Affiliate partners for Tourism and Dining
Travel and dining affiliate partnerships can be useful for a variety of media companies: Local tourism destinations; national and international travel media, media that cater to outdoor sports enthusiasts.
Here’s a quick round-up of possible partners, with links to the affiliate program and information on their pay-out model:
Restaurants
The easiest affiliate program for restaurants is OpenTable, which pays revenues when users book a table. However, reservations are, of course, required.
For lower-priced restaurants and gift certificates, there are a couple of other models Restaurant.com affiliate program provides a revenue share on gift certificates to lower-priced restaurants. Revenues are typically low, with an EPC of $4.42 and a cookie duration of 45 days (Authority Hacker).
Giftcard Mall affiliate program has a similar revenue share on common restaurant gift cards, with a commission of up to 5%, an EPC of $343.31 across all products, and a Cookie duration of 30 days.
Finally, don’t forget about affiliate programs for DoorDash.
Travel & tourism
According to NichePusuits (NP), Expedia cookies last 7 days, and the average EPC (money per click) is $83. Not too shabby!
This is a huge, well-marketed travel site that pays a 4% fee on all booking and claims an EPC of $160 “or more in seven days.” It does not use cookies, so the readers need to book on the spot.
The most international travel site, Hotels.com supports 200 countries, with languages translated. It now uses CommissionJunction (CJ) to process affiliate sales, thus a 7 day cookie and 4% payout.
Gadventures.com
This is a great unique category, adventure travel, with a 6% pay-out that claims an average order of $2600.
This review site is heavily used by travelers and has an interesting affiliate model. They pay 50% of their own pay-per-click commission from hotel partners, but nothing on anything else booked.
Looking for a “Budget” option for a travel article? Hostelworld pays up to 40% of the initial deposit. It boasts 36,000 properties and 60 currencies. LonelyPlanet and TripAdvisor are both affiliate partners.
Thinking outside the box
Travel does not mean just airlines and hotels. World Nomads is one of several affiliate programs that provide travel insurance. This one pays 10% commission with cc, a 60-day cookie powered by CJ.
A site that helps travelers find a pet-sitting service. A great “extra” for travel articles or any content that is pet or gig-economy-oriented. They pay 40% of membership fees when users sign up as pet-sitters or households.
Join us for a master class on affiliate revenues with Adam Riemer, who has worked with media companies like Hearst and Buzzfeed, Wednesday, October 15, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at this link. Free to members, limited to first 15 member-publishers.
