It's Entirely Possible to Get a Refund for Terrible Weather on Your Vacation
A new company called Sensible Weather is preparing travelers for the future.
In 2023, more extreme weather events are becoming all too common. Scientists have confirmed that the extreme and increasingly unpredictable weather is a consequence of climate change. Going forward, it will be increasingly hard to plan anything—including big trips—around the constantly changing weather. Sensible is a new company trying to address some of that unpredictability.
Typically bad weather can completely ruin vacations. Big storms can rain out at a day at the beach and warm temperatures can melt the snow on any slopes you'd hope to ski on. Sensible's Weather Guarantee offering is a new form of supplemental travel insurance that will send you a refund if the weather turns sour.
According to Bloomberg, 13 companies have partnered with Sensible to offer travelers this form of trip protection so far. Once a company partners with Sensible, you'll have the option to add the protection while booking. The example listed on Sensible shows $14-a-day coverage. In the event that a weather event interferes with your trip—like three hours of rain—and you'll get an immediate reimbursement for your booking. The requirements for what kind of weather will be considered for reimbursement will vary depending on location and time of year.
"Our Weather Guarantee has data upon data behind it," the Sensible website states. "We marry existing information from satellites and developing technologies to our mission to provide users with a new kind of freedom while traveling."
You can see which companies are partnering with Sensible on the partner page of the website. It's likely that as weather starts interfering with travel plans more often, more businesses will be offering this sort of trip coverage protection. In general, travel insurance in all forms has become more popular in a world that has already seen things change so suddenly due to the pandemic and more people are preparing for plans to change unexpectedly.
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