Generali Global Assistance Travel Insurance Review
While a vacation should be about relaxing and enjoying your time, an unexpected problem or accident can easily ruin your trip. Travel insurance may be well worth the investment.
Generali Global Assistance Travel Insurance offers immediate assistance for emergencies experienced while traveling. Read on for our review of Generali's services.
Best for emergency support services
With emergency support available 24/7 in all three of its plans, Generali Global Assistance Travel Insurance is our top pick for emergency support services. But how does it stack up in terms of coverage options, policy exclusions, customer support and accessibility? Let’s have a look at key policy benefits and limitations and find out.
Generali Global Assistance travel insurance pros and cons
- 100% trip cancellation coverage included in all plans
- 24/7 travel support services
- All plans include identity theft resolution services
- Pre-existing medical conditions are only covered in the premium plan
- Baggage delay coverage applies after 12 hours with the most expensive plan
- Travel insurance plans are only available to U.S. residents
Pros explained
100% trip cancellation coverage included in all plans
If you need to cancel your hotel, aircraft, lodging or tour reservation due to unforeseeable conditions, travel providers might not refund your purchases, or you may have to pay cancellation fees. Generali Global Assistance provides up to 100% trip cancellation coverage in all three of its travel insurance plans. This applies to your unused, non-refundable, pre-paid travel expenses.
Most reasons for trip cancellation, such as sickness, travel document theft or carrier cancellation or delay, are covered by Generali. This is a feature that even some of the best travel credit cards and travel insurance companies fail to offer.
24/7 travel support services
Generali Global Assistance offers immediate, 24-hour travel assistance for unexpected problems during a trip. This assistance comes with all of its plans. The company’s help hotline is available every day with about 4,700 assistance agents and 425,000 service providers around the world.
Some of the services they can assist with include:
- Legal and medical referral
- Emergency cash transfer
- Locating and replacing lost and stolen items
- Embassy and consular services
- Translation and interpretation
- Returning your pet home in case you experience a medical emergency
- Returning your vehicle home or to the closest rental agency in case you experience a medical or mechanical problem
All plans include identity theft resolution services
While many travel insurance companies don’t offer identity theft resolution services, Generali Global Assistance includes this benefit in all of its plans. The service becomes available on your planned departure day and terminates after 180 days. The company treats each identity theft case as an emergency.
After you contact the company, it can assist by:
- Giving you information about how identity theft happens and protective measures you can take to prevent it
- Submitting an ID theft affidavit to the proper authorities, credit bureaus and creditors
- Providing you with an ID theft resolution kit
- Reporting the fraudulent activity to local authorities
- Notifying relevant credit-reporting agencies about the incident
- Placing a security freeze on your credit reports
Cons explained
Pre-existing medical conditions are only covered in the premium plan
While all three of the plans include protection for medical emergencies, the Standard and Preferred plans don’t cover pre-existing medical conditions during the 180 days before your planned trip. The company defines pre-existing as sickness or injury for which you or a travel companion received, (or were recommended) a diagnostic test, exam, or medical treatment. Taking or receiving a prescription for medication also falls under "pre-existing," unless it's for a condition that is controlled via prescription medication. The Premium plan is the only travel insurance plan from the company that provides coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. To qualify for this plan, you must be medically able to travel during the insurance purchase.
Baggage delay coverage applies after 12 hours with the most expensive plan
All Generali Global Assistance plans reimburse you for the reasonable costs of clothes and items you need to purchase while waiting for your delayed baggage. However, even with the Premium plan, your items must be delayed for at least 12 hours to be eligible for this coverage. While the 12-hour waiting period isn’t an uncommon practice among travel insurance providers, some offer coverage after a three or six-hour delay.
Travel insurance plans are only available to U.S. residents
Generali's Global Assistance plans are only available to U.S. residents. Additionally, Generali doesn’t provide coverage for travel to Afghanistan, Belarus, Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s regions, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela. Assistance capabilities in Ukraine are limited.
Generali Global Assistance travel insurance plans
Generali Global Assistance offers three extensive insurance plans: Standard, Preferred and Premium.
Standard
The Standard plan is the most affordable plan you can purchase. It has the lowest benefit limits among the three. The plan offers emergency travel assistance and basic coverage for both domestic and international trips and vacations. It’s best for travelers mainly concerned about trip cancellation.
Here’s a breakdown of what's included in the Standard plan:
| Coverage | Limit |
| Trip cancellation | 100% of trip cost |
| Trip interruption | 125% of trip cost |
| Travel delay | $1,000 per person, $150 per person daily |
| Baggage | $1,000 per person |
| Baggage delay | $200 per person |
| Missed connection | $500 per person |
| Medical and dental including telemedicine | $50,000 per person |
| Emergency assistance and transportation | $250,000 per person |
| Accidental death and dismemberment due to an air flight accident | $50,000 per person, $100,000 per plan |
Preferred
The Preferred plan offers everything that the Standard plan does, but with significantly higher coverage limits for trip interruption, medical services, emergency assistance and transportation, and additional coverages for sporting equipment and accidental death or dismemberment due to a travel accident. This option is best for travelers wanting to enjoy their hiking, skiing, golf or international trips.
