The trip you planned can strand someone, or send them somewhere unsafe.Founded by a software developer who runs an AI app.
Trip planners and booking agents carry three exposures: a booking error that strands a traveler and starts a refund dispute, state laws on selling travel, and an itinerary that points a person at a hazard abroad. We insure travel apps with all three in view.
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The person placing your tech E&O runs an app with an AI coach of his own.
Kevin Kelsey
Founder | Principal Agent
Boring’s founder, Kevin Kelsey, owns and runs TrainRec, a fitness app with a built-in AI coach, and has placed insurance for AI apps. Insuring his own taught him how an underwriter reads a model. Personal guidance from an AI reads more like the work of a professional than like software, technology E&O forms commonly exclude bodily injury, and not every form will add it back. So whether your app answers money, health, hiring or farming questions, the gap between what it says and what the policy covers gets read by someone who has had to close it for his own product.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What travel app businesses actually need.
Technology E&O with contingent bodily injury
Claims that your app booked the wrong thing, dropped a reservation or gave a plan that led to harm, including an injury once contingent bodily injury is added.
Without it — The standard form excludes bodily injury and many forms do not offer the grant at all, so the market is chosen for it. Ask by name.
Cyber & tech E&O
Breach response, ransomware and the notification costs that follow. Technology errors and omissions sits on the same policy and covers the software or service itself failing a client, which is the half most tech companies find out about too late.
Without it — Passport numbers, itineraries, payment details and location are what a travel app holds, and a breach of them exposes where a person is.
General liability
Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is the line nearly every contract names by default.
Without it — The certificate that hotels, tour partners and airlines ask for, to be read for a technology or professional services exclusion.
Media liability
Covers claims arising from what you publish (defamation, copyright and trademark infringement, invasion of privacy and misuse of a person’s likeness) on an annual policy for creators, podcasters, publishers and authors.
Without it — Destination guides, photos and recommendations are published content, with copyright and misleading statement claims of their own.
Directors & officers
Protects the personal assets of the people running the company when they are sued over a management decision. It applies to private companies and nonprofit boards, not just public ones, which is a common and expensive misunderstanding.
Without it — Investors and regulators ask who is accountable for traveler money held in trust, and leaders are named in those claims.
Surety bond for seller of travel registration
The bond some states require from a business that sells travel, in an amount tied to the money it handles.
Without it — It is a financial guarantee to travelers filed with a state, not insurance for the business, and only some app models need it.
What the regulators actually wrote down.
California defines a seller of travel as a person who sells, provides, furnishes, contracts for, arranges, or advertises that they can arrange, wholesale or retail, air or sea transportation, or land or water vessel transportation if the total charge to the passenger exceeds three hundred dollars; air carriers, ocean carriers and certain others are excluded.
California Business and Professions Code section 17550.1 (California Attorney General, seller of travel statutes) · checked 2026-11-01
California requires a seller of travel to deposit 100 percent of all sums received from any person for air or sea transportation or for any travel services offered into a trust account at a federally insured institution, and to withdraw only in the ways the statute lists, such as payment to the carrier or provider.
California Business and Professions Code section 17550.15(b) and (c) · checked 2026-11-01
California defines an “adequate bond” as one issued by an admitted surety insurer in an amount at all times no less than the amount required to be held in the trust account, for the benefit of every passenger who sustains a monetary loss from a violation, and a passenger may not recover on the bond more than the passenger paid the seller.
California Business and Professions Code section 17550.11 · checked 2026-11-01
California treats any material misrepresentation by a seller of travel as a violation of the article and as a cancellation by the seller that requires a refund.
California Business and Professions Code section 17550.14(d) · checked 2026-11-01
Florida defines a seller of travel as any resident or nonresident person, firm, corporation or business entity that offers for sale prearranged travel or tourist-related services for a fee or other valuable consideration, and requires each seller of travel to register annually with the state, including proof of purchase of an adequate bond.
Florida Statutes sections 559.927 (definitions) and 559.928 (registration) · checked 2026-11-01
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s refund rule, effective June 25, 2024, requires airlines and ticket agents to provide automatic refunds within 7 business days for tickets bought by credit card and within 20 calendar days for other payment methods; the Department’s August 2024 amendment left October 28, 2024 as the compliance date for cancellation refunds.
U.S. Department of Transportation, Refunds and Other Consumer Protections, final rule (April 26, 2024); amendment document 2024-17602 · checked 2026-11-01
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
A booking error strands a traveler or loses a reservation
Covered by Technology E&O
The traveler claims the lost trip, new tickets and hotel costs. Terms that disclaim liability help the defense, but California treats a material misrepresentation by a seller of travel as a cancellation that requires a refund.
Less common, severe
Traveler money handled without the registration or trust account a state requires
Covered by A bond or trust account and legal advice before launch, not a liability policy
A regulator’s action for selling travel without registering is not a negligence claim, and professional liability forms commonly exclude fines. Decide with a lawyer whether your model is a seller of travel before you launch.
Less common, severe
An itinerary sends someone onto a closed trail or into a hazard
Covered by Technology E&O with contingent bodily injury
The user followed your plan and was hurt. Tech E&O forms commonly exclude bodily injury, and general liability may exclude harm arising from your professional services. Contingent bodily injury is the grant that closes it, and the claim may be filed in the country where it happened.
Common
Traveler data is breached
Covered by Cyber liability
Passport and itinerary data draws notification duties in several countries. Check whether the form covers foreign regulators.
What our travel app clients ask us.
What kinds of travel apps does this page cover?
