tickets to theme parks or attractions
• Ski lift tickets

Do I Have to Insure the Full Trip Cost?

Your trip costs have a significant impact on your travel insurance costs, if your plan includes trip cancellation and trip interruption benefits. It makes sense that expensive vacations would also be more expensive to insure… but what if your travel insurance quote is more than you’re prepared to pay?

You have options! Here are a few ways to save money on your travel insurance.

You can choose refundable tickets and lodging. Remember, you don’t need to insure trip costs that are fully refundable. While you might pay more up front for a hotel stay or plane ticket that can be canceled and refunded anytime, you’ll save money on insurance.

You can decide not to insure the full cost of your trip. Let’s say you’re planning a 40^th anniversary trip to Paris with first-class airfare and a luxury hotel. The total cost of the trip is $10,000, and your travel insurance quotes all exceed $1,000‚ even for the economical OneTrip Basic plan. You blew your travel budget on the trip, so you’re not prepared to pay that much for travel insurance. What should you do?

As long as you’re willing to accept the risk, you could insure only a portion of the trip costs. If you’ll get vouchers from the airline in the event of a cancellation, for instance, you could insure just the nonrefundable costs of the hotel. As a result, your insurance costs would drop.

It’s important to know, however, that losses due to pre-existing medical conditions can only be covered if you insure the full, non-refundable cost of your trip (and if your plan includes the Pre-Existing Medical Condition Exclusion Waiver.) If you incur additional non-refundable trip costs after you purchase your plan, you must insure them with us within 14 days of their purchase. Learn more about how travel insurance covers pre-existing conditions.

You can buy an annual travel insurance plan. Unlike single-trip insurance plans, the cost of an annual plan is not affected by your trip costs (or the traveler’s age). All your trips in 365 days can be protected for one affordable price! AllTrips plans have maximum limits for trip cancellation/interruption, so look for a plan that can insure your full trip costs.

Read more: The Comprehensive Guide to Annual Travel Insurance

No matter which plan you choose, you’ll get the reassurance of 24-hour assistance, accessible by phone or via the Allyz® TravelSmart app. Our staff of multilingual problem solvers can help with medical emergencies and travel-related problems, anytime you need them.

Wondering which plan is right for you? Get a quote for your next trip.

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