The bet is simple: You book a trip, you purchase a “WeatherPromise,” and you’re eligible for a refund if a meteorological act of god spoils you’re fun. Sort of.
Here’s the rub: WeatherPromise is a new app that uses AI to predict the weather during your trip. If their prediction doesn’t match reality, they pay up to $10,000. If the weather acts as predicted, you’re out the cost of the WeatherPromise (we were quoted roughly $500 on a $10,000 trip).
“We know it’s raining because we watch the weather while you’re on your trip.”
Dan Price, co-founder of WeatherPromise
Let’s say you book a vacation in Phuket, WeatherPromise will use their tech to tell you how much they think it will rain, and if they’re wrong they are on the hook for your full hotel bill. Do you like the odds?
Dan Price, co-founder of WeatherPromise, told The Post that the product is about “opening doors,” and helping people obtain the travel experience that they’re hoping for. We guess you can look at it like a kind of insurance.
Professor Chekitan S. Dev with Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business called it a “brilliant idea.”
Weather, said Dev, “remains a severely under-solved pain point in the hotel business.” Sure, savvy hotel managers might offer some “sort of service recovery on the spot to make the guests feel better,” but at the end of the day, if there’s too much unexpected rain, vacationers won’t be happy.
But meteorologist Michael A. Favetta isn’t convinced. “Based on my experience, weather changes too quickly … and is difficult to predict more than a few days ahead,” Favetta said.
Yet WeatherPromise seems to think they know which way the wind blows: they’re gathering data for 2.3 million locations on the planet every hour in order to make its on-the-spot weather promises.
So what happens if they get it wrong? Travelers can expect to receive an apology along with instructions to click a link and confirm payment details so that the funds can be returned straight away. “We know it’s raining because we watch the weather while you’re on your trip,” said Price.
The refund process is easiest if you book travel through one of the app’s travel partners (though these number but a few at the moment), where the amount of the spend is recorded. But travelers can also purchase a WeatherPromise directly and submit documentation.
What about snow? WeatherPromise is in the midst of culling data around heat waves and wind (an important factor for sailing, surfing, and general beach hanging), but powder hounds take note: Soon, you might be able to get refunded for that abysmal ski trip.
You might be saying to yourself, “If the weatherman can’t get it right, how can these guys?” But before you book what you expect to be a free vacation, may we remind you that they house always wins.
