FAQ

A specialist hazardous risk insurance provider which is a licensed insurance company by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC). Hotspot Cover is registered with and regulated by the GFSC and is reinsured 100% by Lloyd’s of London.

Yes, the insurance is valid for countries and regions where Governments and/or authorities such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) or the World Health Organisation (WHO) or other local authority equivalent have "advised against travel", which are excluded on most travel insurance policies. Travel to countries on any amber or red travel watchlists (excluding Iran and North Korea) due to COVID-19  are not excluded to provide further peace of mind, whilst travelling during these uncertain times.

Hotspot Cover provides affordable and specialist protection for travel in all countries (except North Korea and Iran) including high risk and war zone areas and Covid 19 cover for Emergency Medical Expenses and Evacuation. It also comes with passive war and terrorism cover, and it responds and reacts in high risk areas. We are geared to emergencies and critical response in remote and dangerous areas.
Coverage is provided quickly and simply online with a minimum of fuss and questions keeping this niche insurance more affordable than buying elsewhere (Standard “high street” travel insurers do NOT provide this cover). Your insurance policy is automatically sent to you by email.
In addition to accident benefits, emergency medical evacuation cover and assistance, Hotspot also provides an optional security, political and natural disaster crisis and kidnap and ransom cover. Hotspot Cover is designed and priced to protect YOU. As we are focused on remote and dangerous areas, we do not cover incidental coverages usually offered by standard travel insurance policies such as lost luggage and personal possessions.

Our cover allows for emergency medical expenses and evacuation that includes for Covid 19. Our policy does not exclude pandemic cover or contain a blanket communicable disease exclusion clause. Our policy is designed to respond in the event of a medical emergency and for the benefits listed, be it one caused by Covid 19 or not. As with any policy and the “small print” any emergency and course of action as to medical care will be determined under the full terms and conditions of the policy and in conjunction with our emergency assistance providers who have overriding say. They will work with their medical teams and insurers to determine the required and best treatment and protocols for your needs . This may mean a period of convalescence or quarantine in country should you contract covid 19. A transfer across a border or by air to a nearest centre of excellence is available in life threatening situations and where local facilities may be inadequate to meet the medical circumstances. We will not deny covered claims.

You will have Emergency medical expenses and medical evacuation arising from an accident or illness. This also comes with accidental death and dismemberment “lump sum” benefits. We also give accidental permanent disability in the package. A weekly income benefit is included for temporary total accidental disability on all policies of 6 months duration or more. Passive war and terrorism is included across all benefits too.

Yes, premium is a one-off payment and policies are issued instantly following payment via email.

No. Hotspot Cover is not designed to offer cover in your country of domicile instead it is intended to cover you upon departure and for the duration of travel outside of your country of domicile.

Your legal representatives or next of kin. Please note that you are NOT covered for death by natural causes, only accidental death.

No, the policy coverage offered cannot be modified, changed or varied, policies are not customisable. We are able to keep premiums low for you by developing this online solution with pre-arranged packages. Please use the contact us form if you wish to discuss stand alone or further personal policy requirements. We shall see if we can help and are delighted to assist, where possible.

This is the essential cover you require in an emergency for an unforeseen illness or accident.All travel incurs risk and you do not want to incur high overseas hospital bills if you find yourself in a remote country without adequate medical care. An air ambulance may be used for your emergency evacuation, if necessary.

Our emergency assistance and incident response providers are Inherent Risks, who will respond from a 24/7 dedicated call centre supported by expert medical staff and translation services. They will evaluate and ensure the very best logistical and medical solutions are provided for your emergency. They ensure you are treated in the best available or nearest approved medical centre, through to your repatriation/evacuation (where applicable) and your return home, keeping any family members advised throughout.
Inherent Risks are an emergency assistance company who have a proven track record in first and critical response services in all parts of the world.

Inherent Risks will arrange for your emergency transportation and any required hospital admission. They will guarantee the payments of your medical bills directly with the most appropriate hospital. They will also arrange repatriation back to your home country depending on your needs, assess your fitness to fly, be it by air ambulance, with medical escort or arrangement by commercial flights home.

IR will arrange for your emergency transportation and any required hospital admission. They will guarantee the payments of your medical bills directly with the most appropriate hospital. They will also arrange repatriation back to your home country depending on your needs, assess your fitness to fly, be it by air ambulance, with medical escort or arrangement by commercial flights home.

