Travelpayouts Review: Affiliate Marketing for Travel Bloggers
Do you want to make money from your travel blog?
Do you dream about generating passive income from your travel niche site so that you can continue sharing your adventures around the world?
In this Travelpayouts review and guide, we will dive deep into the best affiliate marketing network for content creators in the travel industry.
But why am I writing about travel blogging? Well, years ago I was a travel blogger too. And, at the time, I wish I had known about all the monetization opportunities available to the travel niche.
Besides, I think affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money from your travel blog. If you understand how it works and apply the right strategies, it will benefit all parties involved.
This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you make a purchase. I only recommend resources that I use and love! Read my full disclosure.
What is Travelpayouts?
Travelpayouts is an affiliate marketing network founded by Ivan Baidin in 2011.
Since then, it has been connecting well-known travel brands with over 300,000 affiliate marketers, bloggers, and social media influencers.
When you join Travelpayouts, you can start promoting your favorite brands and help your blog readers find cheap flights and the best accommodation, book tours, rent a car, and so much more!
If this sounds like something you’d like to do, I have good news. Because you’ve landed on this article, I am offering you 25 dollars to kick-start your affiliate success with Travelpayouts!
Click here to sign up and enter the promo code BSTHRIVES at the bottom of the registration screen. You’ll get a $25 bonus on top of your first payout! This is valid for new applicants only.
But before we go any further, let’s take a step back…
How does affiliate marketing even work?
Affiliate marketing is a great way to start making money from your blog quickly.
The concept is not difficult to understand, and there are no costs involved.
Affiliate marketing is when you promote third-party products or services online using special tracking links. When your readers purchase or take the desired action after clicking your unique affiliate link, you get a kickback from the company you have promoted.
- It is great for retailers (companies or merchants) who are looking to increase their brand awareness and generate sales without spending too much money on ads.
- It is an additional source of income for you because you get paid a commission for every new customer you send their way. This comes without too much effort on your part because you will promote brands that complement your content well!
- And, lastly, it is a no-brainer for the end user because there is no additional cost for them when buying from you. They will often thank you for pointing them in the right direction and helping them find exactly what they were looking for.
It’s a win-win-win situation!
How does Travelpayouts work, and how do you become an affiliate for Travelpayouts?
To start promoting brands and earning passive income from affiliate marketing as a travel blogger, the first thing you need to do is join Travelpayouts.
It couldn’t be easier to get started. Visit their website and click the large blue button that says, “Join Us”.
Here’s what you need to do:
1. Sign up to be a Travelpayouts affiliate
Travelpayouts is completely free to join, and it only takes a few minutes to set up your new account. There’s no waiting for approval or complicated questionnaires.
2. Earn your first $25 with Travelpayouts (today!)
Enter the promo code BSTHRIVES when you create a new affiliate account with Travelpayouts to earn $25 on top of your first payout.
So there you go, free money to get you rolling as a travel affiliate!
3. Get access to over 100 brands
The first thing you’ll need to do is create a project. This will allow you to join programs in just a few clicks.
Remember to activate your account and set up your payout method, too. The app’s top bar displays notifications in blue.
4. Join the brands you love
Next, from the Travelpayouts app, search for brands by clicking “Programs” and then “All” in the left-hand menu bar. You can filter by the type of company you are looking for or scroll down to review all the options.
Click on the “Details” button to learn more about each program, and then click “Connect to program” to join.
Some programs on Travelpayouts require pre-approval. If that is the case for the companies you’re trying to partner with, you’ll find that information in their profile too.
5. Start promoting the companies you’ve joined
Besides excellent businesses to partner with, Travelpayouts offers an entire suite of tools to help you make your content stand out.
Aside from the regular links and banners that most affiliate platforms provide, they have some great additions.
Do you want to embed a widget that allows your readers to search for flights right from your site? Done!
Do you want to build your own travel app? Easy!
The possibilities are endless, which is why Travelpayouts is by far the best affiliate marketing option for travel bloggers.
