TripAdvisor Affiliate Program Review: Is It Worth It?

TripAdvisor is one of the top travel search engines for people all around the world, and they allow us to research hotels, book flights, find good restaurants, and more.

It’s also an excellent tool for travel sites to make an affiliate commission. There’s a decent commission, and you don’t need any prerequisites to sign up.

The TripAdvisor Affiliate Program is worth it if you have an established site in the travel niche. It offers an ever-growing commission rate that you can earn from linking customers to their website. One notable downside is that the travel industry is hard to earn an income is because it’s so saturated.

Throughout this article, you’ll also learn the following info about TripAdvisor’s affiliate program:

Pros and cons of signing up for TripAdvisor’s affiliate program
Whether or not you should invest time into their membership
How to sign up and start earning right away

What Are the Perks of the TripAdvisor Affiliate Membership?

TripAdvisor showed that they’re looking out for their customers and business partners with their unique affiliate program.

It has everything you need to fund your business while providing valuable information to your customers.

You won’t have to worry about selling faulty products or returning your orders with this membership.

Here are five perks of the TripAdvisor program:

The commission rate increases as you sell more deals. You’ll start out at 50% commission of what TripAdvisor makes from the sale. Once you convert more customers, that rate slowly increases until it hits 80%. Keep in mind that these rates are subject to change based on the current market and travel conditions.
Their cookies stick around for 14 days. Rather than requiring the customer to book right away, the cookies stay for up to two weeks. If someone clicks on your affiliate link and goes to TripAdvisor, they have 14 days to buy it for you to get a commission. Even if they decide that they want to go several days after the click, you’ll receive money.
3Hundrd points out that TripAdvisor has a plethora of offers for you to show your readers. You can sell commission-based deals to flights, restaurants, hotels, motels, and everything in between. Anyone who wants to travel and enjoy local attractions is a potential customer, so start linking!
You can link to almost any city in the world. According to TripAdvisor’s website, they have over 500,000 cities listed on their website. Anyone will be able to find a travel destination, go through your link, and make themselves the perfect itinerary. Learn more about how you can manage your posts to create itineraries for better commission sales.
Earn commission for every booking. Every time someone books anything from a hotel to a flight, you’ll earn money. The commission starts as low as 3%, but that’s not bad, considering you’ll have hundreds or thousands of customers going through the links. They have plenty of examples for you to check out to see how much you’ll earn.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to try the TripAdvisor affiliate program.

It’s easy to sign-up and there’s an excellent commission for every offer. On top of that, you’ll be able to link to hotels, restaurants, flights, and other attractions in almost any city across the globe.

Much like all other commission programs, TripAdvisor has a few downsides.

If you want to know about them, proceed to the next section.

Are There Any Downsides?

The TripAdvisor affiliate membership is much better than the vast majority of commission programs on the internet.

You’ve already seen everything it has to offer, so now it’s time to review a handful of cons that you might encounter with the membership.

Review these issues before you make your decision:

The travel industry is one of the most competitive markets on the internet. While it’s not TripAdvisor’s fault, growing a website in the travel industry is a long process. It’s known as one of the internet’s most saturated niches, so you’ll have your work cut out for you while trying to grow a new website.
A few other companies offer a better commission on the cost of the booking. You’ll learn more about competitors in a section later in this post. However, this downside isn’t too bad considering more people trust TripAdvisor links than almost any other travel website in the world.
It can be difficult to get approved unless you have an established website and/or brand. Much like many other affiliate programs, the company wants to know that they’re not wasting their time and money, allowing you to be a partner. If you’re not driving enough traffic, you won’t be getting them enough money.
You need thousands of customers to convert if you want to make a reliable income. Much like it was mentioned above, you’ll see very little income if you don’t have the traffic. Furthermore, you have to make sure that you’re creating enticing ads; otherwise, nobody’s going to click on them.
You won’t receive payments until 30 days after the booking. Since people often cancel their hotels, flights, and other amenities, you won’t get paid for your sales until one month after they go through. If TripAdvisor pays you and someone cancels, they’d end up losing money if they paid right away.

