Happiness Insurance Inc., based in Irvine, sells prepaid vacation plans under a registered trademark, and its founding argument is direct: the industry has spent decades protecting people from death while doing little for the quality of life before it arrives.
Founder and CEO Rami Lazarescu has spent more than 30 years in the vacation industry. The idea, he said, came from personal experience as much as professional observation.
“My parents never took me on a single vacation,” he said. “Not once. They’re both gone now, and I have no joyful vacation memories with them.” Families routinely push vacations to “someday,” he argues, and that "someday" often never comes.
The company points to Cornell University research suggesting vacations produce more lasting wellbeing than money or possessions. It also cites Harvard research in pitching to corporate clients, arguing that employee happiness carries measurable business value.
The market Happiness Insurance is targeting has expanded sharply in recent years. The global travel insurance market grew from $19.14 billion in 2022 to $22.44 billion in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate of 17.3%, according to Research and Markets. Projections point to $40.58 billion by 2027, driven by rising tourism volumes, higher trip costs, and growing consumer awareness of coverage options.
Plans start at $9 per day for a family of four, paid monthly. Policyholders can vacation anytime within 12 months at more than 2,000 resort destinations, with a concierge service handling planning.
The product also has a corporate angle. The company estimates that 46% of US workers do not use all their paid time off, creating $312 billion in liability on employer balance sheets. It is pitching itself to companies as a tool to convert unused PTO into actual employee use through prepaid vacation stays.
The company reported $169,000 in pilot revenue from 60 families and has 14 customer testimonials on YouTube. Lazarescu is a recipient of the US government’s President’s “E” Award for Exports.
Mainstream insurers have also been rethinking how they serve travelers. Carriers responded to disruption-heavy travel seasons in 2025 by strengthening trip delay and missed connection benefits. Consumer demand for flexible and broad coverage has grown, and carriers have had to adapt pricing, underwriting, and policy design in response.
No mainstream carrier has yet built a structured product around planned leisure or guaranteed happiness, which is precisely the gap Happiness Insurance says it is moving into.
This context makes the question around happiness insurance sharper. The product is structured around prepaid vacation access rather than traditional risk transfer. This raises questions about how regulators would treat it and whether carriers would be willing to partner with it at scale.
Americans spend $180 billion annually on life insurance death benefits, according to figures the company cites. Happiness Insurance is betting some of those policyholders are ready to pay for something they can use while still alive.
