Book on Priceline and then get canned? No Problem!

Today, Priceline announced a new insurance product which protects against, among other things, job loss due to a layoff or involuntary termination. We've seen some other innovation in this area with Kia offering to cover car payments in the case of job loss and JetBlue awhile back offered to refund customer's tickets in the event they were laid off. Priceline's policy is a little different because it is not a "value add" for buying from Priceline - consumers have to actually pay for it - $16 for an air ticket and $5/ night for a hotel reservation. Still, anything that gives consumers more confidence to buy is a good thing. It will be interesting to see how it performs for hotel bookings as this is the 1st time we can remember seeing travel insurance for hotel.

On a side note, as usual, the air supplier web sites are still limited to hawking regular old travel insurance. Yawn. Once again, Priceline proves the OTAs can out innovate the suppliers - even without booking fees.

Ski Pass Insurance - Creative fees on the slopes

Ed Silver here -- guest blogging again -- This morning I received an email from Vail Resorts, owners of some of the best ski resorts in the world, including Vail, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Keystone, and Heavenly. It included an offer to insure my ski season pass. I've seen plenty of insurance offerings in the past, but this latest one just amazes me.

As an avid skier with an office in the Rocky Mountains (as well as NYC) several of us have season passes to the great CO ski resorts. And yes, I do buy the full EPIC pass each year to maximize my skiing season, hey - that is why I live out in Colorado!

But never before have I thought of the idea of insuring my ski pass. The site says:

"What if you get sick or injured and are unable to use your ski pass?"

Indeed - those things would for sure ruin my ski season, and make my $600 pass useless. With ski resort traffic down last year the resorts are now turning to the same type of merchandising and marketing that the airlines are using, selling extras in any way they can.

Of course read the fine print before buying any insurance, this one is provided by Travel Guard, a well respected insurer of travel. I'm sure the details are tricky - but still for $20 you can protect your pass investment this year. Very innovative thinking on behalf of Vail and Travel Guard.

ps. The first resort opens on November 6th. Let it Snow!