Giving travel insurance details to hotel

thirdkind

Hi - this isn't strictly about being saving any money but if anyone is able to give me some advice, that'd be great

I'm travelling to Turkey soon and my hotel has asked for my insurers name and my policy number. They've said that they ask for these details so that if things did happen to go wrong, they're able to assist. However, I'm not particularly keen to give out this information - I will have these details to hand, as will my other half, so it feels like I shouldn't be handing over such details to a 3rd party.

Am I being unnecessarily cautious? Does it matter who has my travel insurance policy number?

Any help/advice greatly appreciated!

bazster

What do you think they might do with it? Seems an innocuous request to me.

photome

bazster wrote: »

What do you think they might do with it? Seems an innocuous request to me.

But why? I have never been asked at any hotel I have stayed in (havent been to turkey), There are still many people who go without insurance so you could tell them you dont have any

Voyager2002

I cannot imagine how giving your insurance details could cause any problems, and I can think of circumstances in which it could be very helpful for the hotel to have them.

I would imagine that anyone who says they don't have insurance would immediately be on the receiving end of some high-pressure insurance selling: probably a good thing, since the EHIC does not cover Turkey.

bazster

photome wrote: »

But why?

For the reason they said?

peachyprice

bazster wrote: »

For the reason they said?

I wouldn't have thought any UK insurance company would communicate with a hotel directly under our DPA laws. They won't even talk to a spouse here in the UK if they're not on the policy, so I can't see them speaking to a hotelier.

I too would be cautious. I can't see any reason they would need your insurance details unless they're likely to use your policy to recoup any 'breakages' after you've left, which is possible if it's a hotel with a large stag/hen clientele. It's certainly not normal practice anywhere else in the world that I've visited, but perhaps it is for Turkey?

Genuinely curious voyager, under what circumstances would it be useful, bearing in mind they shouldn't be able to contact the insurance company.

bazster

peachyprice wrote: »

I can't see any reason they would need your insurance details unless they're likely to use your policy to recoup any 'breakages' after you've left, which is possible if it's a hotel with a large stag/hen clientele.

Would that be covered by travel insurance? And can a third party claim on someone else's travel insurance anyway? I'm aware that car insurance is legally an exception to the principle of privity, but I'm not aware that it applies to travel insurance.

Seems to me that the most likely explanation is that the hotel has occasionally needed to call a doctor to attend a guest and has found it easier to get the doctor to do so if they can assure them that the guest is insured.

Bob_the_Saver

Personally I'd say F*** O** to the hotel. Non of their business.

busiscoming2

I wouldn't want to give my details to them. sounds dodgy to me.

Have you booked with the hotel direct? If not I think I'd be inclined to google and see which holiday providers go there and ask if it is normal practice at that particular hotel.

ferf1223

agree that it seems a strange request and while I can't actually say why I would think any harm could come of giving the detail out, I can't really see that it would be necessary.

bazster

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Personally I'd say F*** O** to the hotel. Non of their business.

Well that will certainly get the holiday off on the right foot. The OP didn't say they insisted, merely that they asked. A polite "no" will suffice if he/she doesn't want to give the information.

Can anyone explain what dastardly deed this hotel might commit once they have these oh-so-sensitive insurance details?