Travel affiliate programs help bloggers and entrepreneurs make tens of thousands of dollars each month. All they have to do is promote some travel packages and they get a handsome commission for their referral efforts.
In this article, I am going to share with you some of the most sought-after travel affiliate programs that’ll help you in generating affiliate income in the travel niche.
What do you need to get started with travel affiliate programs?
In most cases, you need a WordPress blog that’s fast and optimized to load in under 3 seconds. If your current travel blog isn’t fast enough, you can use CloudInnovare to optimize it.
Since it’s a cloud-based platform, you don’t have to worry about putting a load on your server or WordPress installation.
Thus, your website becomes at least 3X faster on the fly.
Once you set up a website, the next thing that you need is content.
Assuming that you already have a few articles published, check to see if they are SEO-friendly.
Turning an ordinary article into an SEO-optimized piece of content will help you in driving the greatest number of visitors from Google years down the line.
Are there other methods of making money in the travel niche?
Yes, there are many other monetization methods. But, the most recommended one is; offering consultation services to interested parties.
If you are worried about managing all those hectic Excel sheets manually to deal with scheduling tasks, I strongly recommend switching to Trinitio or Calendly.
Both of these scheduling applications offer top-notch features. But I use Trinitio as it offers a few more features at the same price.
Furthermore, you can also make money with display ads and AdSense.
Display ad networks will only approve your application if you receive a few thousand visitors to your blog each month.
Do you need to be a traveler to apply for these affiliate programs?
No, you don’t need to be a traveler.
But, if you are passionate about traveling and if you travel yourself, you might be able to share some personal experiences with your followers.
Adding a personal touch to great travel stories will help you in bonding with your audience on a different level.
Eventually, it will lead to more conversion and revenue.
Is there any payment threshold?
Yes, most affiliate programs will have some sort of payment threshold.
Most companies listed here require you to generate at least $25 in affiliate commission to enable withdrawal.
One more common limitation is that you may only be able to withdraw once every month.
I think that’s fine as it will help you in keeping track of the transaction.
How do I withdraw my affiliate earnings?
You can easily withdraw your affiliate earnings to:
- PayPal
- Bank account
Most of these affiliate programs offer PayPal withdrawal because the said affiliate company may not be able to deposit money to your bank account.
You will have to get in touch with customer support to see if they offer transfer via Payoneer and other platforms such as Wise Transfer etc.
What’s the best affiliate marketing strategy that you should follow in this niche?
Here’s the general affiliate marketing approach that almost always works in this niche:
- Build a website
- Publish quality content
- Drive traffic
- Promote your favorite travel packages
Travel blogging works well with video content.
So, if you have a YouTube channel, start posting there and once your channel grows, you can start promoting these products.
With a YouTube channel, you don’t have to worry about the initial few users.
Text-based content takes a long time to rank and get some recognition online.
So, treat this as a long-term business that takes a few hours of work daily to generate revenue.
Some affiliate marketing programs also allow you to use PPC ads to drive traffic.
Please, read the terms and conditions to see if your chosen affiliate program allows PPC promotion strategies.
If you want to increase your revenue later down the road, you can also use inbound marketing and bring interested parties to your website, push them to sign up for email newsletters, and eventually promote your travel package.
Travel Affiliate Programs: Skyscanner Affiliate Program
Skyscanner affiliate program offers many great ways to promote their products on your website.
In simple words, you can embed the widget on your website.
Whenever a user visits your website, they can check flight details using the widget and when they click on the place or click on the “Search” button, the widget will take them to the Skyscanner homepage.
Don’t worry, this process will be tracked with the help of a tracking code in the URL.
So, when the customer places the order, you will get the commission.
Pretty sweet, eh?
Sign Up for Skyscanner Affiliate Program
Airbnb’s Referral Program
If you have ever traveled across the US, Canada, or Europe, you must have heard of Airbnb.
They are the largest network on homestays and hotels.
You can easily book a room or an entire homestay with just a few button clicks via their website.
Unfortunately, at this time they are not accepting any new associates as they are ramping up new host recruitment.
But I am sure that they will be relaunching their program within a few months.
To stay in the loop, sign up for their newsletters.
Sign Up for Airbnb Referral Program
Travel Affiliate Programs: ShareASale
Not just in the travel industry, ShareASale is an all-rounder affiliate network.
You can find fitness products, digital courses, and many other types of product manufacturers in this network.
So, you can sign up for as many affiliate products as you’d like.
The only problem is that you will have to manually apply for each affiliate program.
It requires research and some testing to get a list of the most reliable and easy to promote products on such networks.
That said, if you are looking for an affiliate network that’ll let you make the most out of affiliate marketing, ShareASale is the one you are looking for.
