Some 187,000+ hotels are available throughout the world, giving us incredible accommodations wherever we land for the night. The global hotel industry surpassed $550 billion as of 2016 with no signs of slowing down. The massive travel industry and online promotions have created quite an opportunity for those offering hotel affiliate programs through their sites.
One of the best ways to make money with a travel site is through hotel offers and promotions.
It is a given weary traveler will turn to hotels and accommodations. Business and leisure travel is the top segments of this market. People flock to the Web to find hotel recommendations, pricing, and booking services. A well-positioned travel blog, using local expertise, can monetize by including offers found through hotel programs.
The Hotel Industry: What You Need to Know
Every spent a night at a hotel? Then already you know the demand. Bloggers across all niche markets have the opportunity to promote hotel affiliate programs. If your audience intends to visit a destination, then you have a way in with sharing hotel offers.
Who uses hotels?
- Business travelers
- Vacationers
- Day-trippers
- Adventurous parties
… really, anyone needing a place to post up for the night.
Hotel chains are bigger than you may think. Large chains like Hilton, Marriot, and IHG operate thousands of hotels across almost every country. There’s a theme, price point, set of amenities, and class for everyone. The hotel industry is quick to buy-out smaller companies to expand their portfolio; this has created a wonderful opportunity to promote hotel offers anywhere your site visitors may go.
The Hotel Market: By the Numbers
The ability to mix and match promotions make hotel affiliate programs such a delight. Talking about a sporting event? You’ve got an opportunity. Sharing travel itinerary? Another opportunity. There are endless ways to include hotel offers on your site if you have the least bit of travel included.
How
big is the hotel market?
- $550 billion – The global hotel industry forecast as of 2016
- $126.72USD – Average (daily) rate of a hotel stay in the U.S.
- 88% -- The number of people preferring to book hotels online
… it’s a home away from home. Look at how often social users add #holiday, #trip, #explore, and #tourist to get a glimpse of travels and hotel stays.
Why Promote Hotel Affiliate Programs
Besides the inherent
need for a place to stay, there are several added opportunities when promoting hotel programs:
- Seasonal promos
- Holiday travel
- Big events
- General travel
- Loyalty programs
- All-in-one packages
- Local partnerships
Sites like TripAdvisor do so well because they share unique experiences and stories. Content is the driving force when promoting hotel offers. Present a pleasant stay and wonderful time around the area and you’ll have no problem funneling readers/viewers to your recommended hotel promos.
The hotel industry is wildly competitive. In the past decade, we’ve seen many hotel chains add many quality of life additions to their offers. Hotels are also in the business of conferences, wedding, local events, charity fundraisers, and so much more.
Suppose this:
You run a business blog and have recently discussed a conference you’ll attend. You pull personal research and share the conference info along with a small guide for the area – this includes hotels where other attendees could stay. You could earn money by promoting the conference, each room that’s book through your hotel promotion, and maybe extra with city guides, packages, and dining experiences.
Now…
Imagine your niche had big groups going to these locations – like landing sales from a family going to a wedding – this could turn one visit into massive earnings because of the combined, total booking. A 4% average commission per hotel booking may not seem like a lot… but when people rent $300+ rooms a night, yeah, that adds up!
There are Big Bucks in Hotels and Accommodations
The challenge with promoting hotel offers: everyone is doing it.
You’re up against big brands like Expedia, Hilton, Priceline, Hotwire, Booking.com, and more. Most people will go directly to these sites when booking because of brand familiarity. Plus, they know they’re receiving comparison rates when using a hotel search engine.
However, that’s not to say it’s impossible to earn money with hotel affiliate programs.
What these big sites lack gives you a great opportunity. The major hotel booking sites provide basic details, but the selling point is more often the reviews. Consider how well you could promote a hotel program if you provided in-depth reviews
and bonuses like local guides and tourist hot spots.
What are some examples of bloggers promoting hotel offers?
- TripAdvisor started as a roundup of experiences and quickly added hotel promotions
- Lonely Planet is best known for their travel guides and makes good use of booking offers
- Frommer’s takes full advantage of pair their reviews and guides with deals & bookings
TripAdvisor is particularly interesting due to the fact they’re a
publicly traded company. They’re valued at nearly $6.2 billion. Yes, they’ve been going at it since 2000 but their placement has disrupted the entire industry – their reviews make or break hotels.
If they can do it… so can you (in some form or another). Pair it with airfare, vacation packages, local guides, and everything travel to complete the promotional ecosystem.
How to Promote the Highest Paying Hotel Offers and Promotions
Perhaps you’ve added a hotel program to your site but without much luck. Or, maybe you’re seeing some success but it’s not nearly as lucrative as you thought. Hotel affiliate programs, as mentioned, are part of the bigger travel ecosystem – they go together with the experience.
We recommend the following when promoting the highest paying hotel offers and promotions:
- Focus on the experience and luxury versus price
- Talk about things to do instead of amenities
Go now and do any generic Google search for [city] + [hotel]. You’re swamped with ads and SERPs to the major hotel players. How in the world do you stand out let alone getting people to go through your hotel offer link?
The trick is in the details.
First off, use the programs that matter before you niche down per geolocation and price points:
- Airbnb program – Stellar choice for price hunters and off-the-beaten-path types
- com program – Excellent all-around choice for hotel and accommodations
- Agoda program – Offers and promotions with scaling commissions and tons of tools
Adding the highest paying hotel offers and promotions are dead simple these days. You can use deep linking directly to a property. Or, include listings and comparison search right within the site.
What’ll monetize your blog with these hotel programs is how well you can tell a great story about the area and give people plenty to do once they’ve arrived.
How to Scale Your Hotel Promotions and Site
We don’t recommend trying to create a new Expedia, Airbnb, or Hotels.com. Instead, we recommend looking at how some of the top blogs in the niche promote hotel offers and put a unique spin on it.
This could include:
- Video tours of the rooms
- Local travel guides or a downloadable
- Partnerships and promotions
You could take the traditional route like “X Best Hotels in Y”
or find a unique angle like “How to Have the Best Time in Z” where you provide a
complete experience. Just so happens the hotel is only one part of the bigger picture. In a way… you’re
passively promoting the hotel promotions and offers.
If you’re like most people, you’re bound to travel a few times throughout the year. Add that personal account to your site and you’ll have ways to monetize the site with these offers and promos.
Don’t Overdo Your Stay, Start Promoting Today
The dream of becoming a digital nomad or simply adding passive income to your finances are two of the biggest reasons why so many travel and business bloggers love adding hotel affiliate programs. Does this sound like something you’d be willing to explore?
Start off by exploring the top-rated hotel programs here on this page. But, also take time to find the smaller, lesser-known offers. Each has unique experiences, locations, pricing, and amenities.
Great experience and a good personality really help sell the hotel promotions. Each time a visitor books -- is another bump in your bank account. Scale it, and you may earn enough when promoting these programs to take blogging (or travel) full-time. So, what are you waiting for? Start now.
