Hello there Sea Changers. Welcome back to my series of program lists to assist those of you looking to fund your sea change with affiliate marketing. My name is Paul and I have been making money in the affiliate marketing game for the past decade and have created this site to assist those of you looking to do the same.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - header

Today we will journey into the travel niche with my 10 best hotel affiliate programs to book this year. Travel is a large niche and one that certainly attracts a high volume of online sales and with over 33000 people entering the web search “book hotel online” per month, I have decided to deal with these affiliate programs separately.

  1. Booking.com
  2. Hotels Combined
  3. agoda
  4. AirBnB
  5. WOTIF.com
  1. Marriott
  2. Sandals
  3. Beaches
  4. Hostelworld
  5. travelpayouts.com
You Are Reading This Because of Wealthy Affiliate

That's right! Wealthy Affiliate provided me with all of the tools and training I needed to get this post in front of my audience - a.k.a YOU!

You too can start your very own online business here that can make you money from anywhere in the world!!  

Keeping that in mind, as I run through them I am conscious that as this is potentially such a large niche, that the number of affiliate programs to choose from may be just as large. So how have I picked my best 10? Well… I really just wanted to give you a good cross section of what is out there so I did some searching around and checked a few out and chose them by looking at:

  • What they offer
  • Commission rates
  • Payment terms
  • Cookie duration
  • Application processes
  • Affiliate/Marketing materials provided

Hotel Affiliate Programs

Stats show that people will spend money on travel online if it can make their lives easier so as long as you are solving problems, then you are on the right track. And to give you a boost, let's have a look at 10 programs that I have found below:

1. Booking.com

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - bookingdotcom

Let's start with one of the many multi-booking sites that are available online these days in Booking.com. Booking.com provides access to over 2,555,094 properties such as hotels, resorts, houses, villas and so on ranging from budget to extreme luxury lodgings.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - bookingdotcom stripe

They are a well-known brand and provide a decent membership program for its members that provides access to ‘secret' deals and properties designed to keep them returning to the site. They also provide a great online community program allowing people to discuss their visits and talk about the hotels and places they have been – which is priceless information for affiliate marketers when writing those all important hotel reviews.

And, for those of you in a non-hotel specific travel niche, or looking for travel affiliate programs in general, Booking.com can also assist with all of your flight, car rental, tours and airport transfer needs. Oh, and you also earn a commission if you can convince a property owner to join the booking.com stable.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - bookingdotcom affiliate

Commission Rate:

  • 25 – 40% (dependent upon the number of booking referred per month)
  • 50 € for each property that you refer to Booking.com

Payment Terms: Monthly

Cookie Duration: Not stated

Application required?: Yes – Basic personal and website information required.

Marketing material provided: Banners and fully customisable text links.


2. Hotels Combined

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - hotels combined home

Hotels Combined is a hotel booking ‘comparison' website designed to find the best hotel options based on the criteria entered by the user These criteria include:

  • Destination
  • Date range
  • Property type
  • Price range
  • Star and guest ratings
Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - hotels combined stripe

These sites work by comparing the cost options from a large array of hotels and booking sites (as per above graphic) and displaying a number of options from each of the sites.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - hotels combined stripe 2

Users can then choose their option and book directly from the relevant original booking site.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - hotels combined affiliate

Commission Rate: Variable – this program uses a pay-per-lead model which is directly impacted by how well your users convert to valid bookings from the compared booking providers.

Payment Terms: Monthly

Cookie Duration: Not stated

Application required?: Yes – Basic personal and website information required

Marketing material provided: Data feeds, text links, banners, API and deeplinks, search box widgets and White Label


3. agoda

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - agoda

agoda is another multi-hotel site aimed predominantly at the budget travelers. It boasts up to 2,000,000+ plus properties worldwide at heavily discounted prices.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - agoda affiliate stripe

As with most others listed here, visitors are able to search on location, property type, and date range. And like booking.com, they are also accommodate other travel type niches with flight and hotel transfer booking options.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - agoda affiliate

Commission Rate: Up to 7% based on number of bookings per month

Payment Terms: Monthly

Cookie Duration: Not Stated

Application required?: Yes – Basic personal and website information required

Marketing material provided: Agoda verified Badge Text Link, Image Link, Search Box, Banner, Hotel Maps and Lite API.

