What exactly is concert ticket insurance and what can it cover?
After a few years of live events being canceled, rescheduled, or moved to virtual platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fans now have been something to look forward to! Tickets for events typically go on sale weeks if not months prior to a show date. This gives potential ticket buyers time to make accommodations such as requesting time off work, travel, or babysitters before committing to an event.
In the example of major headliners such as Taylor Swift, fans tend to purchase tickets as soon as they go on sale leaving any other accommodations to figure out later. It can be difficult to plan that far in advance, especially with months in between the ticket purchase and the event itself. Tickets are an investment of time and money. Just like how a plane ticket is an investment, there are many things that can impact someone’s ability to utilize a ticket. Concert ticket insurance can provide peace of mind for concert goers since it works to protect the fans’ investment (the ticket) from things beyond their control.
Now, what exactly can insurance for concert tickets cover? Specific coverage varies by company, but generally, concert ticket insurance can cover up to the full cost of the ticket (100% refund), taxes and fees on the ticket, and other event related costs such as parking. But before you chose to offer concert ticket insurance to your customers, there are a few things to consider. Consider how it can benefit your customer/seller relationship or protecting time and resources of the company for any potential insurance claims.
What To Consider Before Offering Concert Ticket Insurance to Buyers
Ticket insurance is commonly thought of as protection for the ticket buyers. Even though it does offer them protection it also offers several benefits to you as the ticket seller/venue as well. Utilizing the resources that insurance companies provide, like filing, claims and customer service departments, you can provide these resources to your ticket buyers and build a loyalty dynamic with your customers. When people feel like companies care about them and make the extra effort to look out for them, it goes a long way and can usually build a lifelong relationship with those customers. This is a big reason why offering protection to your customers for shows can have an impact on their experience and overall relationship with your venue moving forward.
Reducing amount of insurance claims
The job of the insurance companies is to take on the leg work of insurance claims and deal directly with the ticket holders who can no longer attend an event for whatever reason. By handing off the leg work to insurance companies, it keeps your desk clear for other matters to tend to. Removing your direct involvement with ticket refund claims frees you from having to deal with each filing yourself. Instead you are utilizing the insurance companies resources to reduce direct impact on your end.
Unfortunately, there are fans who will buy the insurance without reading the fine print because they want to make the decision closer to the show date whether they want to attend or not. Since “deciding at the last minute you don’t want to attend the show” isn’t a covered incident, the insurance company is the one who takes on the responsibility of going back and forth with the client and resolving any confusion or frustration they might have.
Customer loyalty
By offering fans the option to add ticket insurance to their concert tickets, you are giving them the opportunity to take preemptive measures against any unforeseen issues they may run into. Having to miss a show already is a bummer for the fans, but not being able to get a refund on a ticket adds even more frustration to the situation. Especially when there is something beyond their control keeping them from being able to attend the show. It can go a long way to be a ticket seller that offers ticket insurance since it can take a bit of that sting away from the customer.
And as mentioned above, there are people who buy the insurance and decide at the last minute they just don’t want to go to the show and will file for insurance. Being able to have the insurance company deal directly with the customer not only saves your time and energy dealing with the customer but it also is someone under a different company name delivering bad news. Yes, the insurance was purchased through your ticketing platform, however you are not the one denying them the bad news that they don’t qualify for a refund.
Whatever route you choose, the relationship customers have with you is valuable so it can be helpful in the long run to think about their perspective through the whole process. Addressing their needs and pain points preemptively can help preserve your relationship and lead to an overall strengthened customer loyalty dynamic.
The COVID-19 Pandemic Changed Some Ticket Insurance Policies.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, ticket insurance typically did not have coverage for any epidemic related illnesses. Basically put, if ticket holders got sick because of the flu, contracted COVID-19, or had any other illness, the insurance companies would likely not refund their ticket. Since the live entertainment space took a huge hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these stipulations have been updated in some of the major insurance policy coverage to include illnesses. This generally extends to any of the ticket holders directly (if they became ill), if an illness caused a babysitter to cancel, or if the ticket holder needs to take care of someone affected by an illness.
