How HI USA generates six-figure monthly revenues through Triptease tools

MARKETING

Hostelling International USA runs a nonprofit hostel network with properties in major US cities across the country. Being both a nonprofit and a hostel brand creates distinct digital advertising challenges, and the team's previous provider struggled to support the technical complexity of their operations. Metasearch underperformed and website crashes were not uncommon.

Why it matters: HI USA doubled its metasearch ROAS and now generates over $116K in direct monthly revenue through Triptease tools.

HI USA uses Triptease Metasearch, Display Ads and Personalization to capture guests across every stage of the booking journey. The combination lifted metasearch returns, added retargeting as a new revenue channel, and turned the website into an active promotional surface for offers and email capture.

Top 3 Core Objectives: HI USA wanted to fix metasearch underperformance, add retargeting to recover lost demand, and gain the ability to run promotional messaging on their website. A key selection priority was consolidating multiple products under one provider.

Fix metasearch performance: Previous provider capped at a 16x ROAS ceiling and caused booking engine issues that even led to website crashes. HI USA needed a metasearch partner who could handle the technical complexity of a nonprofit hostel network.
Recover lost demand: HI USA had no retargeting strategy in place before Triptease, meaning potential guests who left the site were being lost to competitors and OTAs.
Enable website promotions: The team's booking engine had no native way to run pop-up messaging for urgent promotions or to drive email signups. Colleagues across the business were asking for this capability.

Innovators Mentioned

Triptease

Amy Carter

Senior Director of Marketing and Communications

HI USA

"I'm really happy to see the actual revenue being generated from the email capture messages over time because that was something that we weren't doing before."

Amy Carter

Senior Director of Marketing and Communications

👍 Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Amy Carter said that Email capture messaging is now a measurable revenue driver for HI USA, not just a list-building exercise.:

"I'm really happy to see the actual revenue being generated from the email capture messages over time because that was something that we weren't doing before."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Amy Carter evaluated Triptease's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that Triptease was the best fit solution:

Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Amy Carter said, about their decision: "Amy Carter prioritized finding a provider that could offer multiple products under one platform, and ultimately decided Triptease was the best fit."

📈 The results: Triptease Metasearch doubled HI USA's metasearch ROAS, retargeting opened a new revenue stream worth over $50K per month, and Personalization messages added hundreds of thousands in incremental revenue plus 1,200+ email signups.

Metasearch ROAS moved from a previous ceiling of 16x to 29x in the first month after launch and reached 33x in Q2 2025, contributing over 15% of direct website revenue.
Retargeting delivered a consistent $50K+ monthly revenue and a 35x ROAS, with one April 2025 campaign for HI New York City hostel turning $428 of spend into over $21,000 in revenue.
On-site messaging drove over $125K from the flexible cancellation pop-up, over $140K from the exclusive member offer pop-up, and 1,200+ newsletter signups worth upwards of $40K in revenue.