Affiliates can also make their own bookings (or via their agent if booking offline) by using the ‘Make My Booking' feature.


4. AirBnB

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - airbnb

In terms of booking online accommodation, I am sure most of you would be aware of AirBnB. This is the platform where visitors can rent homes of every way, shape or form directly from the owners of the property. And there is so much to choose from starting with a single bedroom at $20 a night up to a luxury villa at $10k. For affiliates, this opens a massive range of potential opportunities whether you are discussing them by dwelling type, location or novelty arrangements.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - airbnb stripe

As an added bonus, the site now also offers access to reviews and suggestions to match properties such as activities, local restaurants and local experiences making it a great site for those specialty travel niches or sites.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - airbnb affiliate

Commission Rate: Not stated – as per most in this niche, commissions increase based on number of visits booked. Commissions can however be earned in two ways:

  1. Per visit booked
  2. Per property referred to AirBnB

Payment Terms: Monthly

Cookie Duration: Not stated

Application required?: Yes – basic personal and website information required as well as outline of promotional plans

Marketing material provided: Ad banners, text links


5. WOTIF.com

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - wotif.com

Wotif.com is an Australian site that started out offering last minute deals for hotels around the country (I actually visited their site when they were starting out – it had 4 desks and a printer). It has since evolved into a worldwide entity providing discounted and last minute deals to hotels and resorts all over the world.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - wotif stripe

As with some of the other sites above, they also provide access to flights, activities, car rentals and cruises. They also deal in travel and holiday packages and for the affiliate marketers, access to hotel reviews and ‘must see' lists providing great content for your own travel related posts.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - wotif affiliate

Commission Rates:

  • Hotels – 3%
  • Flights – 1%
  • Car Hire – 5%
  • Packages – 3%
  • Activities- 8%

Payment Terms: Monthly.

Cookie Duration: Not stated

Application required?: Yes – basic personal and website information required.

Marketing material provided: Text links, widgets, banners and API.

You Are Reading This Because of Wealthy Affiliate

That's right! Wealthy Affiliate provided me with all of the tools and training I needed to get this post in front of my audience - a.k.a YOU!

You too can start your very own online business here that can make you money from anywhere in the world!!  

6. Marriott

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - marriott home

Should you be more interested in promoting a particular hotel chain, then you might want to check out the Marriott chain of hotels and resorts. They offer a large range of properties from budget to luxury levels including the Marriott and Sheraton brands as below:

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - marriott stripe

This a great site for any hotel or travel niche and especially good for those looking to cover business travel as the site offers a range of options in this area including:

  • Meetings and events
  • Conferences
  • Business facilities
  • Long term lodgings.

There is also great coverage for those in the family holiday market.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - marriott affiliate

Commission Rate: Not stated

Payment Terms: Monthly

Cookie Duration: 7 Days

Application required?: Yes, Marriott’s affiliate program is managed by Partnerize. You will be required to apply for an account then for the Marriott affiliate program. You will need to enter personal and website information as well as promotional plans and platforms to be used.

Marketing material provided: Text links and banners, Data Feeds/Product Catalogs, Deals & specials


7. Sandals

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Sandals

If your site has anything to do with 5 star, adults only, all-inclusive luxury resorts, then you need to add Sandals to your portfolio. This is a perfect site for any adult holiday related niche such as:

  • Holidays for two
  • Honeymoons
  • Luxury resorts
  • Child free vacations
  • Naughty escapes and so on
Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Sandals stripe

There is probably not enough on offer to sustain a travel related affiliate site on its own however the fact that it offers all-inclusive luxury makes it a perfect high ticket option for just about any site within this niche – especially if you are writing about honeymoon or adults only destinations.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Sandals affiliate

Commission Rate: Starting at 4%

Payment Terms: Monthly

Cookie Duration: 60 days

Application required?: Yes – The Sandals affiliate program is managed by CJ Affiliate. You will be required to apply for an account and then for the Sandals affiliate program. You will need to enter personal and website information as well as promotional plans and platforms to be used.