For emergency medical assistance or incident response, please contact Inherent Risks via email at assist@hotspotcover.com or call +44 (0)208 089 3735 and quote “HOTSPOT” to the operator.

For non-emergency claims, please email: claims@hotspotcover.com
Details as to claims information that will help us to process your claim is contained in the IMPORTANT INFORMATION section of your policy wording.
Please note that you should always contact the assistance company immediately in the event of any emergency. They are there to help and failure to contact them prior to incurring any expense may reduce the amount recoverable to you under this insurance.
If you have bought the optional security assistance, political crisis and kidnap and ransom cover and your particular emergency requires this cover, Inherent Risks will also assist in this matter. More details on this are below.

No, cover ceases under this policy upon return to your home country.

Hotspot Cover provides cover for claims as a result of acts of war, civil war and terrorism under the policy provided you are not actively participating in such events.

Yes, Hotspot Cover has been developed to provide cover for all (except North Korea and Iran) countries of the world including high risk and war zone countries. You will note they are not available in the drop down country options on www.hotspotcover.com.

Yes, you are covered in any country irrespective of the travel warnings issued by these government departments. This includes for any directives issued under Covid 19 protocols. We do not provide cover for travel to Iran and North Korea because of Government sanction restrictions. Hotspot Cover recognises that many occupations require travel insurance and emergency response to all parts of the world, including countries classed as hazardous or high risk and Hotspot Cover has been designed to fill this gap in the market. Hotspot’s staff, our reinsurers at Lloyd’s of London as well as our specialist assistance partners are established operators in the high risk response sector.

Yes, Hotspot Cover and their reinsurers at Lloyd’s of London provide pricing for all categories of occupations which can be found in the occupational dropdown categories when requesting a quote online.

If the emergency assistance company deem it appropriate, necessary and justified on compassionate and medical grounds we will indemnify up to USD 25,000 of travel costs for a close friend or relative to join you or escort you home.

Yes, Hotspot Cover is valid for the widest variety of paid and volunteer roles.

Most insurers do not offer such cover under traditional travel insurance policies or exclude it. Terrorism has risen sharply in recent decades across both hazardous countries (such as Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan) as well as across mainland Europe. Hotpsot Cover policies do not exclude war and terrorism in any part of the world or country (except for North Korea and Iran).

No, it does not cover travel delay, loss or damage to baggage and personal items.

Hotspot Cover can provide travel cover for 1 to 365 days thereby covering short and annual length trips.

Policies are valid for persons aged 18 and over and up to and including age 79. We do not offer cover if you aged 80 or older.

Yes, you are able to purchase cover on behalf of a group of travellers, up to 20 people, so long as you and everyone in the group are traveling at the same time and to the same destination. Otherwise each person will need to purchase a separate policy. You will need the full name and date of birth of all travellers and you can also add your company name to the policy.

Yes, please add the name of the company or association in the online application form. Please note we still require the names and date of birth of each traveller.

No, you will need to reapply for a new policy for the new trip. The application process is simple and only takes a few minutes.

Yes, subject to the following exclusion which you can find in the policy wording:
“This insurance does not cover claims in any way caused or contributed to by any condition whether diagnosed or not, for which you have sought advices, diagnosis, treatment or counselling of which you aware or should have been aware at inception of this insurance or for which you have been treated during the 12 months prior to the inception of this insurance.”

No.

No

Hotspot Cover insurance does not cover insurance backed claims for neuroses, psychoneurosis, psychopathies, or psychoses, anxiety, stress, fatigue or any mental or emotional diseases or disorders. We do however offer a trauma counselling service through MBL GLOBAL. This counselling is provided should you suffer physical or psychological trauma. We have access to a 24/7 call centre specifically for this and it allows for on site and/or post event trauma counselling that can continue when you are back home. MBL GLOBAL provide a network of specialist trauma counsellors.

No.

