If you’ve been looking for a profitable affiliate marketing niche, then you should consider hotel booking.
Why? Well, that’s simple; Because there are millions of travellers worldwide who require a place to stay each night.
For instance, Booking.com recorded a 73.87% year-on-year revenue growth after COVID in 2022, indicating a huge opportunity for travel affiliates.
This is where you come into play. You could earn commissions as a hotel affiliate by referring your audience to these platforms and assisting them in finding their ideal hotel.
But which hotel affiliate programs are worth the hassle?
And how much money can you make from them? Based on data and real-life examples, we’ll go over the best hotel affiliate programs in 2023 in this post. You’ll find out what they have to offer, how much they pay, and how to join.
In addition, we’ll go over some pointers on how to be a successful hotel affiliate marketer. Let’s dive right in…
Overview
The “Online Hotel Booking” trend continues to grow year after year, with annual revenue in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
According to statista.com, at least 148 million hotel reservations are made online each year. The challenge for travel bloggers and influencers is to match their audience with the ideal accommodation. Joining the right hotel affiliate programs will make marketing hotels on your website or other means of communication easier. It could be as simple as adding a swipe-up link to a story showing the hotel room where you spent the night on your Instagram account. You could include a web widget on your website that displays the best hotels near a specific location.
On a higher level, you could use these online accommodation providers’ APIs to dynamically display their content on your website and automatically scale your affiliate marketing strategy to multiple web pages.
How do Hotel Affiliate Programs Work?
Hotel affiliate programs pay affiliates commissions for promoting the hotel’s products and services. After a customer’s stay is completed, hotels distribute commissions to affiliates.
Here are some key elements that distinguish hotel affiliate programs:
- You suggest a product or service from a third-party hotel company.
- Your audience visits the hotel business by clicking on text links embedded in your content.
- A member of the audience books a product or a hotel room.
- You are compensated based on the terms of the affiliate partnership – typically 30 – 60 days after the customer has checked out. After the initial purchase, no.
Unfortunately, hotels have a high cancellation rate; this is unavoidable given the free cancellation policies frequently offered by hotel businesses.
However, hotel reservations are expensive, especially for extended stays of at least a week, with rates averaging at least $100 per night. Even if you experience cancellations, advertising hotels on your content pages remain among the most profitable affiliate marketing campaigns.
Best Hotel Affiliate Programs in 2023
Booking.Com
Booking.com claims to have the largest selection of accommodations in the world, with nearly 30 million bookable rooms in over 2.5 million properties. Its website, optimized for conversions, generates over 1.5 million room reservations daily, so it’s easy to see why 12,500+ affiliates have joined its hotel affiliate program.
C.J. Affiliate manages Booking.com’s affiliate program, which is similar to TripAdvisor’s. Be aware that C.J. Affiliate offers 11 different Booking.com hotel affiliate programs, each aimed at a different market. You must sign up for the program that caters to your home market, though you will still earn a commission regardless of where the property booking occurs.
Booking.com charges a flat 4% commission on hotel reservations. Unfortunately, it only has a session-based tracking cookie, which means that if your referrals leave Booking.com and then return later to make a reservation, you will forfeit the commission. Any commissions earned will be paid out 60 days after your purchase.
The commission rate is 4%.
EPC: $112.50
Cookie lifespan: Session-based
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is one of the world’s largest travel websites, with over 795 million reviews and 1.4 million lodging options.
Because C.J. Affiliate powers this affiliate program, you must sign up with the network before applying.
TripAdvisor pays commissions on two types of actions, so it isn’t just a hotel affiliate program. On “experiences” such as tours and trips, affiliates can earn a standard 4% commission.
Things get more interesting when it comes to “commerce clicks.” TripAdvisor earns a referral fee when a visitor “clicks out” to a third-party booking site. Even if the visitor does not complete a booking, you will receive 40% of the referral fee.
TripAdvisor provides various cookie durations for these two actions. You’ll have a 14-day window for hotel reservations and a 30-day window for experiences.
You can choose from three payment methods, as with all affiliate programs on C.J. Affiliate: check direct deposit or Payoneer (for international payments). If you meet the $50 monthly minimum, you’ll be paid around the 20th of each month for sales generated in the previous month.
