A vacation insurance app called Weather Promise will reimburse holidaymakers and workation-takers with up to $10,000 if it rains during their trip.
The company – which uses AI to predict the weather for trip periods submitted by customers – currently counts all days with more than two hours of rainfall between 8 am and 8 pm as rainy.
Sound too good to be true? Here’s everything you need to know about how Weather Promise works and whether there are any competitors worth checking out before your next trip.
How Does Weather Promise Work?
Weather Promise will help cushion one of the most frustrating blows any person can be dealt – an unexpectedly wet, rainy holiday that makes you feel like you’ve wasted your money and your annual PTO allowance. But how does it work?
Weather Promise uses AI to analyze data from more than 2.3 million locations an hour to predict the weather for customers’ vacations.
Then, customers pay between $5 and $500 for insurance via a travel partner organizing their trip. Prices vary depending on the length and nature of the trip, as well as how much it costs.
If it rains more than the AI-generated “guarantee” has predicted, then customers can be reimbursed up to $10,000.
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What Are the Company’s Terms?
As we’ve covered, to be reimbursed for any given day, there has to be at least two hours of rainfall between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm – but it also must exceed 0.06 inches of rainfall.
Some other recent reporting on Weather Promise specifies that it needs to rain for four hours, but at the time of writing, the website’s purchase calculator currently specifies just half of that, making it even easier to claim.
While the insurance cost itself can get quite high, the payouts are also quite large. If it rains more than is guaranteed, you can claim back the entire trip cost. It doesn’t have to rain during your entire trip for you to claim all of the money.
For example, a seven-day trip to Athens, Greece at the start of May costing $1,400 can be insured with Weather Promise for around $73.
Are Other Businesses Providing Similar Services?
While Weather Promise has been hitting the headlines recently, it’s not the only company that offers weather-based insurance services.
Sensible Weather also offers similar services and is now partnering with venues and outdoor activity providers to offer high-temperature weather guarantees straight from the welcome desk.
There are, of course, broader travel insurance deals you can buy from most insurance companies that encompass weather-based reimbursements. But companies focusing solely on the weather are still few and far between – Weather Promise launched around two months ago in February 2024.
