The affiliate industry is seeing the emergence of new programs available in continuous growth. We decided to compare the top five hotel affiliate programs in 2018, providing you with the pros and cons of each program to make it easy to choose the right one for your needs. In this list, you will find everything you need to know about the travel market.
For each program, you will have the following at your disposal:
- The requirements for joining the program
- The proposed committees
- The average earnings
- A program review
As always, if you have doubts or want to give your opinion, write to us in the comments, and we will be happy to help you.
The Top Five Hotel Affiliate Programs in 2018
Below you will find the best programs, but do not forget, you also have to be the best hotel affiliate in 2018 to get a high income. Even in the great network, you can earn zero if you have poor knowledge.
Travelpayouts
Travelpayouts is a cost per action (CPA) affiliate program, which means the advertiser pays when the user takes action, and you will receive a commission on the sale. The proposed program is based on the Hotellook.com brand, provides its affiliate with the widest range of tools currently available in the affiliations, and is just one of the reasons why it’s currently the best program available.
Requirements for Joining the Program
The program is open to everyone, from small amateur bloggers to sites with millions of visitors. Registration is free and is very fast because you do not have to wait for verification and approval. You can start working right away.
To register, you will need a valid email address and to create a personal password. Then you will receive a confirmation email, and you can access your account and start working with the program immediately.
Commission Review
Travelpayouts offers some of the highest commissions in the industry. You can earn up to 70% on a single hotel reservation. It also provides a 30-day cookie, so if your visitor doesn’t book today but buys within 30 days, you can still earn on this purchase.
The payment of commissions takes place between the 11th and the 20th of each month when the minimum threshold of $50 or €40 (among the lowest on the market) is reached.
Average Earnings — How Much Can I Earn?
Travelpayouts offers commissions of up to 70% of its fees. If your customer buys a $300 trip, Travelpayouts will receive its 7% fee ($26), and you will receive 70% of that ($18).
Tool Review
Travelpayouts allows users to monetize their sites with multiple possibilities:
- White Label. Completely customizable; you can create your own brand at no cost
- Map of Hotels. All the hotels available in a specific area, consultable and bookable
- Text Links. The fastest and often most profitable way to advertise
- Hotel Widgets. A specific sheet for a hotel, with the price, the average score, and a booking button
- WordPress Plugin. Customize any type of offer on your site to your liking in a few clicks
- Hotel Selection Widget. Choose hotels according to multiple factors and propose them to your users
- Landings. Attract the attention of your users and push them to perform an action—in this case, book a room
- API. If you’re an expert programmer, you can show off your creativity and access a lot of information
- Mobile Application Ready. Simply customize and publish
We recommend testing the various possibilities to find your target.
Booking.com
Booking.com is among the most famous booking sites for hotels, and for the user who books, Booking.com is a security. The affiliate program provides four types of earnings based on the number of bookings made.
Requirements for Joining the Program
The affiliate program is very popular, and Booking.com checks the requests before accepting them. Although it’s relatively easy to join, the program isn’t suitable for everyone, especially for those who are beginners. It isn’t easy to reach the minimum sales quota, which is 50 checkouts.
Commission Review
Once you have exceeded the threshold of 50 checkouts, Booking.com provides four types of commissions:
- 0–50 bookings: 25% of the total earned by Booking.com
- 51–150 bookings: 30% of the total earned by Booking.com
- 151–500 bookings: 35% of the total earned by Booking.com
- 501+ bookings: 40% of the total earned by Booking.com
This threshold could be a very big hurdle to overcome if you’re starting out, but Booking.com is definitely among the top five affiliate programs.
Average Earnings — How Much Can I Earn?
With Booking.com, you can earn from 25% to 40% depending on the number of bookings made. The calculation is made based on how much Booking.com earns with the commissions, not on the total paid by the user. From a reservation of $300, Booking receives 18% (54$) and will pay you 25% of that ($13.50).
The payment will be made at 60–90 days after the booking if you have exceeded the threshold of 50 bookings.
Tool Review
Booking.com provides six products to monetize your website:
- Search Box. A search form that reinjects our users to Booking.com—customizable in size and city to search
- Advanced Search Box. Similar to the first one but with the possibility of using photos of the destinations to attract more attention from users
- Find Offers. Provides a list of discounted hotels for a specific destination
- Banners. Insert in the sidebar or among our posts—available in various sizes and colors
- Deep-Link. Quickly create text links in posts and send the user back to Booking.com
- WordPress Plugin. Works with the five products listed above directly on the website.
Booking.com offers a few possibilities for customization but clearly has a strong and recognizable brand. We recommend it for those who already have a good number of site visitors or a community on a social network.
