Corporate travel insurance for Australian businesses
When someone travels for work, a lot sits outside your control. Corporate travel insurance is there for the moments that go wrong, from a medical emergency overseas to a cancelled trip or lost equipment. We help businesses arrange cover that fits the people who travel and the way they travel.
Broker-led travel cover for businesses across Australia.
Overview
Corporate travel insurance at a glance
Corporate travel insurance is arranged by a business for the directors, employees and others who travel on its behalf. It is designed to help when a trip goes wrong, whether that is an illness overseas, a journey that has to be cancelled, or baggage and business equipment that never arrives.
Corporate travel policies may cover both interstate and overseas business journeys for the people included within the policy. Rather than arranging insurance trip by trip, a business can maintain an ongoing travel program and review it as its people, destinations and travel patterns change.
Who it is for
Who is this cover for?
Corporate travel insurance may be worth considering where people travel for the business, even if those trips are only occasional. A handful of trips a year can still leave you exposed if a traveller needs hospital care overseas or cannot get home as planned. It is commonly arranged by:
- businesses with directors travelling regularly
- employers sending staff interstate
- businesses with overseas client or supplier travel
- agribusinesses attending sales, markets and industry events
- professional and service firms with travelling staff
- organisations running conferences, training or project travel
- businesses whose people combine work travel with a few days away
Where an employee is hurt while travelling for work, the applicable workers compensation arrangements may also be relevant. Some travel policies are designed to work alongside those arrangements, so it helps to look at the two together.
Travel booked privately by an individual or family is a different product. Our travel insurance page covers that side. Longer overseas postings can also sit outside a corporate travel policy and may need a separate arrangement.
Cover
What can it cover?
Most corporate travel policies are made up of several sections, and you can shape which ones matter most for your business. The areas below are the ones we talk through with clients most often.
Insurers word these sections differently and set their own limits, so the cover described here is a guide rather than a description of any one policy.
Medical treatment and evacuation
If a traveller becomes unwell or is injured overseas, cover can meet eligible medical and hospital costs, and arrange an evacuation home or to a suitable hospital where that is needed.
Core medical benefits under corporate travel insurance generally relate to medical expenses incurred overseas. Medical treatment incurred in Australia is generally not covered under this part of the policy.
Most insurers ask to be contacted through their emergency assistance line before major treatment or an evacuation is arranged.
Cancellation and disruption
Trips do not always go to plan. Cover can help with the cost of cancelling or cutting a journey short, missed connections, rebooked flights and extra accommodation.
What is claimable usually depends on the reason for the disruption and whether the airline or accommodation provider has already refunded the cost.
Baggage, equipment and documents
Laptops, samples, tools of trade, luggage, money and travel documents can be covered if they are lost, stolen or damaged while your traveller is away.
Cover may also extend to essential replacement items where checked baggage is significantly delayed by a carrier. Item limits apply, so it is worth checking these where staff travel with valuable business equipment.
Personal accident benefits
Benefits may be payable if a traveller is seriously injured, disabled or dies as a result of an accident on an insured journey.
Some policies also include accident and sickness benefits that help with lost income during a longer recovery.
Rental vehicles and personal liability
Hire car excess is a common cost on work trips, and many policies cover it. Personal liability cover can also respond if a traveller accidentally injures someone or damages property while away.
Personal liability under a corporate travel policy relates to the individual traveller and is separate from the business's own public liability or professional indemnity insurance.
Replacement staff & security assistance
Some policies help with the cost of sending a replacement person, or supporting a traveller who cannot continue an assignment, along with search, rescue and security assistance.
These benefits differ a lot between insurers, so they are worth comparing if your people travel to remote or less predictable destinations.
Many corporate travel policies also provide access to a 24-hour emergency assistance service. Depending on the policy, the assistance service may help coordinate medical care, evacuation, transport or other support while a traveller is away.
Worth checking
What should you review?
Two travel policies can look similar and still respond quite differently. These are the details we look at closely when arranging or reviewing cover:
who counts as an insured traveller, including contractors, partners and family
which destinations are covered and how longer trips are treated
how domestic journeys are defined and what benefits apply to them
the treatment of existing medical conditions and traveller age limits
limits for laptops, samples and other business equipment carried
whether private travel taken around a work trip is included
Limits
What may not be covered?