Here’s a list of the coverages and their limits in the Preferred plan:
| Coverage | Limit |
| Trip cancellation | 100% of trip cost |
| Trip interruption | 150% of trip cost |
| Travel delay | $1,000 per person, $200 per person daily |
| Baggage | $1,500 per person |
| Sporting equipment | $1,500 per person |
| Baggage delay | $300 per person |
| Sporting equipment delay | $300 per person |
| Missed connection | $750 per person |
| Medical and dental including telemedicine | $150,000 per person |
| Emergency assistance and transportation | $500,000 per person |
| Accidental death and dismemberment due to an air flight accident | $75,000 per person, $150,000 per plan |
| Accidental death and dismemberment due to a travel accident | $25,000 per person, $50,000 per plan |
Premium
The Premium plan is the most extensive travel insurance plan Generali has to offer. With the highest available benefit limits and additional coverages, this plan is ideal for travelers carrying expensive baggage or sporting equipment or who have a pre-existing medical condition. As only the best travel rewards credit cards and insurance companies provide generous car rental benefits, the rental car damage coverage is a nice addition to the Premium plan.
Here’s a list of the coverages and their limits in the Preferred plan:
| Coverage | Limit |
| Trip cancellation | 100% of trip cost |
| Trip interruption | 175% of trip cost |
| Travel delay | $1,000 per person, $300 per person daily |
| Baggage | $2,000 per person |
| Sporting equipment | $2,000 per person |
| Baggage delay | $500 per person |
| Sporting equipment delay | $500 per person |
| Missed connection | $1,000 per person |
| Medical and dental including telemedicine | $250,000 per person |
| Emergency assistance and transportation | $1,000,000 per person |
| Accidental death and dismemberment due to an air flight accident | $100,000 per person, $200,000 per plan |
| Accidental death and dismemberment due to a travel accident | $50,000 per person, $100,000 per plan |
| Rental car damage | $25,000 per person/per plan |
Generali Global Assistance travel insurance pricing
To get a personalized quote for your trip, you need to provide a few details about the travelers, the destination and your planned budget on Generali’s website. We asked for a quote for a family of four (two 40-year-olds, a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old) traveling to Cancun, Mexico, for a week in February with $4,000 as the total trip cost.
These are the total costs we got for each plan:
- Standard: $258
- Preferred: $367
- Premium: $465
Keep in mind that changing any of the factors we used can significantly alter these prices.
Generali Global Assistance financial stability
The ratings assigned to the financial strength of Generali are A3 (stable) by Moody’s, A (positive) by Fitch and A (stable) by AM Best. This means there’s minimal risk in purchasing Generali insurance according to these leading international agencies.
Generali Global Assistance accessibility
Availability
Generali Global Assistance provides 24/7 support services before, during and after your trip. Its customer service is available to answer any questions about the plans and coverages.
Contact information
You can contact the company 24/7 by calling 800-874-2442 or emailing customerservice@generalitravelinsurance.com. You can also find a convenient live chat on its website.
User experience
The process of comparing plans or getting a quote is relatively easy and fast on Generali Global Assistance’s website. The company communicates transparently with most details clearly stated. The information on the website answers most of the questions travelers may have.
Generali Global Assistance customer satisfaction
Generali Global Assistance is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and earns an A+ rating from that organization. Users on Trustpilot award the company a pretty good rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars. However, the company only has a 2.5-star rating on Yelp. Most of the unsatisfied customer opinions reference bad customer service, slow responses and denied claims.
Signing up for travel insurance through Generali Global Assistance is a relatively easy and fast process. Before you do so, it's best to have your flights and accommodations booked through a reliable travel booking site so you know the total cost of your trip.
To get a quote on the website, you need to enter some basic information about your trip. This includes the number, age and residence of travelers, and the destination, date and total cost of the trip. The site will show you an estimated cost for all of the plans, and you can decide which one you want to purchase. The last steps require you to enter your personal information and pay for your chosen plan.
How we evaluated Generali Global Assistance travel insurance
To evaluate Generali Global Assistance Travel Insurance, we assessed the following factors:
- Coverage options
- Coverage limits
- Additional services
- Policy exclusions
- Costs
- Risks
- Accessibility
- Customer support
Summary of Money's Generali Global Assistance travel insurance review
The biggest advantage of Generali Global Assistance Travel Insurance is its 24/7 emergency support. While it has some coverage exclusions and limits you should definitely pay attention to, the company offers excellent services such as identity theft resolution and 100% trip cancellation coverage in every plan. Plans are relatively affordable and the website is quite transparent and accessible.
The insurance plans offered by this company are best if you want to make sure you can contact and get help from your insurance provider throughout your whole trip.
If you're interested in more travel tips, take a look at our picks for the best travel booking sites so you can properly prepare for your next journey.