Partnerships and affinity deals have played a key role in travel insurance distribution for decades, with airlines and travel agents representing two of many long-standing channels. Now, evolving customer expectations, digital booking platforms and embedded insurance are transforming how cover is sold. Digital distribution and embedded integrations are streamlining the travel insurance purchasing experience and accelerating adoption. While affinity partnerships remain an important channel, their success depends on customer trust, how seamlessly they integrate into digital travel journeys, and the effective use of technology.

Tech, glorious tech

Technology has fundamentally shifted what’s possible in partnership-led distribution and brought customers, and their changing expectations, to the forefront. “Today, we operate in an embedded, API-driven ecosystem where insurance vanishes into the journey itself,” stated George Majdalani, Managing Director, EMEA, CoverGo. “Book a flight, coverage appears. Reserve a hotel, protection activates. It’s contextual, effortless, and invisible.

“The market is exploding toward billions of dollars, and travel is dominating. Why? Because we finally stopped asking customers to care about insurance and started delivering it when the moment demands it.”

Indeed, today’s consumers increasingly expect simple, digital experiences where protection is seamlessly integrated into the services they already use, and technology facilitates this requirement.

Evolving consumer behaviour

Along with changing expectations, customer behaviour around travel insurance is evolving. Travellers are becoming more informed about coverage options and more selective about the policies they choose, and a keenly sought-after requirement is flexibility.

Chrissy Valdez, Senior Director of Operations at Squaremouth, has seen this shift firsthand. “Travellers today are much more educated and intentional with travel insurance purchases. We’re seeing an increase in demand for products that provide more flexibility. For example, optional add-on benefits like cancel for any reason (CFAR) have seen an increase in demand,” she explained. “So far this year, 20% of travellers buying comprehensive travel insurance are searching specifically for CFAR. This is up from previous years, when we’ve seen between 13–19% of travellers looking for this coverage. This reflects a shift in behaviour, showing that they are seeking additional flexibility, just in case.”

Valdez said that Squaremouth had also seen greater preparedness and product awareness among travellers: “They’re planning earlier, comparing options more thoroughly, and looking for more flexibility and medical protection.”

Price comparison websites have played an important part in changing customer expectations and behaviours, enabling customers to easily research options and compare coverage before they make a purchase. Simon McCulloch, Chief Growth Officer at Staysure, said: “The rise of price comparison websites has undoubtedly shaped customer expectations when it comes to shopping around, which is why our focus on higher-quality products, often associated with buying direct, remains a core principle.

“After the Covid-19 pandemic, travel insurance lost prominence within the overall purchase journey, which makes trust, clarity, and a genuinely customer-centred approach more important than ever, whether the sale is direct or through a partner.”

Valdez agreed that travellers were more and more prepared to explore different channels before buying. “While airlines, cruises, and banks still play a role in offering travel insurance through their products, we are seeing that travellers are increasingly shopping around for coverage,” she confirmed. “They are comparing marketplace options and comparing through travel insurance providers directly. By shopping around, they can find the lowest-cost plan that best fits their needs and budget. For example, cruise lines typically partner with a single insurance provider, which prioritises convenience over flexibility. Because these plans are often tied strictly to the cruise itinerary, they tend to lack the ‘true’ comprehensive coverage necessary to protect independent flights, pre-cruise tours, or high-limit medical emergencies. With this in mind, travellers should compare opinions before settling on the most convenient purchasing option.”

The role of affinity channels

Despite the growth of direct and comparison channels, affinity distribution continues to play an important role in insurance. Research from Aon’s Strategy and Technology Group (STG) has found that while direct sales through insurers remain the dominant channel, travel-related affinity partners are still the second most widely used route, accounting for around 29% of purchases in consumer surveys. Looking at regional trends, STG found that use of affinity channels was highest in Canada (23.9%) and Germany (25.1%).

In Canada, this has been driven largely by sales through organisations such as the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), alongside partnerships with banks and credit unions.

So far this year, 20% of travellers buying comprehensive travel insurance are searching ‎specifically for CFAR

In Germany, the strength of ADAC (the country’s leading automotive association) has played a similar role, exemplifying how strong consumer relationships with membership organisations can support affinity-based distribution. David Bowles from Aon’s STG confirmed that the type of affinity partner matters: “Affinity distribution has held up well where organisations have a strong connection to consumers, such as automotive associations and banks, but has fallen back where their main selling point is convenience, as in the case of the travel trade.”

