More than a hat trick
Vienna / Hamburg, 22 July 2021. Up on the podium: The Austrian Association for Consumer Studies (ÖGVS) has once again named HanseMerkur the best travel insurer in Austria. The team around Country Manager Fuad Izmirlija has taken the award as an opportunity to further expand customer and sales partner support.
Not all travel insurance is the same. In order to identify the best providers, the ÖGVS, together with the business magazine "trend" and the rate comparison portal "durchblicker.at", therefore, compared the rates, transparency and convenience, as well as customer service of eight travel insurers. With a target attainment of 88.2 per cent (grade 1.8), the overall victory again went to HanseMerkur. "As always, ÖGVS took a very close look," says Fuad Izmirlija, Country Manager for Austria at HanseMerkur Travel Insurance. "I am particularly pleased that we have once again topped a hat-trick and won the test for the fifth time in six years. It shows that the quality of our products and services is not a flash in the pan, but has lasting substance."
In the plan/rate category, ÖGVS experts analysed the level of costs for individual travel insurance policies and annual contracts as well as the benefits they contain. In the transparency and convenience category, the clarity and explicitness of the most important insurance and contract conditions were assessed, as was the user-friendliness of the website. In the customer service category, the evaluation was made along the possibilities to contact the respective travel insurer. In addition, the customer hotline of each provider received five covert test calls.
As HanseMerkur already ranked among the top groups in the transparency and convenience category, it has gone on to double the number of employees in the back office team without further ado, in order to keep the service level high in terms of personal support as well. "Of course, we want to lead the travel insurance field in every respect," explains Izmirlija, describing the underlying ambitions. The intensity of counselling has increased significantly in times of Corona and travel warnings. The products have also become more complex, both in terms of the benefits involved and technical booking availability. "This increases the need for good advice. The strengthened team will, of course, support where it can to offer the right solution at the right time."
A photo of Fuad Izmirlija can be downloaded here free of charge for press purposes (source: HanseMerkur).