You can find extra widgets and banners for each program you join by navigating to “Programs” and then clicking over the “Connected” tab.
6. Make money from travel blogging
You’re all set to start earning passive income from your travel blog!
Make sure to publish regular, high-quality, and relevant content that your followers love. As soon as you start getting some page views, your conversion rates will increase over time.
That’s because more people will click your links, which in turn increases your chances of converting sales.
Why join Travelpayouts?
Travelpayouts is the best partnership platform for travel bloggers. They have been helping content creators monetize their content for well over a decade.
The stats show that they have paid out $67M+ to partners and $17M+ in 2023 alone. Over 500K travel bloggers have already joined the platform and connected with more than 100 brands in the travel industry.
Best affiliate programs for travel bloggers
Travepayouts offers a wide range of affiliate programs.
They have partnered with some of the best brands on the market:
- Booking.com
- Trip.com
- Trivago
- Tripadvisor
- Expedia
- Hostelworld
- and many, many more!
Regardless of what you are looking to promote next, I am sure you will find plenty of suitable opportunities.
Some of Travelpayouts exclusive advertisers include InDrive, Hotellook, and WayAway.
And there are many options for instant connection too!
This means you don’t need to wait for a green light before monetizing your travel blog. Some partners that don’t require extra approval are the Hilton affiliate program, Kiwi.com, GetTransfer, and LocalRent.com.
Travelpayouts training programs
Besides all the great companies you can partner with and the tools Travelpayouts has made available to travel influencers and bloggers, there’s the Academy that is available to all Travelpayouts partners too.
This Travelpayouts review wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention that!
The Travelpayouts Academy offers free courses that anyone can take. They have prepared a collection of training videos to help you boost your income.
As of writing this post, here are the courses you can take:
- Travelpayouts 101 (20 lessons)
- Partnering with Travelpayouts (10 lessons)
- Boost Travel Affiliate Revenue Using SEO with Sharon Gourlay (9 lessons)
- Monetize Your Content With WayAway (6 lessons)
- How to Make Money as a Content Creator (18 lessons)
And yes, all of it is completely free once you’ve created your account with the Travelpayouts affiliate network.
Can I join Travelpayouts if I am not a travel blogger?
Yes, you can still join Travelpayouts even if travel isn’t your niche.
Everyone loves traveling, and there are plenty of opportunities to promote travel-related products and brands, even if your main topic isn’t specifically related to travel.
For example, if you are a lifestyle blogger, you could create several pieces of content that mention different activities and tours or even promote local events and museums in your area.
If you have a parenting blog, there are plenty of opportunities to create travel-related content, too. You could write an article about activities to do with kids or destinations to travel to as a family, for example.
Why is joining Travelpayouts better than joining direct affiliate programs?
There are many benefits to taking advantage of affiliate networks rather than applying for each brand’s direct affiliate program.
While both options are great, and some companies aren’t even on a network, being part of a travel affiliate network makes things a lot easier.
Here’s what I like most about affiliate marketing networks:
1. Login to a single dashboard
When you join an affiliate network, you do not need to create a new account for every program. Instead, you log in to a single platform. From the Travelpayouts dashboard, you can search for dozens of potential partners to promote.
2. Tracking your affiliate income becomes a lot easier
Because Travelpayouts works as an intermediary between you and the companies, they handle the finances too.
This means you can see all of your commissions and detailed statistics directly from the Travelpayouts platform.
Again, this saves you time and energy!
3. You get paid faster
If you aren’t new to affiliate marketing, you probably know that most companies require you to reach a minimum payout threshold before any commissions are paid.
When you join several smaller programs individually, you could wait months before being allowed to request a payout.
But if your favorite brands are all part of a centralized network, your account’s balance is based on the sales you have made for each company you join.
Travelpayouts has a pretty low payment threshold compared to other programs. If you want to be paid via PayPal, for example, you need to accumulate $50 before you can request your first payout from the platform. Direct bank transfers do require a lot more.
