Travel insurance is emerging as a proving ground for more flexible, mobile-first specialty products. With millennial and Gen Z customers now central to the market, MGAs are redesigning cover to meet rising expectations around speed, simplicity and digital service.
“Millennials and Gen Z are this big cohort of customers coming through the insurance cycle that we need to pay attention to,” said Ernesto Suarez (pictured), founder of UK-based MGA Gigasure. “They need this engagement, and we need to make our plans flexible for that.”
“Travel is a complex product in itself, and therefore it is perfect for someone to make it flexible,” he said. “People are looking for lots of personalisation with it.” That expectation is shaped by how customers already use their phones.
Digital-first MGAs are now offering app-based policy management, real-time cover adjustments, and features like parametric payouts for delays. These tools are less about novelty, Suarez argues, and more about aligning with how people already manage money, travel and services.
Suarez said the “moment of truth” in travel insurance is the claim, but it’s where many propositions still fall short. “A customer's worst nightmare is to continually be handed off to the next provider,” he said.
The long value chain, especially in products sold via partners or aggregators, can make the claims process disjointed. Gigasure and others are working to shorten that chain, using technology to centralise servicing and simplify claim flows.
Even well-automated systems, Suarez adds, must remain adaptive. “Customers will always challenge you and will always throw up new problems for you.”
Pre-underwriting is one tactic MGAs are exploring to reduce friction. “Strong rule set, which means strong pre-underwriting discipline, will probably have a knock-on effect that will create simpler products, but it will power everything quicker,” Suarez said.
The growth of embedded travel cover, offered within flight, hotel or car hire bookings, is changing how insurers reach consumers. “You can basically insure lots of different events with products that are meeting that particular risk,” Suarez said.
He views this model as more than a convenience; it’s a structural shift in how cover is positioned and sold. “It’s a whole different way of, A, selling the insurance, and B, quickly adding insurance into a purchase that had nothing to do with insurance.”
Retail specialty lines like gadget, short-term motor and pet insurance are also beginning to adopt embedded and on-demand features, aiming to align cover with specific customer behaviours and moments.
Suarez is clear that brokers remain vital, particularly in adapting to evolving consumer habits. “Brokers are very necessary in the industry. We're now starting to fill gaps that were not really addressed by insurers,” he said.
He credits brokers and MGAs with much of the sector’s innovation: “If you look around at who is coming out with the more interesting propositions … those are going to be MGAs and brokers that are very adaptive to the new technologies.”
He also sees growing collaboration between MGAs and insurtech enablers. “You're finding MGAs, which are distributors in many cases, and insurtechs working together. That collaboration is drawing in lots of attention but also lots of interest from the industry.”
Review platforms are fast becoming gatekeepers of visibility and trust. “Review sites now sit at the heart of any strategy,” Suarez said, as AI-driven search increasingly amplifies their impact.
Claims turnaround time is now a key performance signal. “If I have to a claim, I want somebody to be in touch with me right away,” Suarez said. “I don't want to receive an email that says, ‘You'll hear back from us in 5 days.’ That's a lifetime for a customer.”
As MGAs and brokers adjust to new expectations, the challenge is not just technology, it’s simplicity, responsiveness and trust at every stage of the product.
For specialty insurance to stay relevant, particularly in travel, the experience must work as smoothly on a mobile screen as it does on a desktop and resolve claims as quickly as they’re triggered.
