Article

Alternative Risk Transfer: When Should Hospitality Companies Consider a Captive

7/15/2025

What Is Alternative Risk Transfer?

Alternative risk transfer (ART) refers to non-traditional methods of managing and financing risk, including captives, structured programs, and parametric solutions. These approaches are designed to supplement or replace conventional insurance, offering greater flexibility, customization, and long-term cost efficiency

Key Benefits for Hospitality Companies

  • Premium Retention: Recoup a significant portion(up to 85%) of annual premiums
  • Tailored Coverage: Address risks specific to hospitality, such as contingent business interruption, cyber threats, liquor liability, and reputational harm, with policies designed for your operations
  • Financial Control: Pre-fund expected losses, invest retained premiums, and create a financial safety net under your direct control
  • Access to Reinsurance: Tap into global reinsurance markets for capacity that may be unavailable or unaffordable in the traditional market
  • Claims Management: Gain greater influence over claims handling, ensuring faster, more transparent resolutions

When Should Hospitality Companies Consider a Captive?

Not every hospitality business is an ideal candidate for a captive. The most successful captives are built by organizations that are proactive, disciplined, and committed to best-in-class risk management.

Captive Readiness Checklist

  • Annual Premiums: Typically, a minimum of $500,000 in annual insurance spend is required to justify the costs and benefits of a captive structure
  • Strong Safety Culture: Companies with robust safety protocols and a history of low claims are best positioned to profit from a captive
  • Desire for Control: Operators seeking to influence underwriting, claims, and risk management decisions will benefit most from captive ownership
  • Coverage Gaps: If traditional insurance markets exclude or limit coverage for key risks—such as pandemics, natural catastrophes, or cyber events—a captive can fill those gaps
  • Long-Term Perspective: Captives are a strategic investment, delivering the greatest value to organizations committed to a multi-year risk management approach

Real-World Triggers for Captive Formation

  • Market Disruption: When premiums spike or capacity evaporates due to natural disasters, pandemics, or economic shocks, captives offer stability and continuity
  • Uninsurable Risks: For exposures that commercial insurers won’t cover, such as reputational damage or non-damage business interruption, captives provide a viable solution
  • Desire for Profitability: High-performing hospitality companies can turn insurance into a profit center, capturing underwriting gains that would otherwise be lost to the market

The Captives Insure Approach

At Captives Insure, we believe that building a high-performing captive insurance team is essential to unlocking the full value of your captive and ensuring its long-term success. Our turn-key structure allows you to bind coverage tailored to your unique operations—often before the captive is even formed—so you can make the insurance decision first and the captive formation process after

We provide the tools, expertise, and global reach to help you identify, underwrite, and bind AM Best rated fronting and reinsurance for your captive insurance needs. Our mission: help you transform insurance from a recurring expense into a strategic advantage.

In 2025, the US property and casualty insurance market presents a challenging environment for large hospitality operations seeking general liability coverage. While the broader market is stabilizing, large hotel groups and hospitality chains face persistent rate increases, heightened underwriting scrutiny, and evolving risk factors that demand sophisticated risk management and insurance strategies.

For large hospitality operations, the 2025 general liability insurance market remains challenging, with persistent cost pressures, heightened litigation risks, and increased underwriting scrutiny. Success requires a proactive, enterprise-wide approach to risk management, early engagement in the insurance process, and strategic use of alternative risk transfer mechanisms. Large hotel groups that invest in robust safety programs, advanced analytics, and strong insurance partnerships will be best positioned to secure the coverage they need and manage costs effectively in a complex and evolving market.

Is It Time to Take Control?

If your hospitality business is ready to move beyond the limitations of traditional insurance, now is the time to explore a captive. With the right partner, you can maximize control, retain premium, and build a resilient risk management program that supports your growth for years to come.

Ready to start the conversation? Captives Insure is here to help you turn risk into opportunity—on your terms.

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