LONDON and NEW YORK—Willis Group Holdings P.L.C. and Chartis Inc. this week have separately introduced insurance products addressing an organization’s reputational risk.Willis has developed reputational risks insurance coverage for the hotel industry, the London-based insurance brokerage said in a Wednesday statement.
The hotel reputation coverage aims to respond to losses resulting from adverse publicity through any medium, Willis said.
Willis has partnered with Kiln Group Ltd., a London-based underwriter at Lloyd’s of London, to offer Hotel Reputation Protection 2.0, which covers loss of revenues and includes crisis management services, according to the statement.
The policy provides coverage for lost revenues based on a performance projection of the hotel industry that measures revenues per available room, along with costs of hiring a crisis management consultant during the first weeks of an incident, Willis said.
The coverage also includes death and permanent physical disability of a guest and food poisoning caused by malicious or accidental contamination, according to the statement.
“In the extremely competitive hotel industry, reputation accounts for approximately 30% to 40% of a business’ overall worth,” said Laurie Fraser, global markets leisure practice leader for Willis, in the statement. “Therefore, damage to reputation, which spreads virally through social and other media channels, can have a significant financial impact.”
The policy will pay up to €25 million ($33.4 million) for loss revenue and crisis management costs, Willis said.
Chartis’ product
Chartis has introduced a stand-alone, no named peril reputational risks insurance policy that includes access to crisis management consulting firms.
ReputationGuard address company board members’ growing concerns that threats to an organization’s reputation are a primary risk, the New York-based insurance unit of American International Group Inc. said in a Tuesday statement.
The policy, developed by Chartis’ executive liability division, provides coverage for costs associated with avoiding or minimizing the impact of negative publicity and access to reputation and crisis management professionals, Chartis said.
“In today’s world, one person’s negative opinion can quickly become adverse publicity on a global scale,” said Tracie Grella, president of Chartis’ professional liability unit, in the statement. “Public perception of the response to an event can have a lasting impact on an organization’s reputation.”
“Chartis offered sub-limited coverage for crisis management services in the past, but only as an endorsement to other policies and only covering limited perils,” Ms. Grella said.
As part of the coverage, which is offered to organizations of any size, policyholders will have access to public relations consultants at Burson-Marsteller and Porter Novelli
