Making travel plans? Have you booked your trip yet?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s actually someone who\u2019s more excited about your trip than you are and that\u2019s the scammers hoping to rake in millions from unsuspecting travelers. This time of year, travel scams surge, targeting everyone of all ages but especially seniors.<\/p>\n
Here are a few smart travel tips to protect you, your family and friends as you make your plans from Justin Lavelle, a scam prevention expert for\u00a0BeenVerified.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Telling people when you\u2019re going away and where you\u2019re going is advertising your absence and leaves you, your friends, and family open to scams (and your home open to theft).<\/p>\n One such scam that occurs often comes in the form of an email from your account that has been hacked and sent to a friend or relative. The email tells a terrible tale of either being mugged or somehow losing all your money while on vacation. The result is always a need for money to be wired.<\/p>\n Since the email is coming from someone they know, people will sometimes believe it.\nRemind your friends and family to never wire money without talking to you or someone you\u2019re traveling with first.<\/p>\n One of the biggest scams today is a form of online scam that targets travelers booking hotels and vacation homes.<\/p>\n Renters are enticed by an incredible deal and book it online with a payment wire. When they arrive to their destination, the hotel or rental home exists, but the rental itself didn\u2019t book the reservation and have no room waiting for you.<\/p>\n Do some online research before booking, or use a background checking service. You can search the individual or company\u2019s name (and physical address) to get a sense of whether or not the company is real and if the name matches the property.<\/p>\n Always pay with a credit card that has a fraud prevention guarantee, book through well-known travel websites and companies, and call the properties directly to confirm that they do offer rentals and have availability when you are looking to book.<\/p>\n Time-share-style companies have been around forever. However, some of today\u2019s travel club companies employ unscrupulous tactics and high-pressure sales to entice consumers into purchasing their vacation club memberships.<\/p>\n Consumers believe they are getting something for free by attending travel club sales presentations and then are under the belief they are joining the vacation club at a reduced price after high-pressure tactics. They soon find out they are not getting a good deal and could have purchased the same vacation for less elsewhere.<\/p>\n In general, vacation clubs are a common source of travel complaints, so it\u2019s best to not agree to the presentation in the first place.<\/p>\n Most people understand the dangers of using an open public Wi-Fi hotspot. Did you also know you also have to watch out for protected networks at hotels and other venues that require a password?<\/p>\n Anytime you use a shared Wi-Fi network in any public spot, it\u2019s easy for someone to intercept your data and monitor what you\u2019re doing. They know what sites you\u2019re visiting, your account passwords, emails, and more.<\/p>\n If a deal sounds incredibly cheap, there\u2019s a strong likelihood it\u2019s a scam. Companies aren\u2019t about to give you an 80-percent discount on your travel and stay.<\/p>\n Protect yourself from scams by always using a credit card with fraud protection, always get everything in writing, play it safe by booking direct with a company (whether it\u2019s United Airlines or a resort in Mexico), and do your research on a site like Trip Advisor.<\/p>\n Before you get wrapped up in the idea of a relaxing getaway, do your homework and proceed with caution to protect yourself and your family.<\/p>\n You can also use a site like BeenVerified for their property search feature that is perfect for verifying homeowner information and avoiding the many scams that proliferate on Craigslist and other sites that specialize in vacation rentals. You can also use it in conjunction with a people search when transacting on Airbnb.<\/p>\n In considering purchasing travel insurance, a traveler might want to consider the potential out-of-pocket expenses they would have to otherwise cover in the event that something occurs.<\/p>\n We asked the US Travel Insurance Association<\/a> (UStiA), a nonprofit association of insurance carriers and other businesses involved in travel insurance and assistance services, for their advice.\nThe UStiA advises travelers to protect their investments with a travel-protection plan.<\/p>\n You may be wondering if you had to cut your trip short due to your illness or that of a family member, could you afford the cost of another plane ticket? If you had to be medically evacuated or pay medical bills out of pocket, could you afford those costs? If your flight is delayed and you have to book a hotel room for a night, or your luggage is lost and you need to replace essentials, are those costs you could cover out of pocket?<\/p>\n According to the UStiA, the most popular travel insurance is \u201ctrip cancellation,\u201d which is actually a package\u2014or comprehensive plan\u2014including three types of coverage:<\/p>\n Financial helps protect against losing nonrefundable travel expenses, such as airline tickets, cruises, and baggage loss. If your trip is delayed\u2014by weather, for example\u2014it can also help with unexpected expenses like hotels and meals.<\/p>\n Medical helps reimburse emergency room and hospital costs and provides medical evacuation if you\u2019re seriously sick or injured.<\/p>\n Assistance connects policy holders with needed services, coordinates medical care, finds emergency legal help, accommodations, and other important resources in case of emergency, from illnesses to a stolen passport.<\/p>\n A comprehensive travel insurance policy includes 24-hour-assistance services to help you handle covered travel emergencies. Make sure that you travel with information about your travel insurance policy and have the assistance contact information handy.<\/p>\n Make sure that you purchase coverage that meets your needs and your itinerary\u2014both the destinations and the activities. Make sure you understand what is\u2014and what is not\u2014covered by your insurance policy. If you don\u2019t know, call the company directly and ask.<\/p>\n While most travel policies cost between 4-8 percent of the total trip cost, coverage more than pays for itself if travelers need to cancel their trip due to a medical emergency, weather, or mechanical issues.<\/p>\n Travel insurance protects against sudden and unforeseen events. For most travelers, there are several months between the time they book their trip and when they actually travel. During that time span, no one can predict everything that might occur.<\/p>\n Additionally, benefits such as coverage for pre-existing conditions or “cancel for any reason” coverage are generally only available when the insurance is purchased within a certain time of making an initial trip deposit.<\/p>\n These coverages are not available on all insurance plans, so travelers need to understand the purchase requirements of each particular plan and how that product applies to the traveler’s unique situation.<\/p>\n Check the UStiA\u2019s member directory<\/a> as a way to locate travel insurance providers.<\/p>\n Smart travel tips to protect you when you vacation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2017","category-winter-2017-columns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5229"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5382,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5229\/revisions\/5382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Travel Tip #1: Do Not Post Your Trip on Social Media<\/h4>\n
Travel Tip #2: Avoid the Vacation Rental Scam<\/h4>\n
Travel Tip #3: Beware of High-Pressure Travel Club Companies<\/h4>\n
Travel Tip #4: Steer Clear of Shared Wi-Fi if Possible<\/h4>\n
Travel Tip #5: If a Deal Sounds Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is<\/h4>\n
What About Travel Insurance?<\/h3>\n
To Consider:<\/h4>\n
Trip Cancellation Insurance<\/h4>\n
Financial.<\/h5>\n
Medical.<\/h5>\n
Assistance.<\/h5>\n
Why Purchase Travel Insurance Now<\/h4>\n
To Get You Started<\/h4>\n
For further information, see the USTIA website: trip.ustia.org.<\/em><\/h5>\n
Justin Lavelle is a scam-prevention expert and the communications director for BeenVerified.com<\/a>. BeenVerified is a source of online background checks and contact information.<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"