The problems with this program aren’t too bad, especially compared to other memberships.

You’ll learn more about how TripAdvisor stacks up to other company’s affiliate programs later on the page. To know if it’s right for you, read on.

Who Should Join Their Affiliate Program?

Are you interested in joining the TripAdvisor affiliate program? Then you’re in the right place.

You know the basic pros and cons, but you still might be on the fence about whether or not it’s the right choice for your website.

Let’s analyze a few scenarios to clear it up a bit.

Do You Have a Website With Decent Traffic?

If you have an established website with 10,000+ readers every month, then you’ll enjoy the TripAdvisor affiliate program.

It has countless perks, many of which you saw in the first section of the post.

Don’t expect to make a living with that many viewers, but anything more than that and you’ll see considerable income.

Are You Finding Success in the Travel Niche?

If you enjoy the niche and you know a lot about travel destinations, then you’ll enjoy partnering with TripAdvisor.

You shouldn’t get involved with a niche if you’re not having a good time or finding success.

Long-term commitments with affiliate programs are usually the best way to make an income from websites, but it’s not easy without success.

How Much Time Can You Invest in the Program?

If you’re not able to spend a few hours per week optimizing your website, then you’ll be out of luck.

TripAdvisor makes it easy for you to sign up and start placing ads, but it’s up to you to make sure that they’re always updated.

For example, you have to write about popular destinations rather than random ones that you prefer.

If you still feel that this program is for you, then you’ll be happy to know that it’s quite lucrative.

In the next part of the article, we’ll discuss how you can increase your income and convert more sales through TripAdvisor.

How Can You Increase Your Commission?

Are you looking for a way to maximize your profits?

You’re not alone. Fortunately, TripAdvisor makes it easy for their clients to increase their earnings with a unique monthly raise system.

You don’t have to do anything out of the ordinary, but you can expect a few bonuses coming your way if you follow our suggestions.

According to One More Cup of Coffee, you can increase your affiliate commission from 50% to 80%. If you follow the steps mentioned earlier in the post, you’ll be able to make more money per sale. The easiest way to do this is to convert more customers. When you make more sales, you increase your commission rate.
Learn when to use text ads and graphic ads. If you link your text as a hyperlink over the words of the destination, you’re more likely to convert. Make sure people know what they’re getting themselves into. For example, you could explain that a place has really good Thai food and hyperlink the location.
Only integrate affiliate links when it’s necessary or relevant. Some people prefer to link a location or event in every paragraph. You’ll see a few conversions, but people won’t know which one they should click. They’ll end up researching the place in another tab, which means you won’t get the commission since you didn’t provide enough details.
Avoid spamming links throughout your website. Similar to the previous suggestion, adding too many links looks tacky. You don’t want your website to look like a montage of blue text. People will feel overwhelmed and believe that you’re just another salesperson. Only write about locations and amenities that you’re knowledgeable of.
Create itinerary posts on your blog for more conversions. Making an itinerary post includes coming up with a popular destination, linking to flights to get there, then explaining what they can do and eat while they’re at the place. You can link under each subheading to let them make the decision.

It’s not hard to make more money with your TripAdvisor sales. If you follow these tips, you’ll have no problem making the income that you’re looking for. However, you might be wondering if you’re getting a good deal.

Does TripAdvisor’s Affiliate Program Compare to Others?

TripAdvisor is one of many affiliate programs. It’s far from unique in the sense that there are many others like it, but there’s no denying the far reach that the company has over the travel industry.

Nevertheless, it’s worth mentioning a few competitors to ensure that you’re getting the best deals out there.

Agoda Is a Competitor Because They’re Well-Known

While their deals aren’t as good as TripAdvisor, some people feel more comfortable clicking on Agoda.

Fortunately, TripAdvisor has propelled itself to the top of the charts, so it’s equally, if not more popular.

Nevertheless, having a couple of partnerships isn’t a bad idea, and neither is starting with one that so many people trust.