Marketing material provided: Banners, Text Links, Free trip incentives


8. Beaches

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Beaches

Ok, so I am probably just being lazy here, but if you are writing about resorts and have included Sandals on your site, then you might as well add Beaches as well. Beaches is a Sandals company and has everything that Sandals has, but for families and kids as well. They offer a range of 5 star luxury resorts with activities for the entire family.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Beaches stripe

Oh, and as these are all-inclusive resorts, affiliates can write about family holidays that will not blow out in terms of cost once the kids find all of the activities on offer. The Beaches affiliate program is the same as the Sandals one outlined above:

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Beaches affiliate

Commission Rate: Starting at 4%

Payment Terms: Monthly

Cookie Duration: 60 days

Application required?: Yes – The Beaches/Sandals affiliate program is managed by CJ Affiliate. You will be required to apply for an account and then for the Beaches/Sandals affiliate program. You will need to enter personal and website information as well as promotional plans and platforms to be used.

Marketing material provided: Banners, Text Links, Free trip incentives


9. Hostelworld

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Hostelworld

The backpacker industry is huge and one that doesn't appear to be going out of fashion as young and old around the world don the backpack and live a life of apparent poverty in the world's hottest tourist spots. If this is something that you have based your niche around, then check out Hostelworld.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Hostelworld stripe

This site is a must have if your site has anything to do with budget travel or backpacking and not only contains access to hostels all over the world, but great content on budget activities, ‘must sees' and city guides. They also arrange hostel group memberships for further discounts – something that you can highlight in your posts as an added bonus.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Hostelworld affiliate

Commission Rate: Not stated but paid on a per booking basis

Payment Terms: Monthly

Cookie Duration: 30 Days

Application required?: Yes, basic personal and website information required. Applicants must run a travel or budget website and not work with or promote any other hostel provider.

Marketing material provided: Banners, Ads and copy, Text Links, Last minute specials


10. travelpayouts.com

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Travel payouts

Now technically, travelpayouts.com is not a hotel booking site as such. However should you wish to set up your site up with a range from a few different brands or companies at once then you can do so here. Travelpayouts.com is an affiliate marketing platform that provides access to a good range of hotel and travel related affiliate programs all in one place including:

This site is probably large enough to fill a basic travel niche site on its own but also to provides access to some of the bigger players without having to join each program individually via their own platforms. Travelpayouts.com also appears to offer better commission rates and cookie duration than if you had applied directly via the main company page.

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - Travel payouts stripe

Commission Rate: 1.5 – 6%

Payment Terms: Monthly

Cookie Duration: 30 days

Application required?: Yes – Basic personal and website information required. you may also need to apply for individual programs within the site itself.

Marketing material provided: Banners, Text Links, Data Feeds

How to find your own affiliate programs

As stated earlier, by outlining the sites above I have really just tried to give you a good cross section of the types of programs that are out there by listing the really good ones in each ‘category'. That does not mean that you cannot find affiliate programs that better suit what it is that you are trying to do within this space – especially as I could never even begin to cover every hotel related requirement or sub niche in the one post. Luckily for us, there is a simple way to find these programs online.

All you need to do is enter “affiliate: niche type” into your search engine (substituting ‘niche type‘ for whatever product it is that you are choosing to sell).

Best Hotel Affiliate Programs - affiliate programs

There are hotel related affiliate programs for everything else that we have listed at the top of this page as well – you will just need to have a look around until you find one or two that suit your site. Once you have completed your searches, you can look through and find programs that:

  • Relate to your niche/problems that you are solving.
  • Have quality products – your brand can be severely damaged if you promote poor quality products.
  • Have solid payment and customer service arrangement.
  • Pay decent commissions.
  • Have good testimonials covering commission payouts and quality of product.

In most cases, you will need to apply for the program before you are allowed to promote their products – don’t take this step lightly or you will be rejected. Affiliate programs will generally want to know:

  • Your website name.
  • Traffic levels.
  • Why you want to join – (so I can make money by selling your hotel rooms is unfortunately not generally a good enough answer).
  • How you plan to promote their products.

Conclusion

So… There are 10 of the best hotel affiliate marketing programs to book this year. I hope it has been helpful for you as you commence your own travel based affiliate marketing business and as usual, please do not hesitate to comment below if you have any questions, need some advice or have any experiences to share. Oh, and especially comment if you have any experience with these, or any other programs as well.

