Content associated with the travel industry is doing well despite being a saturated market. Companies like Hotels.com create even better opportunities for content creators in the travel niche by offering the hotel.com affiliate program.
We’re going to be taking a close look at the program in this Hotels.com affiliate program review to help you decide if you should join or not.
Hotels.com
Hotels.com is one of the most well-known accommodation booking websites in the world. The site has millions of properties for rent. Whether you want to book a room at an internationally recognized hotel, a busy resort, or a cozy bed-and-breakfast, Hotels.com has got you covered.
You can even compare accommodation prices within the same area and find the best budget for your wallet.
Hotels.com is a part of Expedia Group, a famous travel agent company. The website’s services are available in over 85 different countries and 35+ languages. This program is one of many Expedia affiliate programs.
How to Sign up for Hotels.com Affiliate Program
Signing up to become part of the Hotels.com affiliate program is extremely easy. There are many host affiliate networks in which you can sign up for Hotels.com. A few are Viglink, Commission Junction, travel payouts, etc.
Allowed Source of Traffic for Promoting Hotels.com
Applying to Hotels.com as an affiliate program member doesn’t require many conditions. However, Hotels.com does have some preferences for sites, individuals, and companies hoping to join their program.
They also have preferred methods of advertising for their brand.
Hotels.com allows traffic from:
- YouTube
- Cashback offers
- Native advertising
- In-mobile apps
- Email advertising, and
- Promotional codes.
There are also some methods of traffic that Hotels.com does not allow.
- Motivated traffic
- Pop-up
- Targeted ads on social networks
- Applications on social networks
- Groups and pages on social networks
- Messengers such as Viber, Telegram, etc.
- Brand contextual advertising
- Contextual advertising
- Iframe
- Adult Traffic
- Typosquatting
- Click-Under
- Doorways
- Type-in
- Toolbar
- Retargeting/Remarketing
- Pop-Under
Every form of traffic from social media is expressly forbidden. Violating these rules and gathering traffic from these sites can lead to your affiliate account getting deleted.
Commission Structure of the Hotels.com Affiliate Program
Hotels.com deals with all sorts of hotels, resorts, and accommodations from several countries all around the world.
In exchange for listing their accommodation on their website and giving them an audience of over 675 million people, it collects a certain percentage of the payments.
This percentage isn’t usually huge, and it varies from accommodation to accommodation. This is the main reason why there’s no fixed commission rate for the Hotels.com affiliate program.
However, you can earn up to 6.4% of the original accommodation price and 1% on gift cards. Hotels.com splits the proceeds from the accommodation fifty-fifty with its affiliate members.
This means that whatever commission Hotels.com gets as the middleman, 50% will be given to the affiliate member whose link was used.
If the user is registered in the Welcome Rewards program or has a coupon, your commission will drop because Hotels.com didn’t make much in the bargain.
Your payment is recorded once the booking is made, and you’ll be paid once the customer has successfully checked out. The money can be sent through your account or Payoneer.
Hotels.com will verify the checkout with its hotel partner, but if you have any problems, you can always call a support number.
If an audience member uses your link to enter the Hotels.com website but doesn’t buy anything at once, there’s still hope. Hotels.com has placed a tracking link (a cookie) on the user’s IP address.
This means that if they come back within thirty days to book a stay with accommodation on Hotels.com, your commission will still be viable.
Tools and Support
You get to make use of APIs to completely integrate Hotels.com’s promotion materials into your website’s theme. These APIs are entirely customizable and come in many different sizes.
Hotels.com also hosts lots of promotions, and sales to attract customers. Promoting these deals can help increase traffic to your site. If you have any questions, Hotels.com has a dedicated affiliate support team.
How to Promote Hotels.com
Promoting Hotels.com can be done overtly or covertly. You can promote the website directly by doing a review of it, or you can do it indirectly by making other travel-related content and deep linking an accommodation listed on Hotels.com as a solution.
If you have a mailing list, you can send information about Hotels.com’s latest deals and sales in your newsletter. There are always deals, sales, and coupons available on Hotels.com, so you can take advantage of that by using the promotional materials given to you.
If the Hotel.com affiliate program has created a banner for that sale, you can integrate it into your website to drive more traffic.
Rewards can also be used to promote Hotels.com. The general concept is that you refer people to Hotels.com, much like the Hotel.com affiliate program.
However, the difference is that you’re not getting paid in cash but kind. For every ten nights booked through you, you get a free hotel night.
The promise of a free vacation might make people more excited about sharing your link and creating publicity for Hotels.com. This will allow you to gather clients in drives—twice the results for half the effort.
Can You Earn $1000 a Month With the Hotels.com Affiliate Program?
Probably not at first. However, the more your traffic grows, the more likely you are to get a paying customer. According to TravelPayouts, the average accommodation bill on Hotels.com is $250. 6.4% of that is around $18.
To make $1000, you’ll need about 56 people. That’s not a lot.
If your page has helpful, educative content and gains a reputation as a trusted site, you’ll have no problems making money off of the Hotels.com affiliate program.
Hotel.com Affiliate Program Review –Pros and Cons
Pros
- Dedicated support team
- Good commission.
- Lots of promotional materials to choose from.
- Thirty days cookie duration.
- The com affiliate program has international and multilingual programs.
- Many deals, sales, and promotions.
- Access to voucher codes that can be promoted through your site.
- com’s affiliate program doesn’t target any specific region. Anyone can book an accommodation with it.
Cons
- The commission varies from accommodation to accommodation.
Alternatives
Just in case, you want to broaden your source of income and check out some more travel affiliate programs, here are a few that are on par with Hotels.com:
- TripAdvisor affiliate program.
- Trivago affiliate program.
- Agoda.com affiliate program.
- Amazon affiliate program (for travel goods like suitcases and carry-ons).
- Airbnb affiliate program.
In conclusion
The Hotel.com affiliate program works best for niche writers and content creators with lots of traffic. Only by building up your reputation and traffic can you make a substantial amount of money with this affiliate program.