However, since you are likely to promote several affiliate partners at any given time, it is much easier to reach that amount.
4. Support is usually better
Because affiliate networks are built by affiliate marketing professionals and their teams, know so much about what it takes to be successful at affiliate marketing, support is usually better than when you join individual programs.
You can contact their affiliate management team at any time if you have any issues or need advice on your affiliate marketing efforts.
The Travelpayouts Chrome Extension
One brilliant feature Travelpayouts offers to all of its affiliates too is its Chrome extension. Once you’ve joined the network, make sure to download it here.
It helps you create partner links quickly without having to log in to the dashboard every time. It’s essentially a deep link generator that will save you lots of time.
The Travelpayouts WordPress plugin
Travelpayouts has even built its very own plugin for WordPress. There’s no doubt that this is a quality network that truly understands the blogging world.
As a quick note, you need a Travelpayouts account before you can use this plugin. Please follow the steps I detailed earlier before you move on.
To get the plugin on your self-hosted blog, head to your WordPress dashboard, hover over Plugins, and then click “Add new”.
Travelpayouts: All Travel Brands in One Place
Their plugin is called “Travelpayouts: All Travel Brands in One Place”. You’ll see that it has over 7K active installations and excellent reviews.
Once you activate and configure the plugin, you can start adding tables, forms, and widgets to your posts and pages.
This will improve your readers’ user experience and help you convert more affiliate commissions.
Looking for more than just cool widgets?
I am blown away by everything Travelpayouts offers! I haven’t seen many affiliate networks with such a robust advertising approach.
If you want to launch a fully customized flight and hotel search website under your own domain name, you can do that too! Check out their white-label solution called Travelpayouts White-Label Web to learn more.
Other frequently asked questions
Is Travelpayouts legit?
Absolutely, Travelpayouts is legit. The company has been in business since 2011 and has helped thousands of travel bloggers (as well as bloggers in various other niches) monetize their content online.
What other affiliate networks should I join?
Travelpayouts is the best option for travel bloggers specifically. But some great Travelpayouts alternatives that work well for all blogging niches are:
Do bloggers make money with travel affiliate marketing?
Yes. In fact, many travel bloggers make a full-time income from travel affiliate marketing programs.
Everyone travels in some form, and that is exactly why affiliate marketing for travel bloggers can be highly profitable.
Pin this for later 🙂
How do you make money with Travelpayouts?
Travelpayouts is a platform that connects online entrepreneurs with travel brands. Their app offers everything travel-related, from tour operators to flight booking websites.
Once you have applied to join your favorite brands, you will receive a unique Travelpayouts affiliate link for each one. You can share this link within the content that you create, such as your blog, social media, newsletter campaigns, and more.
How affiliate marketing works is that when someone clicks your referral link and makes a purchase or completes any required action, you earn an affiliate commission.
How much do travel bloggers earn with Travelpayouts?
As in any other affiliate marketing niche, there’s no ceiling to how much you can earn from affiliate marketing.
At the end of the day, how much you make from blogging is usually directly related to how much you put into it in advance and how well you drive traffic to your blog posts.
The affiliate partner’s commission rate also plays a role. Each company offers different types of payments and different Travelpayouts commission rates. You can find detailed information about each program before applying.
As for Travelpayouts as a whole, last year they paid over $17 million to their affiliates. This comes to show, once again, that travel is one of the most profitable niches for bloggers, as pointed out in a recent study that Bandon Gaille conducted for RankIQ.
What companies can I partner with through the Travelpayouts affiliate program?
Travelpayouts is a large travel affiliate platform that now comprises over 100 top travel brands in different categories.
Some of the best travel affiliate programs they make available to you include:
- Agoda
- Booking.com
- Get Your Guide
- Rentalcars.com
- Tripadvisor
- CheapOair
- Aviasales
These are just a few of the high-paying programs that Travelpayouts offers.
