The holiday season is fast approaching. During a time of cozy fires, cooking, travel, and dropping temperatures, insurance agents have a rare opportunity to deliver timely value to homeowners.
Fire and water damage claims spike during the colder months, yet most of these losses are preventable with simple, low-cost actions. According to insights from a recent Travelers Institute webinar on property risk, the holiday period is one of the most effective times to engage customers on the everyday hazards that cause the most expensive and disruptive claims.
By offering timely loss prevention guidance, rooted in real claims data and industry research, insurance agents can turn the season’s risks into meaningful, memorable touchpoints.
“We’ve talked about the evolution of our industry, which is fundamentally driven by the evolution of customer and homeowner needs. Agents and brokers play a key role, especially when considering homeowner needs at the individual level,” Angela Orbann, vice president – property, PI product management at Travelers. “When customers see you helping them prevent losses, not just respond to them, you become an indispensable advisor.
Travelers’ data shows that while fire losses occur less frequently than other perils, they are the most expensive and the most disruptive, often forcing families out of their homes for months during repairs. The holiday season compounds these risks as homes fill with decorations, cooking activity increases, and electrical loads spike.
Some key reminders for insureds are to turn off or unplug holiday lights before bed or leaving the house, extinguish all candles, never leave food cooking unattended, and avoid overloading outlets.
Agents can leverage these basics as conversation starters. A seasonal email, a quick phone call, or a newsletter snippet sharing just two or three reminders is not only useful; it positions the agent as proactive, attentive, and invested in customer safety.
For clients planning renovations, agents can also highlight longer-term fire resilience opportunities, such as avoiding wood roofs or siding, choosing fire-resistant materials, and installing monitored or smart smoke detection systems capable of sending alerts even when the homeowner is miles away.
While fire causes the most severe losses, water damage is the type of loss agents see most often. Travelers' experts emphasized that much of it isn’t caused by storms; it comes from inside the home.
Some top prevention recommendations are especially relevant heading into the winter travel season:
For many agencies, Q4 is a time when customer engagement dips. Families are busy, inboxes fill with holiday promotions, and insurance often slides down the priority list. Prevention-focused outreach is timely, proactive and easy for homeowners to act on.
The Travelers Institute webinar highlighted how modern property data, such as aerial imagery and claims patterns, allows carriers and agents to pinpoint common risks like tree overhangs, aging roofs, and exposure to winter freeze. Sharing these insights in seasonal communications helps normalize safety checks and empowers customers to take proactive steps.
It also creates space for broader conversations. A quick reminder about frozen pipes can naturally lead to checking coverage limits, updating property details, or discussing new risk-sharing options. But even when it doesn’t, the outreach itself strengthens trust.
