Why Event Cancellation Insurance Might Not Cover You Against the Snow or Adverse Weather!

Event Organisers such as Trade Show, Conference, Exhibition and Consumer Show Organisers will purchase Event Insurance which includes Cancellation as a way to mitigate the financial risks to their event budget.

On the face of it you would expect that an Event Cancellation Insurance policy would protect the Organiser against Event Cancellation and Disruption caused by such circumstances as Adverse Weather or Snow. You would be right to a degree.

To best understand what Event Cancellation Insurance policy you are buying you need to read the policy wording. Or better still; speak to an experienced specialist Event Insurance Broker.

Organisers will consider buying Event Cancellation Insurance to protect them from what they consider unforeseeable circumstances such as heavy snow or adverse weather which might lead to there event being disrupted.

Unfortunately this disruption does not necessarily mean that the Organiser is covered by their policy.

In all situations two things must occur if a claim made be made.

1) The Organiser must suffer a loss and be able to quantify it financially.

2) The incident that caused the loss must be covered (or not excluded) by the policy.

Whilst adverse weather itself is not excluded for indoor events. Some other losses or claim scenarios are actually excluded by the policy wording.

Due to the nature of adverse weather and indoor events, the event itself will not normally be completely cancelled. The reason being is that the Venue will normally be operating fine, so there are no funadmental reasons why the doors should not open as normal.

Where we have seen the biggest impacts due to snow and adverse weather are actually on the Reduced Attendance at the Event.

Many organisers rely on the "foot-fall" for on the day ticket sales, food & drink sales and ultimately the positive PR a good attendance generates. On certain consumer shows this may account for a huge proportion of the actual event revenue.

Unfortunately many Event Cancellation policies do not often extend to cover losses due to "Reduced Attendance". Irrespective of why the attendance has been reduced.

It is important to check your policy wording for the terms "reduced attendance" or "pre-contracted revenue cover". You might be surprised that you are missing the one item of cover that you were taking for granted.

In most circumstances this cover can be included very easily. Just speak to your broker.

A specialist event insurance broker can help you when making your decisions on cover. Visit www.heartlandevents.co.uk/resources.php for more helpful resources on Event Insurance.