Hotels.com
Hotels.com is part of the Expedia group, and the proposed program is of a good level. Even if seems more complicated at the beginning, it can prove to be a good solution thanks to the support provided by Expedia.
Requirements for Joining the Program
Joining the program of Hotels.com is free. You must fill out an application form, but at the moment, there are no restrictions, so the application will be accepted, and you can start working after confirmation only.
Commission Review
The commissions proposed by Hotels.com are different depending on the country you’re in. Making a precise estimate is difficult, but it is around 4.92% on a single booking. This program also offers cookies for up to 30 days, thus giving you the opportunity to earn even from a subsequent reservation.
Conversely, the method of commission payment is complicated. In fact, payment by bank check or bank transfer will take a long time. If you own a Payoneer card in the American market, it’s easier to manage and receive the payments.
Average Earnings — How Much Can I Earn?
Hotels.com offers different percentages according to the country, but we can calculate an average of 4.92%. On a reservation of $300, Hotel.com’s earnings should be around 15%, but these figures are theoretical because the real commissions are not clear.
Tool Review
The program is based almost entirely on Rich API, a system created by EAN that is very efficient and of absolute value.
- Nine Types of APIs. Wide customizations of the material offered
- Two Template Solutions. A white label with a personal logo or with a joint brand, and your logo and that of Hotels.com will be shown
- Click & Earn. Allows you to earn money by publishing links on the various offers proposed
Hotels.com is a solid brand, but the difference on the commissions and the few methods of payment available, as well as the fact that you won’t work for Hotel.com but always through an intermediary, make it a program not equal to those seen so far.
Hotelscombined.com
The program is based on pay-per-lead; you will be paid regardless of whether the user books the hotel. Your job is to bring as many users as possible to Hotelscombined.com, and you will receive commissions based on the traffic you bring—up to $2 if the user makes a reservation.
Requirements for Joining the Program
The program is open to everyone and is available in over 40 languages. Registration is very fast and simple, without the need for any verification. Hotelscombined.com offers an excellent affiliate program that is customizable and valuable.
Commission Review
The commissions range from 50 cents to $2 depending on the traffic you bring in and whether or not your users book on the site. Earning may seem easy, but bringing in quality traffic isn’t easy. Hotelscombined.com controls incoming traffic and expects a certain number of bookings, which is not specified.
Average Earnings — How Much Can I Earn?
There is no calculation of percentages; your profit depends mainly on the traffic you produce. You have a limit of $100 that needs to be exceeded before you can withdraw your commission if you use PayPal or $500 if you have connected your bank account. Keep in mind that payments will always be in dollars, and that’s not always good.
Tool Review
The material made available by Hotelscombined.com is more limited and is based on the following:
- Deep-Link. Create text links from your site to Hotelscombined.com
- Customizable White Label. Also in co-branding
- Banner.
- Search Module. Customizable in colors and sizes
At first, it may seem easy to earn, but in the long run, the gains will be lower than with other systems. Also, Hotelscombined.com may also cancel your commission payment if the traffic you brought was not of value.
Agoda
Agoda.com has a huge database of over 925,000 hotels and individuals. Its program is well-done and offers numerous offers and monetization possibilities, both for smaller sites and sites with large volumes of traffic.
Requirements for Joining the Program
The program is open to all without any difference between small and large advertisers. The only prerequisite is to have a website or be a verified travel agent.
Commission Review
The system provides progressive commissions based on the number of bookings made, starting at 35% for up to 49 bookings and going up to 60% if you exceed 1,000 bookings. The payment of commissions is made when you reach $100 and is expected to be made exclusively by bank transfer at the cost of $10.
Average Earnings — How Much Can I Earn?
Agoda.com offers many opportunities to earn money given the multiple offers and the number of facilities offered. The expected gain on a reservation of $300 is 3% ($9) if you have made up to 49 reservations. To reach 7% ($21) of the total, you have to exceed 1,000 reservations.
Tool Review
Agoda offers little advertising material you can work with:
- Deep-Link. Create text links from your site to Agoda.com
- Banners. Different sizes and travel types
- Search Form. Customizable
Although not offering much material, Agoda.com is a brand known and appreciated by users, and the large number of facilities available is definitely an advantage. However, the lack of ability to customize the material and the limited payment system is a disadvantage.
Why Travelpayouts Is the Best Hotel Affiliate Program of 2018
We compared the top five hotel affiliate programs of 2018, comparing the opportunities made available by each, and you saw the merits and limitations of each program.
For this reason, Travelpayouts is the best affiliate program of 2018. It offers the most advantageous commissions among all the programs, but this isn’t the only reason to chose this program. We believe that success is also due to the material offered, and nobody makes the available material proposed to their affiliates like Travelpayouts, with a high level of customization.