Travel Insurance For Dude Ranch Vacations – Forbes Advisor – Forbes
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If you’re saddling up for a trip to a dude ranch out West to enjoy rustic experiences under wide-open skies, you should cowboy up for a solid travel insurance plan to safeguard the money you’ve spent in advance.
A dude ranch vacation is a perfect fit for travelers who want to get away from it all. By day, ride horseback on trails with panoramic views, take a steer-roping lesson and learn about Old West folklore and culture. When the sun sets, eat hand-cut mesquite grilled steak under star-speckled vistas, unwind in a wood-fired hot tub and spend quality time with your travel companions or family.
Part of the appeal is that you typically stay on the ranch for the duration of your trip, so there’s no driving around, waiting in lines or mapping out overbooked days of sightseeing. That’s why dude ranch vacation packages often include both accommodations and most meals. Because you will be paying up front for many costs associated with a dude ranch experience, it’s wise to consider a comprehensive travel insurance policy that can protect your trip expenses if you need to cancel unexpectedly, or encounter snafus during your trip.
Trip Cancellation Insurance: Shut the Barn Door
When you book a trip to a dude ranch, it’s a pricey proposition.
“A family dude ranch trip can be a significant expenditure for the family, so you will want to protect your non-refundable trip investment in case you need to cancel for a covered reason,” explains Carol Mueller, spokesperson with Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection. For example, if you’re headed to a dude ranch in Wyoming, and three days before the trip your son needs an appendectomy, you would have to cancel your plans. You would be able to file a trip cancellation claim.
If you can’t giddy-up and go on your dude ranch vacation due to unforeseeable events and emergencies, trip cancellation insurance can reimburse you for 100% of prepaid, non-refundable costs. That means you can recoup money you paid up front for time at the shooting range or lessons on ranch roping.
Travel cancellation insurance is commonly sold as an optional coverage on standard travel insurance plans, but you can buy it separately, too. You can find policies with $100,000 in cancellation benefits per person (for example, Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection’s LuxuryCare plan), but you can buy less if you don’t think you need that much.
Not all reasons for canceling a trip are covered under a standard travel insurance plan. For example, if you back out on your trip because your daughter got the lead in a play she auditioned for and rehearsals begin during your trip, you would not be covered.
To rope in the greatest flexibility to change your travel plans, consider “cancel for any reason” travel insurance. This coverage is an upgrade offered by some travel insurance companies. It allows you to cancel for any reason, as you cancel at least 48 hours before your scheduled departure.
The freedom to cancel for any reason and still be covered doesn’t come cheap. It adds an average of 50% more to your standard trip insurance policy price, however, you will be reimbursed 50% or 75% of your trip cost, depending on your insurance company, if you meet the requirements of your policy.
Trip Delay Travel Insurance: Happy Trails on the Horizon
Dude ranches, by nature, are located on vast acreage typically far from major airports, which can increase the likelihood of travel delays.
For instance, you may need to take a connecting flight through Denver or Chicago to reach a regional airport in Cheyenne, Wyoming. If your flight from Chicago to Cheyenne is canceled due to icy runways, and you miss your flight, you may have to spend the night in Chicago due to inclement weather. That’s where trip delay insurance comes in. It can cover the cost of your hotel room, meals, transportation and other incidentals until you catch up to your travel itinerary.
Travel delay insurance also helps you recoup outlays for activities you miss because of a late arrival. So if you paid in advance for a guided fly-fishing trip, you can be reimbursed.
Be aware that there are usually waiting periods tied to delay insurance—typically it’s three to 12 hours before benefits kick in. Hold on to any receipts because you will need to include them when you file a reimbursement claim.
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Travel Insurance for When You’re Called Away from the Campfire
If you have to leave your home on the range to return to your own home due to an emergency, trip interruption coverage can help pay for incurred expenses.
This coverage comes into play when you have to cut a trip short because of an injury or illness you or a travel companion experienced during your trip, or if there’s a serious family emergency at home. For example, if your son had three front teeth knocked out by a horse and you wanted to return home so your family dentist could handle his care, you could file a claim.
Your policy would cover the cost of a last-minute flight home, plus any prepaid, non-refundable experiences you would miss due to an early departure. Some dude ranches include spas and yoga centers for serious rest and relaxation after rambling on the range, so if you paid in advance for these services, your trip delay benefits can provide compensation.
Insurance for When Your Baggage is Separated from the Herd
If your luggage arrives a few days late to your destination, your travel insurance policy can cover the cost of hiking boots, flannel shirts, cattle-drive worthy trousers and sunglasses you might buy to tide you over. If your suitcases ride off into the sunset without you and are lost, you can file a claim for reimbursement under your lost baggage insurance.
Additionally, your policy protects your personal possessions while on a trip. If your binoculars get misplaced, you can file a claim.
Be sure to file a report for lost items with the dude ranch manager, your tour guide or local authorities. This documentation is required when filing a claim. Also, note that some policies exclude certain items from coverage, for instance electronics or gold jewelry.
Additionally, be aware that baggage coverage is typically secondary to other claims you can make, meaning you first have to seek compensation from the airline or from a homeowners insurance claim.
Reimbursement for lost personal effects and baggage is usually capped at a certain amount per item, and per person. Generous travel plans provide $2,500 and higher per person for lost baggage and possessions, but you can buy less if you feel you don’t need that much.
Baggage delay benefits usually have a maximum payout amount per person, with an overall limit per day. Typical limits for baggage delay are in the $200 to $400 range, per person, per day, but you can find travel plans with higher amounts of coverage.
Medical Expense Travel Insurance: Whoopi-ti-yi-ouch!
If you are visiting a dude ranch in the U.S. and are injured or become ill, you could file a claim with your health insurance provider. But If you venture to a dude ranch in the sprawling mountains in Canada’s British Columbia, your U.S. health plan might not be accepted. Check your health plan’s global coverage before you go. And Medicare is not accepted outside the U.S.
If you are injured outside the U.S., travel medical insurance can cover the cost for medical visits, medicine and hospitalization.
Medical Evacuation: Don’t Fence Me In
If you are going to be vacationing in a remote location, far from a trauma center, medical evacuation travel insurance is worth considering. The cost for emergency evacuation can be tens of thousands of dollars, and your health plan may not pay for the entire expense. Without coverage, you will be responsible for paying the difference. For example, suppose you’re at a dude ranch nestled in the foothills of the Teton Mountain Range, and have a medical emergency while hiking in the Bridger-Teton Forest. Medical evacuation insurance can help pay for the cost of medevac transportation to a hospital.
