O2 today announces the next stage in the development of its financial services arm with the launch of travel insurance from O2 Money. Launching this week, O2 Travel Insurance will bring a fresh approach to the market with three products designed to take the stress out of holiday and travel planning. It follows the successful launch of the Cash Manager and Load & Go Visa cards from O2 Money in 2009.
The first product, O2 Flow, is distinctive in the travel insurance market, offering flexibility, personalisation of cover and added value. It has the key ability to combine the flexibility of single trip cover with the added value and multi-trip benefits of annual cover. The key benefits of O2 Flow include:
- The ability to increase or decrease cover as required – for instance, if a customer is going skiing in February, they can pay for ski cover in that month, not for the whole year.
- A rolling, one month contract that can be stopped at any time after the first six months. Frequent travellers don’t have to worry about forgetting to take out cover when they go away.
- The ability to pay monthly, spreading the cost throughout a year as you can do for car or home insurance
- Customers can change various elements of their Flow cover after purchase, for free.
In future, O2 intends to make full use of mobile technology and data to provide enhanced customer benefits. For example, customers could choose to have travel insurance automatically set up whenever they take their phone abroad or be offered the opportunity to switch on cover quickly and easily using SMS.
O2 Travel Insurance is powered by Mondial Assistance, one of the world’s leading providers of travel insurance and assistance. In addition to the O2 Flow product, O2 will offer standard single trip and annual travel insurance cover.
Fraser Campbell, Head of O2 Money said: “Up until this point, travel insurance has traditionally been restrictive for consumers and we know from our research that nobody’s travel plans are ever a one-size-fits-all affair. We are responding to customer insights with the most flexible product on the market which will ensure customers neither over-pay nor find they have inadequate cover while travelling.”
“Since the launch of O2 Money this year, we have already seen thousands of people make huge changes to the way they connect with and manage their money; we are keen to repeat this success with our new travel insurance products. It’s another major move for our portfolio of financial services.”
O2’s Travel Insurance products will offer some of the best levels of cover available with benefits including O2 Passenger Protection (scheduled airline failure cover); new for old replacement (for personal belongings); and up to £15m cover for medical expenses.
Ben Smart, Director of Travel at Mondial Assistance in the UK adds: “O2 Travel Insurance has been created with a single objective, to deliver a versatile solution that reflects the diverse lifestyle and travel aspirations of people today. Whether customers take advantage of O2 Flow or single or annual trip cover, they can holiday with the confidence that they have the right level of protection paid for in a way that best suits them.”
The launch of travel insurance follows the successful launch of Cash Manager and Load & Go from O2 Money. With 100,000 applications in the first seven weeks, they represent the fastest acquisition of new customers for a UK card launch. The two fee free, pre pay Visa cards were designed to help people better manage their spending money by never going overdrawn and with real time balance updates sent to their mobile phone after every purchase.