Do you want further assistance with any of the above or need help to build your own travel based website?

Are you looking for a comprehensive training platform that can give you step by step training, 24/7 support, tools to develop and host your very own website, ongoing assistance with SEO and social media and access to some of the best affiliate marketing minds on the planet, then click on the following link to read more about Wealthy Affiliate.

Until next time

Have fun

Paul

Note: If you make a purchase from this page, there is a very good chance that I make a commission from it – these commissions do not increase your sale price. This may include sales made via Wealthy Affiliate.

Introducing Wealthy Affiliate, My #1 Recommendation for Setting Up Your Own Online Business

wealthy affiliate new home page

When I started, I knew I wanted to work online, but had absolutely no idea where to begin! You see I had watched friends of mine run a sales party to sell essential oils and someone asked if they could just sell them online?

Then, as I sat on the bus heading into my office job, I started to wonder if I could do just that, sell essential oils online.

Anything to stop having to catch this bus to and from work every day right!

The trouble was, as I mentioned above, I had no idea how to even start.

So of course I started to look around online and found all these courses! They all promised me riches then took my money but left me with no riches!

Then I stumbled across the program that didn’t promise me riches, but told me it could help me get started even with no experience!

So I did that, joined Wealthy Affiliate that was it, and the rest as they say, is history!

But it doesn’t come without work!

That is the key here! I began on their starter membership and did the training! I then joined as a member and did some more training!

Each night after work, I would do a little more, then a little more.

And to cut a long story short, after 10 months I realized I didn’t really like writing about essential oils, so I sold the site for about $2000. But I had learned so much that I started another – about fishing and camping!

Then, after 18 months (by which time it had earned me close to $10k), I was offered $17k for the site, so I sold it too.

Now, through my travel blog, I’ve been able to fund my passion for travel and explore different places around the world.

In the past few months, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to some amazing destinations, including Bali, Los Angeles, Dallas, Vancouver and Las Vegas.

The success of my travel blog has allowed me to fully fund my travels and explore new destinations with my family.

Steps to Creating a Successful Travel Blog - Me at Whistler

Try the Wealthy Affiliate as a Starter Member and Build your First Hub!

As you start your journey, Wealthy Affiliate is there for you with the most comprehensive training package I have ever seen – And as I have mentioned, I have used a few in my professional career trust me.

To get you started, Wealthy Affiliate has recently introduced the Hub.

The Hub

The hub is an AI based niche and website creation tool that will get you up and running with the foundation of your OWN business in just a few minutes. This includes:

  • Your website – hosted and inclusive of a WordPress editor
  • Your brand
  • Your ‘done-for-you’ research
  • Your blueprint
  • A task list that is going to help you drive the creation and growth of your business moving forward.
Wealthy Affiliate Review 24 - Hub screen

The hub makes the website creation process simple which allows you to get started on the training with a solid base and understanding of the processes.

All you need to do is choose your subject – which is known as your ‘niche’ – and follow the steps on the screen.

Oh, and as you run through the training below you may realize that what you created above is not exactly what you want. That’s ok, you can just create a new hub!

Wealthy Affiliate Training

Then as you continue your journey, the Wealthy Affiliate Hub is there for you with the most comprehensive training package I have ever seen – And I have used a few in my professional career trust me.

Above we discussed the use of the Hub to set up a website. Once you have done this, you will be able to access the “Step-by-Step Core Training”.

This is available to all members including starter members and will give you everything you need to know to continue to create your online business.

Wealthy Affiliate Review 24 - step by step core training

Member Training

There are also Live weekly classes taught by REAL industry experts on a range of topics like artificial intelligence (AI), SEO, YouTube, WordPress, PPC marketing and more.

wealthy affiliate master training

Great, What Else Does Wealthy Affiliate Have To Help You?

So, let’s keep this short, Wealthy Affiliate is a one-stop-shop platform that provides:

  • The Hub – this is the starting point and uses AI processes to assist you in determining your niche and creating your brand.
  • Complete training programs to assist with the development of your own affiliate marketing website in your own niche.
  • Website creation and publishing tools including access to WordPress editors and themes.
  • AI Content article design and content creation
  • Domain name purchasing (you get a free domain when you upgrade to the Premium membership).
  • Website hosting, security and backup.
  • Online help and chat forums.
  • Weekly live training events.
  • 24/7 support.
  • Keyword access tools.
  • SEO assistance.

