Flights, hotels, package deals and car rentals. These are the most common products sold by online travel agencies (OTAs), wholesalers and tour operators. Margins on selling flights have decreased drastically over the years, leaving travel companies in the constant search to increase revenues and profitability. In this post we want to share with you the 7 most profitable ancillary services for online travel agencies and tour operators in 2020.
Luggage Tracing
Had to kick off the post with my personal favorite, Blue Ribbon Bags. Why is it my favorite ancillary revenue product? Because it´s a no brainer product to offer, and a no brainer service to buy. For $5, your customer is not buying a luggage tracing service. For $5, your customer is purchasing peace of mind in case their luggage is lost (and a payment of $1000 if Blue Ribbon Bags can't get it to the destination in 96 hours). Especially now, that there are less direct flights and less work force at airports, chances increase that luggage can get lost.Blue Ribbon Bags´ generous payout to partners is 30% of the cost of the service. While $1.5 might not seems like a lot, since it´s a service that converts extremely well and will easily sell to the majority of your customers.
Visa Applications
Offering visa applications as a service to your customers is also a no brainer, since if a certain country requires a visa, your customer will need to apply for a Visa with or without you. Companies like Ivisa.com offer Visa application services for 70 destinations. Ivisa.com´s cookie duration is 365 days, which is very generous for e-commerce affiliation. Their payout is just as generous, since travel partners can earn 20% per visa application. Another option is G3 Global Services, which offers visa services to 65 countries. Their average service fee for processing visas is $95 while their average commission payout is 12.5%.
Global Airport Concierge
Offer your customers VIP airport greeting services and curbside assistance upon arrival to the airport. Global Airport Concierges offers coverage in 700 airports worldwide and pays partners a 10% commission for completed sale.
Ground transfer
Implementing an easy-to-use international transfer booking system for private cars, shared shuttles, and buses will allow you to offer your customers a much-needed service that they will most likely purchase, through you or independently. Services like Rider Travel allow you to implement a white label or co-branded widget on your checkout page and easily allow your customer to book their transfer without leaving your site, and enjoy a generous payout of 10% on average per completed booking.
Travel Insurance
When selling travel insurance, it´s important that you offer your customers an insurance policy that covers both health/medical related incidents and travel related incidents (flight cancellation, theft etc). Surprisingly, many insurance policies offer very slim coverage for non-health related matters, which is why I personally always use World Nomads. Worldnomads resells Bupa Insurance Policies, and pays a 10% commission for all policies purchased through your referral link or widget. Their cookies last for 60 days.
Foreign Exchange
More likely than not, your customers are going to need a a few hundred bucks in local currency, regardless of where they are travelling to. Companies like Fly Money partner with online travel agencies through a plug and play widget, where your customer can pay online and collect the money in the destination airport. Currently they offer 72 different currencies which can be exchanged.
International Mobile SIM cards
Thanks to Waze and Instagram, people just cannot be without internet connection anymore, even when abroad. Companies like One Sim Card partner with travel companies to upsell a variety of connectivity products. You can either refer people to purchase the SIM card and airtime directly on One Sim Card´s site, or pre-purchase the SIM cards and distribute them yourself to your customers. One Sim Card pays 6% of the revenue produced by customers, and the best part is, the revenue is residual for all future recharges by that customer.