Red Sky Insurance: An Incredible Product with Even Better Training and Service

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One of the patterns you see among some of the best travel companies is this: they’re born in the same places where their products are designed to be used. Only when you are truly embedded in those communities can you not only see the need for something, but know how to best solve it for all parties involved.

Red Sky Insurance is one of those great companies.

Born in the Land of Hurricanes
Laird Sager, Red Sky Insurance’s founder, lives in the beautiful Outer Banks region of North Carolina. Being a local means that Laird is intimately familiar with not just the perks of living in such an incredible place, but the challenges that come along with it.

In this case, hurricanes.

You and I are likely more aware of the physical damage a hurricane causes, but Laird has witnessed time and again another type of damage left in these storms’ wakes. For guests, it’s the disappointments and savings lost to a dream vacation with extremely unlucky timing. For resorts and properties, it was the contentious aftermath of dealing with those guests’ frustrations and demands.

Red Sky is Born

Laird started Red Sky Insurance in 2008 hoping to solve both. The idea was simple. Guests would have the chance to purchase protection for their trip in advance. If a guest purchased this protection, Red Sky would reimburse the nonrefundable penalties when certain unforeseen events arose that caused them to cancel or interrupt their plans.

This would allow guests to confidently book trips no matter the season. And the contentious conversations about refunds are solved because nonrefundable penalties could be reimbursed by the insurance company.

Before long ski resorts, also extremely weather dependent, caught on and started reaching out to Red Sky.

Things snowballed, the company steadily grew, and today Red Sky works with a long list of resorts and properties across the United States and Canada covering everything from beach vacations on the coasts to ski passes in the mountains.

The Difference

Unlike 2008, there are many folks trying to play in the travel insurance space these days. Unlike Red Sky, however, many lack the familiarity with both sides of the coin that travel insurance is designed to help.

But there’s another reason Red Sky has been so successful and, again, it ties directly to the fact that Laird lives in the same places his products are meant to be used.

Some people don’t see that, but Laird does. And his focus on this makes all the difference.

In other words, Laird’s secret sauce isn’t in some actuarial table, it’s in the frequent training and personal service every client receives. Yes they celebrate innovations and revenue like any company, but the thing they get most excited about is the chance to help a client solve these problems better than anyone else can.