Established Day Spa - PI, Public Liability, and Business Pack

An established day spa operating as a Pty Ltd with two directors needed a full insurance review. They were already holding Professional Indemnity through another broker, but their Business Pack - covering contents, glass, and business interruption - hadn't been properly arranged.

The initial engagement was for a Business Pack. After we placed that, the clients decided to consolidate their PI and Public Liability with Tank as well. This gave us the opportunity to run a full market comparison on the PI and PL side, where we found their existing cover was significantly overpriced.

For the PI and PL placement, we approached six insurers. Three declined outright based on occupation - spa and beauty businesses sit in a category that some insurers won't underwrite regardless of the specific risk presented.

The quotes from those who would offer terms:

• Keystone: ~$990 - placed
• ProRisk: ~$1,100
• Dual: ~$1,700
• Vero: ~$2,600
• Woodina: ~$3,400
• BHSI: Declined - occupation
• RelyOn: Declined - occupation
• AIG: Declined - occupation

For the Business Pack, we approached six insurers. Two declined on occupation grounds. The placed premium through Hollard was ~$880 - against a Chubb quote of ~$1,500, QBE at ~$1,800, and Vero at ~$1,800.

The occupation category is the primary challenge in this market. Spas and beauty businesses face a meaningful number of outright declines - not because of their claims history or the specific risk they present, but because some insurers apply blanket occupational exclusions to the beauty and wellness sector.

RelyOn, AIG, and BHSI all declined on occupation for the PI and PL placement. RelyOn and AIG also declined the Business Pack. That's five outright declines across two policy types before we found terms. For a client going direct or through a generalist broker, those declines could easily mean either no cover or dramatically overpriced cover from whoever said yes without pushback.

The previous PI arrangement through another broker was through ProRisk at approximately $1,100. That's not an unreasonable market rate - but it's also around $110 more than what we placed at, on an annual basis, with no change in scope of cover.

PI and PL placed with Keystone at approximately $990, plus a $110 broker fee. Business Pack placed with Hollard at approximately $880, with no broker fee charged on that policy.

Both directors signed Letters of Authority. The client is active across multiple policies and continues to renew with Tank. Having a single broker across PI, PL, and Business Pack also simplifies their renewal cycle and means any changes to the business - new services, additional staff, changes to turnover - can be assessed across the whole programme at once.