The platform has been active for over 15 years with the original developers and owners, Kyle and Carson, still extremely active in its day to day operations – especially as they rollout their AI capabilities.

wa first two steps

You Can Try it Yourself For Free

Now of course I can tell you all about how Wealthy Affiliate works (because it does) until I am blue in the face. But every other program out there – including the shams and scams – will tell you the same thing!

So how about you just try it for free yourself. The Wealthy Affiliate Starter membership is free to join and gives you access to everything you need to get started – all without the need to spend a cent!

With the starter membership, you get:

  • 1 Limited Business Hub
  • 1,500 AI Word Credits
  • Try the AI Author Platform (BETA)
  • 1 Practice Website
  • Jaaxy Starter
  • Limited Help & Support
  • Core Niche Training (8 Classes)

And of course I will be there to help you every step of the way as well!

Look, in the interest of transparency, whilst Wealthy Affiliate does offer a free starter membership, this is designed to give you a look around, have a practice and see if it is worthwhile for you – which is a really great option.

However, as with all new businesses, you will need to make some investment so if you are serious about making money online , you will need to upgrade to a premium membership as this will give you access to all the tools you need in the one spot to succeed!

Afterall, every business needs tools to grow!

So How Much Does This Really Cost?

Wealthy Affiliate does not use upsells once you join – but as I mentioned in the video, to succeed here you will need to invest in a membership. There are a couple of options that provide access to all the tools, training and assistance that you could need – and a free domain as well.

Wealthy Affiliate offers a trio of membership tiers, as detailed on their pricing page.

You can opt for the Starter membership at no cost, the Premium membership for $49 per month or the Premium Plus+ membership for $99 per month. That’s the full extent of it – and you can absolutely build your website without having to spend another cent.

You won’t encounter any unexpected additional charges or covert fees and as a Premium member, you’re equipped with all the essentials to initiate, develop and expand a thriving online enterprise.

Those who opt for the Premium membership are provided with

  • Hosting for their websites
  • A complimentary domain name
  • Access to hundreds of hours of current expert tutorials
  • Various marketing and research tools
  • Personal guidance from seasoned professionals in the field
  • And much much more

And for those of you who want to make a serious investment into your future, there are some yearly options as well below to give you peace of mind that you have a whole year ahead of you to get stuff done!

And Don’t Forget the Personal Coaching

Once you join, not only do you get plenty of assistance from me, but you also have access to expert coaching, support and mentorship from real industry experts.

I mean, you can have access to all of the top-tier affiliate marketing training in the world, but inevitably, questions arise, particularly during the initial stages.

With an exceptionally dynamic and engaged community that boasts over 2.7 million members, Wealthy Affiliate offers an environment where you, as a member, can fully immerse and leverage this network.

You’re never alone; you have the collective wisdom of an entire community at your fingertips, ready to assist at any moment.

Plus, there’s always-on, rapid-response website support to handle any technical queries you may encounter.

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Wealthy Affiliate Works: Real Results From Real People

As I have mentioned a number of times, Wealthy Affiliate has helped me make real money online though its training and tools.

I have made money each month as well as a sale for $17,000.

But again, those promoting other programs will tell you the same thing!

So let’s get away from me and see what others are saying:

To start with, Wealthy Affiliate has a 4.9 out of 5 Star TrustPilot rating, which is a remarkable accomplishment in any industry, let alone the online business industry.

WA trust pilot image

And here are some of those reviews:

wealthy affiliate trust pilot

And this is what people are saying within Wealthy Affiliate as well:

home page - success at WA

So, Let’s Make a Decision!

Let’s be frank, you have read this far so why not go all in, click on the button below to get started on the way to your very online business.

And once you are in and have had a play around with the hub, look for the little envelope on the top right and there will be a message from me. It is of course automated so respond to let me know you are there and we can start this journey together.

(oh, and the profile is mine so you can find me that way as well)

wealthy affiliate envelope

See you there

Paul

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