ITIJ Awards 2007:
International Travel Insurance Conference, Venice
Air Ambulance provider of the year
AirMed International LLC
AirMed International's management team has operated fixed-wing ambulance aircraft since 1982 and its founder, Jeffrey Tolbert, is credited with pioneering the U.S. air ambulance membership program. AirMed now provides service to more than 1 million members in the U.S. and Canada and boasts the most experienced air medical transport crews in the world. AirMed is vertically integrated with 140 full-time employees--all dispatch, flight and medical crews are AirMed employees and not contracted help. AirMed's fleet of eight fully customized medical aircraft are used exclusively for patient transports. AirMed operates from its home base in Birmingham, Alabama, with additional bases in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Rochester, Minnesota. CAMTS accredited and operating under FAA worldwide authority, AirMed was chosen as the air medical transport for the renowned Mayo Clinic, as well as a preferred carrier for the U.S. Department of Defense and countless assistance companies worldwide.
Sponsor - Eurami
Assistance/Claims Handler of the year
Fortis Assistance International
Fortis is a leading provider of award-winning personal and commercial lines insurance solutions in the UK and was voted British Insurance Awards 'General Insurer of the Year' 2007. Its successful customer-centric strategy has been to align activities to how customers want to buy insurance, based on delivering high-quality products, manufactured at costs better than market norms.
Fortis' unique multi-distribution capability enables the company to deliver its products face-to-face, by phone (inbound and outbound), over the Internet and via SMS technology. Aligning itself with its partners general insurance strategies, Fortis is able to offer end-to-end white label capabilities in product development, marketing, campaign management, sales, fulfilment and claims, providing a seamless integration with its partners' brands.
Insuring in excess of 6.6 million customers and working with a range of partners, Fortis is recognised for delivering consistent and high-quality customer experiences.
As the 4th largest travel insurer in the UK with in excess of 4 million customers, Fortis is proud of its in-house multilingual Assistance International team, with agents and contacts from across the world to assist customers in medical emergencies.
Sponsor - United Health Intl
Cost Containment company and provider of the year (to include PPOs and general services)
MCI Spain
MCI has consolidated itself as the best choice in the travel industry for international cost containment in the Mediterranean countries, Spain, Portugal, South America and the Caribbean.
MCI has developed a wide range of services specially designed to cater for the needs of all our customers. We strive to accommodate their requirements into our structure offering adaptable tailor-made procedures.
We have become a multi-service company that supplies solutions on reasonable and customary cost advice, dynamic price list negotiation, fixed price per process (DRG and case mix technologies) and continuous cost tendency reduction.
Within our web based services we provide international payment services, an international hospital database , a GP search directory, on-line policy verification system and the latest business intelligence reporting tools
MCI is constantly innovating to integrate as many elements as possible for the travel industry in order to maintain it's leadership in the business.
Sponsor - AXA Assistance
Insurer/Underwriter of the year
Europ Assistance
Europ Assistance UK & Ireland is part of the Europ Assistance Group, which is represented worldwide in over 208 countries and employs over 5,000 staff. Europ Assistance developed the concept of assistance in France back in the 1960s and in the UK we have been assisting travellers for over 30 years. Over 300 million customers worldwide are covered by Europ Assistance, either directly or through our partners and last year we handled over 63 million calls.
As one of the leading travel insurers in the UK & Ireland, Europ Assistance is committed to providing the highest quality service at all times. Whilst an assistance-led philosophy is at the heart of the operation, the benefit of being able to offer the capacity of an insurance company provides clients with a range of service options to the benefit of both clients and customers.
Sponsor - Air Ambulance Connection
Intermediary of the year (to include all retailers of travel insurance)
Preferential
Preferential was established in 1996 and is based in Dorking, Surrey.
From its inception Preferential have specialised in travel insurance, providing innovative, tailored solutions to each customer's requirements.
The group is uniquely structured and consists of three separate divisions:
Preferential Insurance Services - the business to business division.
Staffed by experienced travel insurance managers, this division provides solutions to the Travel trade, Financial Services and Affinity group sectors counting British Airways, Carnival Cruises, The Cooperative - travel and the Royal British Legion amongst its clients.
Optimum - the underwriting division
Now one of the UK's leading travel underwriting agencies, Optimum manages each individual component of a travel insurance programme. They have acted, since inception, under delegated authority from Groupama Insurance Company Limited and are a participating member of the Travel Underwriters Group.
Preferential Direct - the consumer division
Marketing a comprehensive portfolio of travel insurance products direct to specific consumer groups fulfilled via either their own UK call centre or the web.
As a result Preferential has provided policies for over 3 million travellers in 2006 making them one of the leaders in the field.
Sponsor - Mondial Assistance UK
ITIJ marketing campaign of the year (judged independently)
Canadian Global Air Ambulance
award sponsored by M Consulting