4% commission on experiences, 40% referral fee on hotel bookings
EPC: $12.94
Cookie duration: 30 days for experiences and 14 days for hotel reservations.
Agoda
Agoda is another of the world’s largest accommodation booking platforms, with over two million vacation rentals and hotels worldwide. It is a truly international website that serves customers in 38 different languages.
Once again, Agoda has a hotel affiliate program based on C.J. Affiliate. If you want to participate, the first step is to register with the affiliate network. You can also register via a form on Agoda’s affiliate partner site, which offers different commission rates.
With a 30-day cookie window, C.J. Affiliate offers a 6% commission rate on bookings once customers check out their accommodation. According to C.J. Affiliate, the program has a three-month EPC of more than $110, so there’s money to be made here.
The Agoda website, on the other hand, promises a sliding commission scale based on the number of monthly bookings you deliver:
- Less than 50 reservations: 4%
- Bookings between 50 and 99: 4.5%
- 5% for bookings between 100 and 199.
- 6% for bookings between 200 and 999.
- More than 999 reservations: 7%
In other words, C.J. Affiliate is the best bet if you don’t anticipate driving hundreds of monthly bookings.
Regardless of your choice, you’ll gain access to various marketing tools, including an Agoda-branded search box that allows users to search for properties on your site.
4% - 7% commission rate
EPC: $110.42
Cookie lifetime: 30 days
Hotels.Com
Hotels.com has been in operation for a very long time. They began in 1991 as the Hotel Reservation Network but rebranded to Hotels.com when Expedia acquired them in 2001. That equates to approximately 15,200 Internet years in operation.
This brand has also become synonymous with the concept of booking hotel reservations online. Hotels.com was the first to do it…or there were hundreds of impersonators.
One significant benefit of promoting them is that their website is available in 35 languages, and they have 85 localized websites to serve their global audience. So, regardless of where someone lives or what language they speak, you can send them a Hotels.com affiliate link.
You get paid 1% if you sell one of their gift cards but 4% if you book a room.
Although most people who book hotels online already know what they want, the 7-day cookie could be more convenient. As a result, as long as you direct relevant traffic to their landing page(s), you should have no conversion issues.
This is also one of the best-performing hotel affiliate programs on Commission Junction, so affiliates are regularly paid large sums.
The commission rate is up to 4%.
EPC: $74.99
Cookie lifespan: 7 days
Travelocity
Travelocity is more than just another travel website. They regard life as “…one long journey.” Someone has been studying Marcus Aurelius. In any case, it’s a good P.R. pitch for a company that’s well-known in the travel industry, owing to its existence since 1996.
Travelocity, like many other price comparison sites, allows your visitors to book hotels, flights, cars, and even cruises. However, they make booking vacation accommodations easier because you can choose between adults-only resorts (no children allowed) and family-oriented hotels (children permitted). As a result, their offerings are diverse enough to appeal to the vast majority of people looking to book their ideal hotel.
Because they offer so many different products, Travelocity’s affiliate commission structure is perplexing. That is typical of a general travel affiliate program.
However, here is the commission structure for “selling” hotel rooms:
- Customers pay 3% when they check out.
- When customers pre-pay for their hotel room, they save 4%.
Affiliates are paid for everything from car rentals and flights to cruise bookings, so cross-sell as much as possible within your content.
The commission rate is up to 4%.
EPC: $94.68
Cookie lifespan: 45 days
Priceline
Priceline is another well-known price comparison website catering to the travel industry. They’ve been doing this for over 20 years.
Today, Priceline is one of the leading hotel price comparison sites, offering discounts on well-known brands such as Hyatt, Hilton, Intercontinental, Kimpton, and Westin. They provide access to 700,000 hotels in 170 countries for vacationers and travellers. Because Priceline is a well-known brand, you won’t have to try to sell your audience by clicking through to their offers.
Finding the best angle in your content to pre-sell people on specific hotel offers is all there is to it. For example, “The 10 Best Adult-Only Hotels in Central Paris.” Just an idea.
Affiliates are paid a 3% to 5% commission depending on the offer they promote. And this is where you must exercise caution because certain types of bookings, such as those made with coupons, pay 0% commission.
