Travel agents looking for new commission revenues and a new revenue stream can take a look at MeteoBonus, a new service that provides vacationers a payout against bad weather, while creating commissions of up to 15 percent.
MeteoBonus offers travelers protection against the biggest unknown when it comes to vacations— Mother Nature. It provides agents and operators' customers the ability to purchase financial piece of mind against both rainy weather and lack of sunshine during their holiday, either directly in the booking path or with the agent.
“Unlike travel insurance with claim forms and deductibles, MeteoBonus offers a straightforward payout should bad weather happen; a predetermined payment is made automatically to the traveler,” the company says.
The MeteoBonus program is also designed to help agents increase advance bookings, and to maximize the revenue earned from each customer interaction. The program can help agents improve their customers' brand loyalty, which can encourage repeat customers and higher spending per transaction. The cost, or premium, is calculated based on the trip length and bad weather risk based on historical data, MeteoBonus says. The commission offered is 15 percent and agents can get an Agency ID code and book directly through the www.meteobonus.com website. Agents can also get a web connection through Airsavings' system, AirlinePlus. MeteoBonus is a unit of Airsavings.
Historical data is retrieved from the nearest weather station to the passenger's destination, and corroborated by the World Meteorological Association. Currently, MeteoBonus has participating weather stations in a coverage area that encompasses all of Continental Europe and the British Isles, as well as some areas of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The program also has 250 participating weather stations in Canada and Australia, and another 450 in the U.S.
MeteoBonus says it is not a weather insurance policy, rather it is a financial hedge backed by weather derivatives. As such it is predictable, payout happens promptly and weather conditions are measured at weather stations at the destination the customer is traveling to.
Payouts are predetermined at the time of purchase so travelers can be sure of what level of compensation they will receive for investing in the cover and as such there are no claims to file or adjusters to deal with, MeteoBonus says.
MeteoBonus says the service is based on weather derivative products that large corporations and agribusinesses have used since the mid 1990s to protect against the financial effects of inclement weather.
Visit www.meteobonus.com.