Booking is Similar to TripAdvisor

You’ve probably heard of Booking.com from their internet or TV ads.

They’re known for booking hotels, but not as known for other amenities.

For this reason, you should only affiliate with Booking if you’re talking about hotels, motels, B&B, and so on. They’re a top choice, so consider doubling-up on your memberships.

Priceline is Known, but Offers Lower Commission

Much like Booking, Priceline has a few TV ads that have made them popular.

They’re trusted by the masses, so it doesn’t hurt to try them alongside TripAdvisor.

Note that Priceline’s commission rates aren’t as good as TripAdvisor’s, so you might not get as good of results. Again, having a couple of different memberships will keep your customers clicking.

Agoda, Booking, and Priceline are all worth trying out, but they’re not quite as good as TripAdvisor.

That being said, the best way to know which program works for you is to try a few of them.

See which ones convert and make them your primary focus.

Looking For Alternative Affiliate Program? Check Out A List Of My Favorite Affiliate Programs

How to Sign Up For Their Affiliate Membership

Head over to TripAdvisor when you’re ready to sign up for their affiliate program.

Here’s how you can get approved in no time:

Choose to register through AWIN or Conversant. These two companies work with TripAdvisor and a variety of other affiliate programs to turn the commissions over. If you’re trying to work with TripAdvisor, then you’ll have to choose one of them. Note that they both work in the same manner.
Apply to join TripAdvisor’s affiliate program. If you get accepted by AWIN or Conversant, which you likely will since it’s not too difficult, you should start applying to TripAdvisor. They’ll ask for your name, social security, banking info, and website details to connect you to their database.
Once you get approved, test a few links on your website. It’s a bit challenging for some people to get accepted, but for those who do, you shouldn’t rush it right away. Test a couple of links to ensure that they don’t interfere with your website’s speed, then start adding them as often as you’d like.
Optimize your website with image and text links to keep it smooth. Never cram too many links or images. Your website needs to look entertaining and educational. When you use fewer links, your website’s speed won’t be impacted, and you’ll make more sales. More sales translate to a higher commission rate and trust between you and the company.

The step-by-step process to get approved for TripAdvisor’s affiliate program is fairly easy.

The only issue is that it takes a bit longer since they have so many profiles to look through.

Don’t be surprised if you get declined based on low customer traffic. They typically have high standards, so you might need more viewers before you get approved.

Using TripAdvisor’s Commission Program: The Basics

TripAdvisor makes it simple to go through the process, but this section will detail answers to the most common questions for would-be affiliate partners.

How Can You Find Help?

Learning the basics of TripAdvisor’s affiliate program is fairly self-explanatory.

Their user-friendly interface makes it a breeze, but you might have a few unanswered questions.

If you’re looking for quick responses, consider heading over to the TripAdvisor forums or reviewing the FAQ page. If those don’t work, you can submit a customer service ticket.

Can You Reapply if You’re Denied?

As you could probably assume by now, denials are far from rare. It’s not that TripAdvisor denies everyone, but you need to have enough traffic to get accepted.

If you get denied, there’s usually a reason attached to the response. Increase your traffic and abide by their requirements, then you can reapply and try to get accepted.

How Do You Make Links and Banners?

TripAdvisor makes it as easy as clicking ‘Get Links’ to find links and banners for their affiliate program.

When you find the results that you’re looking for, you can hyperlink the text on your website or insert the banners into the code of your blog.

Both of them are easy and a mixture is always much more effective than only choosing one.

Conclusion

TripAdvisor has an excellent affiliate program that’s more than worth it for those in the travel niche.

If you’re trying to make money from an established website in the industry, then you might not find a better affiliate program.

Here’s a quick rundown of the post:

TripAdvisor offers some of the best commissions in the travel industry.
Cookies last for up to 14 days for the customer to make a purchase.
You can increase the commission from 50% to 80% by making more sales.
Consider using a variety of text-based and banner ads.
Getting approved requires a reliable source of website traffic.