A better approach would be to start with the travel niche and then branch out to other niches such as technology, gardening, and more.
Amazon Associates
Want something even better than ShareASale?
Enter Amazon Associates!
This behemoth of an affiliate network is probably the best affiliate network out there.
From fitness products to travel and backpacking products, Amazon Associates has almost all the products that you can think of.
Such versatility makes Amazon Associates a favorite choice for many 6-figure affiliate marketers.
The signup process is relatively straightforward.
You don’t need a website or any other digital property but having a YouTube channel with some following will help in making a few bucks each month easily.
The caveat here is that you will have to make at least 1 sale in six months of signing up or else they will disable your account.
Don’t worry, you will be able to sign up using a different email address without any problems.
Although Amazon doesn’t offer flight and hotel booking and management, you can still use Amazon affiliates account to promote various products such as:
- Bags
- International charging sockets
- Water bottles
- First aid kids
- Bikes
- Generators
With such a large catalog of products, you have a lot of options.
Travel Affiliate Programs: Hotels Combined
Hotels Combined (Now Kayak) is one of the worlds’ leading hotels and travel aggregators.
It has services available in many different countries.
If you are from any of these countries, you will be able to make a lot of money in affiliate revenue, and most visitors to travel blogs usually like it when they get some inside news and details about the property.
That said, you can sign up even if you are not from any of these countries.
The signup process is straightforward, you need an email address and a PayPal account.
Once the signup and application approval are completed, you can promote travel packages, insert affiliate links in your content and start earning commission for your referral.
Booking.com
I am sure you must have heard or used Booking.com for your online booking. It’s considered the world’s largest hotel aggregator.
People are so familiar with Booking.com that you will not have any difficulty converting prospects into customers.
The Booking.com affiliate program is also one of the most favorite travel affiliate programs out there.
Signing up for this affiliate program is easy.
You have to fill a small form and after a few configurations, you can start promoting various hotel deals, travel packages, etc., right away.
Click on the button below to get started with the Booking.com affiliate program.
Travel Affiliate Programs: Agoda
Similar to Booking.com, Agoda is also one of the most reliable travel affiliate programs.
It is used by millions of people globally.
Agoda offers a 5% commission on all sales made by the affiliates.
This means that if you make sales worth $1000, you will be making $50.
That may seem like a tiny number but believe me, if you have thousands of people rushing to read your content, you will be able to make more than 4-figure with just this single affiliate program.
The only caveat here is that you’ll need to make at least $200 to cash the commission.
If a sale generates less than $200, your balance will be carried forward and once the total balance reaches $200, you will be able to withdraw the amount to your bank account.
This is not something new.
You have to deal with a minimum payment threshold with almost all the affiliate programs that pay well.
Travel Affiliate Programs: Lonely Planet
A tad bit different from all the other travel affiliate programs listed in this article, Lonely Planet focuses on publishing content.
Their products include magazines, travel guides, eBooks, and other educational materials.
Furthermore, they also have a feature that lets you book flights, hotels, and travel packages.
They have a 30-days cookies policy.
This means that once a user visits this website using your tracking URL, within the next 30 days if they sign up or place an order, you will still get the commission.
That’s pretty sweet.
Expedia.com
Expedia has over 500000 hotels and offers a wide range of products which makes them the most versatile hotel aggregator out there.
From vacation packages to hotel booking and flight booking, Expedia covers a lot of ground.
Such versatile nature makes it an attractive option for travel affiliates.
Their affiliate commissions range from 5% to over 10%.
If you want to learn more about commissions and compensations, click the link below.
Sign Up for Expedia Affiliate Program
Cruise Direct
A reputed travel affiliate program, Cruise Direct is somewhat strict when it comes to approving new applications but the silver lining here is the low payment threshold.
As soon you make $25, you will be able to withdraw money to your account.
They release payments once every month.
If you face any problem, you can get in touch with their dedicated customer support for affiliates.
To increase your chances of getting approved, build a website or a blog and write a few articles before applying for this affiliate program.
Conclusion: Best Travel Affiliate Programs
In this article, I shared with you the 10 best travel affiliate programs out there.
If you are running a blog, or a travel website, you can sign up with any of these travel affiliate programs and start making money without spending any money or time dealing with the hotel staff and the customers directly.
If you already have a blog and are receiving regular traffic from Google and other search engines, you should register for an affiliate account and promote some products to see how they are working for them.
All of these affiliate marketing programs are reliable and have been around for more than 5 years.
Some programs have been around for more than 10 years. I reviewed various historical data to put together this list.
What do you think about these affiliate programs?
Share your thoughts in the comment section below.