AI trip planners, itinerary builders, booking agents that reserve flights and rooms, and apps that sell tours or activities. The planning apps give advice. The booking apps handle money. Many do both, and each half has a different claim.
What happens when a booking error strands a traveler?
The traveler claims the cost of the lost trip, replacement flights and hotels, and often files a payment dispute with their bank at the same time. The claim is a financial loss caused by your service, which is what technology E&O is for. Refund rules also matter: the U.S. Department of Transportation’s rule, effective June 25, 2024, requires airlines and ticket agents to refund canceled flights automatically within 7 business days on credit cards and 20 calendar days otherwise.
Does our app have to register as a seller of travel?
It depends on the state and on what the app does, and a lawyer should decide. California defines a seller of travel as someone who sells, arranges or advertises that they can arrange air or sea transportation, or land or water vessel transportation over a stated charge, and it requires a trust account holding all traveler payments, with an adequate bond allowed in the amount of that trust. Florida defines a seller of travel broadly as anyone offering prearranged travel or tourist services for a fee, and requires annual registration with proof of a bond. Other states have their own laws, and we have not verified Washington or Hawaii here.
Does a seller of travel bond cover the business?
No. A bond is a guarantee to travelers, filed with the state, that money paid to the seller will be returned if it fails. In California it must be at least the amount that would be held in the trust account, and a passenger cannot recover from it more than they paid the seller. The business still needs liability insurance for the claims a bond never touches.
Our AI plans a hiking day and the trail turned out to be closed. Who is liable?
The traveler may claim against you if they relied on the plan and were hurt. The claim is that your app gave unsafe guidance, with an injury at the end. Technology E&O forms commonly exclude bodily injury, and general liability written for a software business can exclude harm from your professional services. Contingent bodily injury is the grant that answers, and at least one major tech E&O form does not offer it. Our fitness page explains the same gap for a workout plan.
What if the injured traveler is abroad and sues there?
Then your policy has to follow. Many technology E&O policies only defend claims brought in the US or Canada, and a traveler hurt in another country may sue in that country’s courts under its laws. Ask about the coverage territory, whether a claim brought abroad is defended, and whether the insurer can respond in the local currency. For a travel app this is the ordinary claim and not the rare one.
Will an underwriter treat our itinerary AI as software or as a travel adviser?
An AI that gives personal guidance reads to an underwriter more like a professional than like software. A catalog of fixed trips is closer to published content, while a plan built for one traveler is advice. Describe the product the way it works, because the policy terms and the exclusions that apply follow from it.
What will the underwriter ask a travel app?
Whether the app only plans or also books and takes payment, and who holds the money. Whether it is registered as a seller of travel anywhere and how it is bonded. Which airlines, hotels and tour suppliers it uses, and whether you are the merchant of record. Whether the AI picks routes or activities for one traveler, how current its hazard and closure data is, and whether a person reviews unusual itineraries. Which model powers it. Terms and disclaimers, refund policy, countries where travelers use it, revenue, user count and prior claims.
Does the policy cover wrong output from the AI?
A wrong itinerary or an invented hotel is your service failing, and it is a tech E&O matter, but wording on AI output varies and some 2026 forms exclude it. General liability may carry a generative AI exclusion. Ask whether AI output is covered, in plain words, in the policy itself.
Is an itinerary app covered if it only recommends and does not book?
It avoids the money handling and most of the seller of travel questions, but not the advice. If you earn commission on bookings made through your links, regulators may look at how you describe the relationship. The recommendation is the exposure, and the policy for it is the same tech E&O.
Which insurance covers the traveler data we hold?
Cyber. Passport numbers, itineraries and payment details expose where a person is and when. Breach notice duties arise in several countries when travelers come from abroad.
We built the app with AI coding tools. Does that matter?
Underwriters ask how the code that handles payment and bookings was tested. Our guide covers how an app built with AI tools is insured.
Why do you say travel app insurance and not travel technology insurance?
Both describe the same buyer. Founders type travel app, and a platform that sells to travel companies is travel technology. The coverage is the same.
Which NAICS codes does this page cover?
The 2022 NAICS codes most relevant are 561510 Travel Agencies, 561520 Tour Operators, 561599 All Other Travel Arrangement and Reservation Services, 513210 Software Publishers, 541511 Custom Computer Programming Services and 519290 Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services. An app that books travel is classified by what it does, and a pure software vendor sits under the software codes.
Where does this fit among insurance for AI apps in other industries?
The travel app’s distinct claim is a trip that goes wrong, abroad and with money attached. Each industry page names its own gap.
Is the flagship fitness app example connected to our founder?
Yes. Kevin Kelsey owns TrainRec, a fitness app with a built-in AI coach by Manifest Post, and has placed AI apps. The same contingent bodily injury gap applies to a trip plan.
Guides on travel app.
- Bodily Injury vs Contingent Bodily InjuryGeneral liability pays for injuries you cause by accident, and E&O pays for money lost to your mistakes. An injury caused by a mistake in your app, software or advice falls between them, and contingent bodily injury on the E&O is how that gap is closed.
- Insurance for an App Launching WorldwideAn app store launch puts your app in front of users in dozens of countries on the first day. Your tech E&O may only defend claims filed in the US or Canada, and your cyber policy has to handle European privacy rules, where health and fitness readings are a special category of data.
- Vibe-Coded App InsuranceA vibe-coded app carries the same liability as any other, and the documented failures are security ones: open databases, exposed keys and an agent that deleted data. Here is which policy answers which failure, what the AI tool providers say about who is responsible, and what to check before you buy.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.