If you want to see all the other options, head over to your Travelpayouts account where you can search by keyword, project type, category, and more.
Is Travelpayouts free to join?
Yes, anyone can start promoting Travelpayouts’ partners at no cost. All you have to do is register and create an account on this page.
In fact, if you use the promo code BSTHRIVES when you register, you’ll receive an extra $25 to your new account.
Can I join Travelpayouts if I am a new blogger?
Of course!
Becoming a Travelpayouts affiliate only takes a couple of minutes. There are no special requirements regarding the size of your audience, so you can join at any time, even if you have just started blogging.
There are many brands that you can join instantly without pre-approval as well. For those other brands that do have some additional requirements and manually approve each affiliate, it is worth going through their requirements in detail to see if you are ready to start a partnership.
What are the most profitable travel categories in the travel affiliate marketing niche?
According to Travelpayouts, the 5 top-performing travel categories based on affiliate earnings are:
- Accommodation
- Flights
- Car rentals
- Tours and activities
- Cruises
What is the “promo code” for Travelpayouts?
It’s basically free money, yay!!
Ok, in all seriousness, you can enter the code BSTHRIVES when you create a new affiliate account with Travelpayouts.
My promo code will instantly reward you with $25 (paid on top of your first commission).
See, I told you, it’s free money.
Over to you!
Now you know everything you need to get started as an affiliate marketer for Travelpayouts. If you are a travel blogger or produce travel content, click here to get started!
As you have learned from this detailed review, once you join the Travelpayouts platform, you can easily find and manage multiple programs in the travel niche.
Start your own travel blog
Are you a social media influencer without a blog? Well, if that’s the case, I highly recommend that you consider blogging. This will not only offer security and longevity to your business but also boost your income.
While I do see how social media can be an excellent way to grow an audience, I have to remind you that you don’t own your Instagram or TikTok accounts. Your followers are borrowed.
If those companies have a glitch, suspend your account, or shut down completely, your business is gone. And so is your affiliate revenue!
To ensure you own your content and continue to benefit from it for years, you can build a self-hosted website and leverage blogging and SEO, driving organic traffic from search engines.
Once your first readers start coming in, you can start an email list and connect with those people via email campaigns.
Blogging and email marketing are the best ways to make money online and the only two pieces of your online business you will own, no matter what happens!
Learn more about SEO
Travel is an extremely popular blogging niche, which means that the competition is fierce!
If you are looking to start a travel blog from scratch, I would suggest learning as much as you can about Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) to increase your chances of ranking on Google’s first page.
Nina is a fellow travel blogger and SEO expert who has created a huge program specifically for travel bloggers.
I’m aware this is a significant financial commitment… but if you are serious about starting a travel blogging business that can support your life on the road, this course will give you all the foundations you need and more!
You can find cheaper ways to learn the essential rules of SEO, of course. Here’s another online course I highly recommend.
However, the major benefit of being part of Nina’s community is that she is a travel blogger herself and designed the program with YOU in mind! That’s why the SEO Roadmap stands out.
Besides, she runs a very active community of students and followers who will be there to support you every step of the way, long after you’re done with the course.
Learn more about affiliate marketing
Are you new to affiliate marketing? Or perhaps you have been trying to make passive income for a while, but nothing seems to work?
In that case, I recommend that you learn more about affiliate marketing. There are several courses available online, and eBooks that you can read. You can even learn the basics on YouTube.
But if you want to get it right from the start, create strategic content, and make money from affiliate marketing the right way, these are the programs I recommend:
I have learned a ton from these two pro bloggers, even when I was already making some money from affiliate marketing.
These courses are great for beginners, but they go deep into more advanced concepts and techniques too.
So, have you joined Travelpayouts yet? What’s holding you back?
Click here to create your account right away. It only takes a minute or two!
Also, please let me know your thoughts about this Travelpayouts review in the comments. Did I leave any questions unanswered? Is there anything else you’d like to see covered?