You will not be covered for certain hazardous pursuits as listed in the policy as shown below: “any injury sustained while taking part in:

• the following winter sports: free-style skiing, ski jumping, ice hockey, use of bobsleighs or skeletons, repetitive travel in ski run helicopters or any competition. Off piste skiing is only covered if the insured person is accompanied by a suitably experienced guide;
• the following scuba diving activities: any unaccompanied dive, any dive involving visits to wrecks or caves, any dive for gain or reward, or any dive below 30 metres. Any other scuba diving activities are only covered if the insured person:
• holds the British Sub Aqua Club "Sports Diver" certificate or the Professional Association of Diving Instructors "Open Water" certificate and follows the relevant Club or Association rules and guidelines at all times; or
• dives under the constant supervision of a properly licensed diving school and follows their rules and instructions at all times;
• potholing, caving, hang-gliding, parachuting, parascending, paragliding, mountaineering or rock-climbing for which the insured person would normally need to use ropes or guides, bungee jumping, white-water rafting, any kind of race, endurance test or any other activity which is known to carry an increased risk of personal injury;
• armed forces activities including operations, exercises or training;
• flying as a pilot or any other aerial activities other than travel by air as a passenger.”

Hotspot Cover provides and arranges for your repatriation of mortal remains or ashes to your home country if you die during an insured journey on your travels. We will also indemnify your estate for the reasonable costs of your funeral if it occurs outside your country of domicile. We cover up to USD 25,000 under this.

If you have purchased this optional cover, the Crisis Response section of the policy will provide up to EUR/GBP/USD 250,000 of emergency response, fees and costs and management from our dedicated incident response team at Inherent Risks and includes repatriation and evacuation in the event of threats to your safety through acts of terrorism or political peril or natural disaster. Search and rescue contribution costs of EUR/GBP/USD 25,000 plus additional and necessary costs of accommodation and transportation are also covered. Insured services range from a managed evacuation- linked to a 24/7 security response alarm centre- to the deployment of a team to an agreed location to deploy temporary security measures. The kidnap section of the policy also indemnifies up to EUR/GBP/USD 250,000 for a ransom demand.

Under the (optional) Crisis section we will indemnify you up to USD 3,000 for any additional costs for a delay to your outward or return journey caused by an act of terrorism and where you need to make alternative arrangements and where you are left out of pocket or this is not recoverable under any other insurance.

We will reimburse you up to USD 5,000 of pre booked accommodation costs if you are forced to make alternative arrangements caused by an act of terrorism, or natural disaster such as flood, hurricane, tsunami or volcanic eruption that occurs whilst you are ON an insured journey.

No.

Yes with some exceptions; the crisis response section of the policy does not currently cover Iran, North Korea ,Somalia and Syria.
Please note that all countries except Iran and North Korea can be covered under the Personal accident and emergency medical expenses and evacuation policy.

No but please use the contact us form if you wish to discuss stand alone or personal policy requirements and we shall see if we can help and are delighted to assist, where possible.

Inherent Risks are the specialists dedicated responders for this section. If an insured event occurs, or you believe it to have occurred Inherent Risks should be contacted on the following international number +44 (0)208 089 3735 and quote “HOTSPOT” to the operator (24 hour) or email assist@hotspotcover.com. Inherent Risks will liaise and coordinate on your behalf if this happens.

Inherent Risks will determine the circumstances, evaluate and advise you if it is prudent and safe to evacuate or to "stay put" and “hibernate” to avert unnecessary danger.

You or your representatives should contact our response partner Inherent Risks who will coordinate the response and assistance as our niche and expert incident response partner.

Our Crisis, Security and Kidnap response advisers at Inherent Risks.

The costs of response are covered up to a maximum amount of USD250,000 in any one period of insurance; thereafter you or your company will be responsible for any additional costs.

If you have purchased the additional and optional Crisis response and Kidnap cover the policy can indemnify you up to GBP/EUR/USD 250,000 in the event of a kidnap, hijack, or extortion or ransom demand.

Inherent Risks are the specialists dedicated responders for this section. If an insured event occurs, or you believe it to have occurred Inherent Risks should be contacted on the following international number +44 (0)208 089 3735 and quote “HOTSPOT” to the operator or email assist@hotspotcover.com.

Yes, Hotspot Cover payment is powered by Stripe, a global online payment processor that is trusted by thousands of businesses across the globe including many Fortune 500 companies. All transactions are SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protected. Stripe is a PCI Service Provider Level 1 which is the highest grade of payment processing security. You can rest assured that your payment and information is safe and secure.