A traveller books a flight, reserves a hotel, downloads the airline app and saves the destination map. Then the plane lands, roaming is switched off, airport Wi-Fi fails and half the digital journey disappears.

That moment exposes a bigger business problem.

Travel companies, fintechs, mobility platforms and many eSIM providers have built services around customers who are assumed to be online. Yet connectivity is still treated as someone else’s responsibility. The app may be excellent, but it is not especially useful when the user cannot connect.

Connectivity is therefore moving from a telecom product to a business-model component. It can generate revenue, but its greater value is protecting the rest of the customer journey.

The missing layer

Most digital travel businesses already own the expensive parts of the relationship. They acquired the customer, processed the payment and know the itinerary.

Then, when that customer arrives abroad, the relationship is handed to a roaming provider, local SIM seller or unrelated eSIM app.

That is a strange commercial choice.

Hotels want guests using their apps for check-in and services. Airlines want passengers receiving alerts and buying upgrades. OTAs want to sell transfers and attractions after booking. All depend on the traveller remaining online.

SITA’s 2025 air transport research describes an industry moving from fragmented data towards connected insight, with 83% of airlines prioritising data-driven decision-making. But data-led engagement has a basic prerequisite: the passenger must be reachable.

Connectivity is not simply another ancillary beside extra baggage or lounge access. It helps the other ancillaries work.

Revenue is only the beginning

The obvious argument for adding eSIM is additional margin. A business can sell data, include it in a premium tier or use it as a loyalty reward. The more interesting argument is what happens afterwards.

A connected customer can open the app after landing, receive an alert, order a ride or message the hotel. Connectivity expands the usable surface of the original product.

Revolut understood this early. Its eSIM was introduced inside an app that already handled payments, accLIFEommodation, airport lounges, insurance and travel experiences. It was not a random telecom side project; it closed a gap in an existing ecosystem and kept customers inside the same interface abroad.

READ MORE: Revolut’s eSIM Strategy Is Bigger Than Travel Data

The same logic is reaching mainstream travel distribution. In June 2026, Orange Travel and Trip.com announced integrated eSIM offers sold through Trip.com, allowing travellers to select, pay for and activate connectivity within an existing booking environment.

That is the direction of travel: fewer isolated eSIM storefronts, more connectivity placed where travel intent already exists.

The model has to fit

Adding an eSIM link to a confirmation email does not create a connectivity strategy.

Companies must decide what role connectivity should play. Is it a high-margin ancillary, acquisition tool, premium benefit, retention mechanism or enabler for other services? The commercial model and supplier choice should follow that answer.

An airline may gain more by gifting a small allowance to frequent flyers than by maximising margin on every package. A hotel chain could bundle it with mobile check-in. A fintech might use it to increase app engagement abroad. A corporate travel platform may care more about duty of care and keeping employees reachable.

Even eSIM providers need to ask harder questions. A large destination catalogue and competitive wholesale rates are no longer a complete strategy. Buyers increasingly expect APIs, branded journeys, lifecycle management, analytics, support, flexible billing and integration with loyalty or subscription models.

GSMA’s 2026 eSIM Summit noted that 73% of mobile network operators now offer commercial eSIM services, while non-telco players are gaining ground. The technology is becoming widely available; differentiation is moving towards distribution, experience and orchestration.

Where launches fail

The first mistake is treating connectivity as a plug-in rather than a product experience. If activation is confusing, support is invisible or the customer leaves the brand environment to buy, much of the value disappears.

The second is choosing a provider mainly on price. Coverage, routing, top-ups, fraud controls and recovery after installation failure can matter more than a few cents per gigabyte.

READ MORE: Booking Platforms Monetized Flights and Stays. Connectivity Is Next

The third is launching without a distribution plan. Connectivity performs best at a useful moment: after booking, before departure, during check-in or inside the app when the destination is known. A generic “buy an eSIM” page buried in a menu is not a strategy.

The market is already testing more thoughtful models. eSIM Go, for example, has positioned annual connectivity passes for airline loyalty programmes, with options to gift access, co-fund it, sell it or allow redemption with points. That is business-model design, not merely another data bundle.

Conclusion: connectivity is becoming the control point

The winners will not necessarily be those with the cheapest gigabyte or longest country list. Specialist eSIM brands have consumer awareness and product focus. Operators bring network credibility and infrastructure. Fintechs, airlines and OTAs bring distribution, context and an existing customer relationship.

As eSIM adoption accelerates, those advantages are beginning to overlap. GSMA Intelligence expects eSIM smartphone penetration to rise from 5% at the end of 2025 to 10% by the end of 2026, with eSIM connections eventually overtaking removable SIM connections by 2030. The opportunity will become less about whether connectivity can be offered and more about who controls the moment when it is chosen.

A business model that depends on digital engagement but ignores the customer’s ability to get online has a structural hole. Filling it requires more than an API. It requires the right proposition, partner architecture, positioning and route to market.

For travel platforms, operators and eSIM companies, this is now a strategic category in its own right. Businesses working out where they fit, how to differentiate or how to bring a connectivity proposition to market are precisely the conversations Alertify is built for.