InterContinental SG is saving insurance for a rainy day

NUS Professor Charoenwong discusses the effectiveness and value of a Singaporean hotel's rain insurance offer.

Singapore’s hospitality industry is no stranger to innovation, but the recent release of a rain coverage package by a leading hotel chain marks a unique venture into the realm of insurance. According to Assistant Professor Ben Charoenwong from the National University of Singapore (NUS), this offering challenges traditional insurance models, particularly in the hospitality sector, by intertwining risk management with customer satisfaction.

“It’s really a marketing component. If you’re in the hospitality sector, your sales are pretty cyclical. More people visit during peak season, whereas during non-peak, season there are fewer people. The hope here is with some marketing, if it rains, you would come to visit the place more often,” Charoenwong told Insurance Asia magazine in an exclusive interview.

“But it seems to be this exercise to financial life. Once a product is created, there will be initial variations — serving the business purpose as a marketing component. At first, it seems to be offered free to the customers, right? But nothing is really free. It’s baked into the price [...] But with this type of insurance, maybe consumers can take the chance and stay at the hotel thinking the worst-case scenario would rain,” Charoenwong said.