3% - 5% commission rate
EPC: $78.13
Cookie lifetime: 30 days
Red Roof Inns
Red Roof Inns are ideal for people who want to visit a major city but want to be within reach of everything. Nothing is worse than discovering you’ll have to travel several miles to reach the highlights of your host city.
As a result, Red Roof Inns provides low-cost, centrally located lodging throughout North America, including Orlando, Houston, Fargo, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, New York, and many other cities. However, for international or business travellers, they also have hotels in Japan and Brazil.
You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for a pet-friendly hotel chain. Your pet can stay with you for free. This one aspect of their business immediately appeals to pet owners, something that 90% of hotels do not bother with.
The Red Roof Collection (their various hotels) places a premium on value, comfort, and affordability for their guests.
Although a 3% commission is on the low end of the scale, there is enough affiliate traffic on Commission Junction to demonstrate that their offers convert well.
The commission rate is 3%.
EPC: $67.75
Cookie lifetime: 30 days
Avani Hotels & Resorts
Avani Hotels & Resorts may answer your prayers if you’re looking for modern, chic, and stylish lodging in some of the most exotic locations on the planet. They have a mix of city and resort hotels in Portugal, Lesotho, Korea, Zambia, and Seychelles. That’s just the tip of the iceberg; they have dozens of hotels worldwide.
While many hotels prioritize style over function, Avani Hotels works hard to find a happy medium that works for everyone. As a result, you’ll never feel as if you’re staying in a drab and boring hotel. However, you will never feel like you are trying to sleep in the middle of a stag or hen party.
Their reviews all have one thing in common: the staff goes above and beyond to make guests feel welcome and valued.
Affiliates earn a 3% commission on all completed stays. Aside from that, you’ll earn about $53 for every 100 qualified visitors you send their way.
The commission rate is 3%.
EPC: $53.63
Cookie lifetime: 30 days
Hostelworld
The homepage of Hostelworld features a search engine that asks where you want to go. The website’s background depicts a woman swimming to the surface with snorkel gear in a blue ocean.
Hostelworld is the leading search engine for comparing prices on low-cost accommodations worldwide. The website includes eerily accurate reviews to assist backpackers and travellers in finding the best available hostel in over 179 countries.
If your target audience is young, in college, and on a tight budget, you can earn commissions by utilizing built-in widgets, deep links, and banners. The affiliate program pays a 40% commission on deposits made during the booking process. It’s not a huge commission, but it caters to a specific audience that could drive sales.
Trip.com
Trip.com is one of the few one-stop shops on our list that allows you to book flights, trains, hotels, excursions, and car rentals in one place. The advertised bundles, where wrapped packages are available for easy planning and high-average sales, maybe their best feature.
Although services are available worldwide, the affiliate program is based in China and heavily markets in Asia. Commission rates vary by service, with hotels receiving the highest commission rate of 5%.
SuperTravel
Formerly SnapTravel, the redesigned brand, employs a novel marketing strategy that helps to increase bookings. SuperTravel sends exclusive hotel deals directly to consumers’ phones via SMS, Messenger, and WhatsApp. The site employs more traditional search methods but is highly successful when delivered directly to the consumer.
OYO
OYO was founded in 2012 as a low-cost hotel search engine in India, but it has quickly grown into a reputable brand that serves global destinations and high-end hotels. Commission rates vary by location, ranging from 4.5% in Japan to 6% in the United States and 9% in Brazil.
Expedia
Expedia is a well-known travel brand that provides flights, hotels, car rentals, and other services. Again, similar to Trip.com, their best-selling services may be package deals, with affiliate partners earning a 3.4% commission on the total booking price.
However, be cautious when working with Expedia. You must sign up with the appropriate partner based on your location to begin earning. For the U.K., you can find their affiliate program on Travelpayouts, while for other locations, you must visit their website directly. Despite partnering with country-specific programs, you will still earn commissions on bookings worldwide.
Related Articles
- BLACK BUSINESS WOMAN: Discover the Most Successful Women & Their Business Strategies
- 7+ BEST APPS FOR HOTEL DEALS in 2023 (Updated)
- Sales Manager: Job Description, Salary, & Importance
- Best Travel Apps: The Best Apps for Flights, Hotels & What You Should Know
- TRAVEL AFFILIATE PROGRAMS: 15+ Best Picks in 2023
References