Brand trust: a driving force

Trust is particularly important when insurance is sold through a non-insurance brand. McCulloch explained: “Across our non-insurance partners, whether major media outlets, online travel agents (OTAs) or major tech brands, our brand is featured prominently and is designed to be instantly recognisable to customers. Trust is a key driver of confidence and purchasing in insurance; it is also reflected in the loyalty and renewal we see, alongside ongoing growth and new customer acquisition.”

Equally, the partner brand carries a solid portion of the reputational risk. “Brand recognition matters when they’re buying, but when something goes wrong, customers care about who actually helps them,” stated Sid Mouncey, Chief Commercial Officer at Blink. “In a white-labelled affinity product sold through an OTA or airline, that travel brand is going to get the credit or the blame for how well the problem gets resolved. That’s actually the point. They already own the customer relationship, so when they show up during disruption, it deepens loyalty to their brand.”

It’s about how quickly and effectively an issue can be resolved, and this speed is critical to customer engagement, as Majdalani emphasised: “Speed isn’t a feature, it’s the entire battlefield. Every second of delay, every confusing field, every ‘We’ll get back to you’ is a customer gone forever.”

Misunderstandings and product limitations

Confusion around coverage is a pressing challenge in affinity distribution. “Travellers often encounter challenges when attempting to file a claim with these policy offerings. They often expect that purchasing an airline’s policy means they will receive support from the airline through the claims process. Additionally, travellers assume these policies provide the same coverage as a comprehensive travel insurance plan, but later find out the hard way that they don’t,” Valdez noted. “For example, affinity options sold through cruise lines might advertise trip cancellation benefits, but travellers find out later that these policies do not reimburse their out-of-pocket costs. Instead, they only offer a credit toward a future cruise. Similarly, some credit card policies may state they provide medical coverage, but they actually do not.” These misunderstandings can prove damaging for trust, both in the insurer and in the partner brand.

Some credit card policies may state they provide medical coverage, but they actually do ‎not

McCulloch believes there is still work to do in communicating the value of affinity insurance. “Affinity travel insurance remains underdeveloped and has historically been seen by some as only fitting neatly alongside traditional travel products and services, often delivered in a passive way,” he said. “Our experience is that a strong travel insurance proposition can resonate across a much wider set of partner environments; however, it depends on a strong brand, dynamic marketing, and genuinely engaging partnership activations.”

The moment of disruption

Typically, the true value of travel insurance is revealed when something goes wrong and, for affinity partnerships, the claims experience can determine how customers view the product. “The claims experience is everything,” Mouncey underlined. “With affinity insurance, customers generally believe that the coverage isn’t as comprehensive as buying direct, which actually works in your favour. Handle their disruption quickly and smoothly, and they’re often delighted even if the payout doesn’t cover everything. But the flip side is that any friction at all (paperwork, delays, confusion) gets interpreted as bad faith pretty quickly. The moment of disruption is where affinity insurance either proves its value or doesn’t.”

What makes a successful affinity programme?

Successful affinity programmes share common characteristics, including transparency and seamless delivery. “We’ve dissected many implementations,” said Majdalani. “The winners don’t negotiate on three principles: ruthless contextual relevance, zero friction, and radical transparency. The best journeys don’t feel like journeys. They feel like nothing. Medical coverage embedded during visa applications. Adventure sports triggers from booking data. No pop-ups. No interruptions. Just the right offer, explained clearly, bound instantly. Add a step, lose a customer. It’s that brutal. Distribution platforms like CoverGo enable insurers to embed protection seamlessly into partner journeys across travel, fintech, and digital ecosystems.”

Mouncey believes simplicity is also essential. “The core problem is trying to cover every possible travel scenario while keeping the product understandable. A traveller’s needs vary wildly based on destination, trip type, who they’re with, and what risks they’re exposed to,”  he stated. “Creating policy documentation that handles all of that and remains digestible is genuinely difficult. That’s why having a few simple features you can clearly communicate matters so much. Parametric travel works because the value proposition is immediate and obvious.”

Presentation also plays an important role in determining how cover is perceived. “We tend to see stronger engagement when insurance is presented as a key safeguard that provides financial protection and peace of mind, rather than an afterthought at checkout,” highlighted McCulloch. “That is where product quality and independent customer feedback, including five-star reviews, can be particularly influential.”

The future of affinity partnerships

As the role of affinity distribution continues to evolve, a prominent challenge for insurers is ensuring that cover feels like a natural part of the journey. “Our experience is that travel insurance can work across the majority of partnership models, not only the obvious ones such as travel agencies,” McCulloch concluded. “With annual travel insurance in particular, the value is a year-round opportunity to demonstrate relevance and service, rather than a narrow window immediately after a holiday booking. We partner with a wide range of brands across different sectors and continue to see consistent resonance when the proposition is clear and the customer journey is well integrated.”