Ancillary Intelligence in Action
SUCCESS STORY
Hepstar’s Solution Driving Revenue Growth and Stronger Ancillary Attachments in a Complex Market
In an increasingly complex and volatile travel environment, a leading online travel brand in Israel sought to strengthen its ancillary performance and unlock incremental revenue growth. By refining its approach to ancillary offerings and customer engagement, the company aimed to improve attachment rates, enhance the traveller experience, and build greater commercial resilience in a challenging market.
However, achieving these objectives required overcoming several key obstacles that were limiting ancillary adoption and revenue potential. These included but are not limited to:
- Low or inconsistent attachment of value-added services
- Market volatility affecting customer behaviour and booking patterns
- Untapped revenue opportunities within existing bookings, despite customer demand
To address these challenges and unlock additional value from existing bookings, the travel brand introduced AirHelp as a seamlessly integrated ancillary offering within the customer booking journey. The solution had key success elements for both travellers and the travel brand including:
- Automated eligibility and claims handling
- No operational overhead for the travel brand
- Immediate monetisation of a previous pain point
Despite a complex operating environment, within the first 3 months, AirHelp achieved:
✅15%+ attachment rate, demonstrating strong customer relevance
✅$2.17 additional net revenue per booking for the travel brand
✅ Consistent performance, reinforcing clear product-market fit
This use case clearly demonstrates that:
- There is strong demand for flight disruption compensation services in the Israel market
- Customers are willing to engage with flight protection products
- AirHelp delivers consistent revenue stream
By offering AirHelp and other products during its booking journey through a single integration with Hepstar, the travel brand successfully increased ancillary attachment rates, unlocked new revenue, and delivered added value to travellers with minimal operational effort.
MARKET PULSE
Airlines Can’t Control Fuel Prices. They Can Control Ancillary Revenue Performance.
IATA now forecasts airline net margins at just 2%.
At the same time:
- Fuel costs are volatile
- Aircraft and engine delivery delays add billions in costs
- Economic uncertainty remains high
The reality is that many of the industry’s biggest challenges are outside an airline’s control.
Revenue per passenger isn’t.
That’s why ancillary revenue is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a strategic lever for protecting margins, strengthening customer relationships, and building resilience.
The question isn’t whether airlines need ancillary revenue. The question is: Are they maximizing it?
Source: https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/airlines-lessors/iata-predicts-dramatic-drop-airline-profits
HEPSTAR PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
Building the Future of Travel Ancillary Retailing
Welcome to the first edition of the Hepstar Product Corner – a glimpse behind the scenes into what we’re building.
We’re on a mission to help travel brands unlock more value from every booking through smarter ancillary retailing. Behind that mission is a passionate team that turns ideas into measurable business results.
So, what’s new?
Evolving NDC
As more airlines and distributors adopt IATA’s NDC standards, there’s demand for external ancillaries to conform and be available.
That’s where Hepstar comes in.
Our new NDC Translation Layer acts as a bridge between NDC messaging and Hepstar’s ancillary marketplace. Partners can access a wide range of ancillary products through a single integration using NDC messaging standards.
The result?
✔ Uniform API interactions in NDC format
✔ Faster implementations at no cost
✔ Access to a broader ancillary portfolio
Less complexity. More revenue opportunities.
Empowering Traveller Servicing
Ancillary sales don’t stop at checkout.
We’re expanding our API suite with new servicing capabilities, including claims and status retrieval endpoints, allowing partners to manage traveller expectations within their own platforms.
The benefits?
✔ Better transparency and customer experience
✔ Reduced operational friction
✔ More control over the traveller journey
✔ Increased customer loyalty
Growing the Marketplace
Our ancillary marketplace continues to expand with new suppliers and products across travel protection, airport services, eSIMs, and more.
More choice means more opportunities to personalise offers and match travellers with products that truly matter to them.
And when relevance improves, conversion follows.
Turning Data into Revenue
One of the most exciting developments is our continued investment in AI and machine learning.
With our migration to Google Cloud Vertex AI, we’re accelerating our ability to analyse traveller behaviour, optimise product selection, and improve pricing decisions in real time.
The goal is simple:
Deliver the right products to each customer.
Because better recommendations don’t just improve the customer experience they generate measurable revenue growth through increased conversion.
What’s Next?
We’re continuously investing in technology that helps our partners launch faster, retail smarter, and maximise ancillary revenue.
Whether you’re selling travel packages, flights, bus or rail tickets, or accommodation, we’re always eager to hear your ideas and challenges.
The best innovations are built together.
Stay tuned for the next Product Corner!
