itravel2000 says Let It Snow (again)

For the third year running, Canada’s itravel2000 have launched another Let it Snow weather refund promotion. This promotion has become the largest travel promotion in Canadian history and had thousands of participants in the first two years and despite the fact that claims were made itravel2000 see it as worth repeating. The first year participants in Quebec had their holidays refunded when more than 5 inches of snow fell at the airport in Montreal, the second year saw customers in Atlantic Canada strike it lucky when more than 5 inches of snow fell at Halifax airport.

This year the promotion follows the same pattern in that anyone who books a qualifying holiday between 17th June and 2nd November, 2009 can get their trip for free if it snows more than 5 inches on 1st January, 2010. The snow must be recorded at the specified weather station (determined by the province they live in). Customers who qualify for a refund will receive a cheque to reimburse them for the retail price of their holiday on their return.

Weatherbill are again covering the promotion and this is likely to be the largest single day of weather cover ever purchased. They must be delighted that this promotion is being run for a third time as it shows the potential of weather refund promotions. Despite having paid out significant refunds on the first two years this promotion must pull in enough incremental business for itravel2000 to make the return on investment attractive enough to run it again. Having worked in travel I would imagine that itravel2000 are using it to drive customer interest in periods of travel which are undersold, thus enabling them to drive interest and sales to the travel periods that need it. A good example case of a clever use of weather risk management being used to drive extra sales.