Online travel insurance platform launches in Spanish and Italian
insurance systems provider Firemelon has produced an online platform with integrated pre-existing medical condition screening for the non-English speaking international market with specialist travel insurance provider Fit 2 Trip
UK-based Firemelon’s Magenta Insurance System is being used for two new dual-language websites to enable Fit 2 Trip to provide its customers in Spain and Italy with travel insurance cover that includes pre-existing medical conditions.
“Although it is standard in the UK to declare medical conditions to obtain travel insurance, this is not the case in other countries,” explained Founder and CEO at Fit 2 Trip, Simon Powell. “Medical screening as part of the travel insurance purchase process is in its infancy in many European countries, as the majority of policies don’t provide the option to cover pre-existing medical conditions, leaving travellers uninsured should something happen.
“With the development of these new websites, Fit 2 Trip’s aim is to offer travel insurance to as many people as possible in Italy, and now Spain, regardless of their medical circumstances.”
The Magenta platform is a system for managing sales, claims and assistance for the travel insurance industry, and is used by over 30 different insurers, brokers, claims handling companies and assistance companies worldwide.
Travel insurance industry transformed to online distribution
Zena Carter, Managing Director at Firemelon, commented: “It’s been a real pleasure to work alongside Fit 2 Trip to bring their vision to life. Integrating with UK aggregators for over 20 years is where we have gained our expertise and being able to apply this knowledge to an international market has been very exciting.
“It has not been without its challenges, of course. As the European market is less developed than the UK, we had to re-engineer our systems to ensure they delivered what was required, and integrating with a number of other partners to provide a seamless solution made the task even more complex.”
Over the last two decades, the travel insurance industry has totally transformed from the majority of policies being sold via travel agencies and high street brokers to growth through online distribution. Firemelon has helped drive this transformation with a significant proportion of both policy sales and claims being processed through Magenta.
Digitisation has brought a myriad of benefits to the claims management process – for insurers and insureds alike – but it also brings challenges. ITIJ recently looked at the tools available to claims management teams, and how best to deploy them.