Below I’ll discuss how these policy updates benefit both the ticket buyers and sellers, but overall, they are expanding to include common issues people genuinely experience that impact their ability to attend live events.
How Ticket Insurance Can Benefit You (the Venue/Seller) and the Ticket Buyers
In addition to offering peace of mind for the ticket buyers, your venue, the ticket seller, can benefit from providing insurance for a handful of reasons. You can re-sell a ticket that has been refunded to the customer for any covered circumstance, utilizing this as a tool to help fill the venue and sell as many seats as possible. Since ticket sales are a main priority for venues, it can play in your favor to offer insurance so refunded tickets are able to go back on sale for other fans to buy. Leaning into this from the venue’ perspective, offering insurance can lead to a higher number of filled seats and financial gain because the insurance company refunds their ticket and not the venue, yet the venue can resell the ticket. In other words venues keep the funds paid for the ticket and can also resell it. In essence it has the chance to sell the same ticket twice.
Take the example of a ticket holder not being able to make it to a show because they were flying to a different city for the show, but inclement weather canceled or delayed their flight. If the insurance was purchased with the ticket, both the ticket holder and seller could walk away from this experience with positive experiences. The ticket holder would be eligible for a refund on their ticket from the insurance company and you, the ticket seller, could turn that ticket around and resell it to another fan. This assures that you are still utilizing every seat and ticket available. As it protects the customers from the unexpected, it protects you and your ticket sale opportunities.
In general, it can be good practice to assess what chances you want to take and how you want to navigate your investments. Ticket holders are focused on protecting their investment (the ticket) and for you, the venue, are focused on protecting your investment of overall ticket sales and revenue. For both parties, these investments are vulnerable to things beyond anyone’s control.
For both the ticket buyers and sellers, insurance can offer many coverage benefits as noted above, but it’s a decision each person and company should make for their own unique situation. Not all venues chose to offer ticket insurance. Either way, it should be an informed decision. You should know what options you have and how they can help you prioritize your energy and resources.
For example, if you are a larger company and have resources to field insurance claims and customer calls then you may decide you don’t want to outsource these resources and keep it in house. Or maybe you are a smaller venue and there aren’t enough people or resources to dedicate to a refund or claim department. Of course smaller venues selling a limited number of tickets may not want to offer ticket insurance, preferring to keep the relationship with buyers directly and handle the occasional request for a ticket refund.
As the COVID-19 pandemic taught us all, anything can change in the blink of an eye. Being prepared and having options can protect you and your fans in the long run. There is no one size fits all strategy with providing ticket insurance Each venue must decide what is right for them, their fans, and their artists. Being informed about ticket insurance options can help you navigate the nuances of just how it impacts such relationships .
Bibliography:
“Allianz: Event Ticket Protection.” Allianz Partners US,
https://www.allianzworldwidepartners.com/usa/products-and-solutions/event-ticket-protection.html
“What Is Covered by Allianz Global Assistance Event Ticket Protector Insurance?” Ticketmaster Help, https://help.ticketmaster.com/hc/en-us/articles/9786085554833-What-is-covered-by-Allianz- Global-Assistance-Event-Ticket-Protector-Insurance-
Epatterson@council.bbb.org, and Better Business Bureau. “BBB TIP: Should You Purchase Ticket Insurance for Your next Event?” BBB, 17 May 2023, https://www.bbb.org/article/news- releases/26067-bbb-tip-should-you-purchase-ticket-insurance-for-your-next-event
“Why You Should Be Offering Ticket Insurance & Why It’s Worth Getting.” Eventcube, https://www.eventcube.io/blog/benefits-of-ticket-insurance. Accessed 23 June 2023.
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