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.
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.
- Booking.com
- Hotels Combined
- agoda
- AirBnB
- WOTIF.com
- Marriott
- Sandals
- Beaches
- Hostelworld
- travelpayouts.com
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Users can then choose their option and book directly from the relevant original booking site.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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:
- Per visit booked
- 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
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.
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.
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.
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
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:
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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:
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
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.
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.
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
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:
- AirBnB
- Booking.com
- Carrentals.com
- Hotellook
- Jetradar
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.
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).
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
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.
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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.
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The Hub
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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”.
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Member Training
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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:
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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So, Let’s Make a Decision!
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(oh, and the profile is mine so you can find me that way as well)
See you there
Paul
