Machine learning for travel insurance
InsureMyTrip in the US recently announced the latest upgrade for its recommendation engine – a predictive algorithm that utilises machine learning technology to find personalised travel insurance coverage for customers.
The new engine is able to automatically filter thousands of different plans and ascertain which are the most appropriate for travellers heading to areas that are likely to be affected by hurricanes, such as the Caribbean. First announced by CEO Jim Grace at CES 2018, this represents the first time that such predictive modelling techniques are being used in the travel insurance comparison sphere.
Additionally, as well as filtering policies to protect against hurricanes, the enhanced engine is able to tailor policy suggestions based on the individual profile of a user. An example of this is cruise passengers; these tend to be concerned about potentially missing boarding times due to a delayed flight or a missed connection, but InsureMyTrip’s recommendation will have already used its machine learning capabilities to take this into account, offering a travel insurance plan that covers the customer for such an eventuality.
"Hurricanes have a great impact on travellers and can easily put trips in jeopardy,” commented Jim Grace. “Whilst there are travel insurance plans with specific hurricane-related coverages, travellers may have difficulty identifying those plans quickly online. Our ground-breaking recommendation tool now automatically showcases plans with robust hurricane coverage, empowering travellers to feel more confident with their travel insurance purchase.”