Corporate travel policies contain exclusions, limits and conditions that vary between insurers. Areas commonly worth checking include:
- medical conditions the insurer has not been told about, where disclosure was required
- travelling against medical advice
- risks or disruptions that were already known, or reasonably foreseeable, when the trip was booked or cover arranged
- destinations or activities outside what the policy covers
- costs the airline, hotel or travel provider will refund
- a change of mind or decision not to travel where there is no insured event causing the cancellation
- belongings left unattended or without reasonable care, subject to any policy provisions that apply where there was no reasonable alternative in a genuine emergency
- private travel that sits outside any agreed extension
This is a guide rather than a full list. Cover for natural disasters, civil unrest, pandemics and travel provider collapse differs between insurers, and the policy wording and schedule determine how a claim is treated. We are happy to talk through anything that concerns you.
When is it worth reviewing your cover?
Travel patterns change quietly, and cover arranged a few years ago may no longer match how your team travels. It is a good time to check in when:
- the business starts travelling overseas
- director or staff travel picks up noticeably
- new countries or regions are added
- trips are becoming longer, or people are staying on assignment
- partners or family begin travelling with staff
- the business allows a few personal days around work travel
- travellers take on more adventurous activities while away
- a significant travel incident or claim occurs
Renewal is also a natural point to look again at traveller definitions, destinations, trip length, limits and excesses so nothing has drifted out of step with the business.
Broker support
Why RMA Insurance Brokers?
We start with a straightforward conversation about who travels, where they go and how long they are away. From there we explain what the different policies do well, what they leave out, and what that means for your business.
We arrange the cover, keep it current as your travel changes, and stay involved if something happens away from home. If a claim arises, we help you notify it and deal with the insurer so your focus can stay on the person who needs support.
RMA Insurance Brokers works with businesses, agribusinesses and regional operators across Australia. Through our relationship with rma network Livestock & Property Agents, we have connections throughout regional Australia. We also assist clients outside the rma network and across other parts of Australia.
What happens after you enquire?
We contact you
A broker from RMA Insurance Brokers will get in touch to understand who travels for the business, where they travel, how often travel occurs and what cover is currently in place.
We confirm what is needed
We will explain what information is needed, answer your questions and confirm the next step before approaching insurers.
Useful information to have available
- your current policy schedule and renewal date
- who travels for the business
- approximate number of trips each year
- domestic and overseas travel split
- countries or regions commonly visited
- typical and longest trip duration
FAQs
What does corporate travel insurance cover?
Most policies are built around the things that commonly go wrong on a work trip: medical treatment overseas, a journey that has to be cancelled or cut short, lost baggage or equipment, and accidents that happen while someone is away.
Many policies also include personal accident benefits, rental vehicle excess, personal liability and access to emergency assistance. The benefits included, and the limits that apply, differ between insurers.
Who can be covered under a corporate travel policy?
Corporate travel policies commonly insure directors, employees and other people who fall within the policy's definition of an insured traveller. Depending on the insurer, policy schedule and traveller category, cover may also extend to accompanying partners or dependants and selected private travel.
Who is insured should always be checked against the policy rather than assumed, particularly where contractors, family members or private travel are involved.
Does it cover domestic trips as well as overseas travel?
It can. Corporate travel policies commonly cover interstate travel as well as overseas journeys, although the benefits that apply to a domestic trip are often narrower.
Where most of your travel is within Australia, it is worth confirming what a domestic journey attracts under the policy.
What about pre-existing medical conditions?
Pre-existing medical conditions are commonly excluded or restricted under corporate travel policies. In some cases an insurer may agree to cover a declared condition under a specific arrangement, but this should never be assumed. Relevant medical conditions should be disclosed and the position confirmed before travel.
Are cancelled flights and travel disruption covered?
Often, yes, where the disruption is unexpected and outside the traveller's control. Cover may extend to rebooked flights, extra accommodation and other reasonable costs.
Costs recoverable from the airline, accommodation provider or another travel supplier, and losses connected with circumstances that were already known or reasonably foreseeable when the trip was booked, may be treated differently. We help you understand how the policy may respond, notify the insurer and work through the information needed for the claim.
Explore
Related insurance
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Broader insurance for business property, interruption, theft, equipment and other commercial risks.
Workers Compensation Insurance
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Management Liability Insurance
Insurance considerations for directors, employment practices allegations, statutory matters and other management exposures.
Cyber Insurance
Insurance considerations for cyber incidents, data breaches, business interruption and incident-response costs.
Travel Insurance
Insurance considerations for private travel arranged by individuals and families, separate from a business travel program.
Review your corporate travel insurance
If your business travel has changed or renewal is approaching, RMA Insurance Brokers can review whether your current Corporate Travel Insurance still reflects the way your people travel.
The information on this page is general information only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Cover is subject to the terms, conditions, limits and exclusions of the relevant policy. Insurance products and available cover vary between insurers. Please review the relevant policy documentation and obtain advice appropriate to your circumstances before making a decision.