Everyone needs a vacation to get away from the everyday hustle and bustle and life’s constant stresses. Vacations are needed to lower stress levels, and are proven to have long-term health benefits.
Vacation affiliate programs are just the ticket for travel bloggers to create exposés covering various types of vacations, locations, little-known hideaways and travel tips for people to make the most of their paid time off work, and/or for bosses to make the most of their downtime.
The types of vacations people take differ by preference and their reason for taking a vacation.
Some people will want something different and choose a type of adventure trip, others may want to experience different cultures, and there’s plenty of activity vacations ranging from ski vacations to walking trips.
Employers recognize the importance of providing staff with paid vacation days because it is proven that when people return from a vacation, they are less stressed, more focused and productive.
What’s more is that you can take better advantage of vacation affiliate programs by targeting your marketing to countries with the highest-paid vacation days by employers.
The top 5 countries with the highest number of vacation days are:
- Greece: 37 days
- France: 36 days
- Japan: 35 days
- Australia: 30 days
- Germany: 29 days
By factoring the number of paid leave days workers get, you’re able to judge more effectively the length of vacations people are more likely to take. The longer the stays, the higher the cost, so the more you make in affiliate commissions.
Vacationers in Greece, France and Japan are more likely to take 2-to-3-week vacations, whereas US workers only get a minimum 25-days and north of the border in Canada, paid leave is reduced to just 19-days per year.
By those metrics, you could expect that if you’re promoting travel affiliate programs for Canada to a Canadian audience that you’d see shorter bookings for staycations rather than vacations abroad.
Vacation Website Ideas
Vacation affiliate programs are always popular with travel bloggers, but they can also help monetize a variety of niche websites from family blogs, lifestyle magazines, and photography sites featuring photos of international landmarks that are popular with vacationers.
The beauty of the tourism industry is that you don’t need to be a travel blogger per se to earn from vacation affiliate programs.
- Health websites can partner with yoga retreats
- Fitness websites can partner with adventure travel companies
- Student blogs can focus on budget vacations and promote last minute flights, and hotel deals
- Lifestyle blogs for seniors could focus on global bucket list destinations
- Family blogs can monetize their writing by promoting kid-friendly resorts as well as vacation planning tips and the tools to make the trip a little less hectic!
Keep in mind you don’t have to stick to just promoting vacation spots or travel packages. There’s always going to be a lot more peripheral gearn you could promote such as
- handy gadgets to pack
- luggage
- clothing like beachwear or camping gear
- anything vacationers need to pack for the types of vacations you’re promoting
With the above in mind, here are…
12 Vacation Affiliate Programs
- Southwest Vacations
- Pacific Holidays
- Medi Travels
- Take Walks
- Natulle
- Monkeys and Mountains
- Raffles
- IHG
- Hilton
- Atlantis, Paradise Island
- TEP Wireless
- Expedited Passports and Visas
1. Southwest Vacations
Southwest Vacations have customizable vacation packages for every U.S. city that Southwest Airlines fly to and from. They aren’t part of Southwest Airlines though. The site is run by the Apple Leisure Group (ALG. Corp.).
The affiliate program is managed by Impact Radius with payments made monthly and there is an affiliate support team available to assist and various marketing tools are provided too.
There is potential for higher earnings than most pre-designed vacation package sites as customers can book return flights, baggage handling, ground transport including car hire, as well as tickets for any activities they want to include during their vacation.
The average order value is $1,300 with commissions starting at 2% then increasing based on performance and the cookies last for 30-days.
Sign up to the Southwest Vacations affiliate program
2. Pacific Holidays
Pacific Holidays is a U.S based group tour company offering pre-designed luxury vacation packages for Asia, Latin America, and the South Pacific, although they do cater to worldwide travel including Europe.
The packages here are suitable for people taking once-in-a-lifetime vacations or luxury vacationers.
Customers here are able to take advantage of group value vacation packages, with the option to customize their travel itinerary should there be any destinations not included that they’d like to visit.
The affiliate program is managed by Affiliate Window (AWIN), has a dedicated affiliate manager, pays 5% commission on all packages booked and the cookies are set for 30-day tracking.
Sign up to the Pacific Holidays affiliate program here.
3. Medi Travels
For people with healthcare needs and insufficient health insurance in the U.S. some of the medical procedures can be done in other countries for 50% to 70% less than the cost of U.S. healthcare.
Medical tourism is generally considered to cover private cosmetic work, however, with Medi Travels, they go beyond cosmetic treatments such as dental works and tummy tucks, to offering a full suite of procedures from hip replacements, knee surgeries, to cardiac surgery.
For people in need of healthcare that lack the insurance, Medi Travels could save on the price of healthcare and fit in a few days vacation time in the country people choose to have their procedures done.
Each of the hospitals used around the world are accredited by Joint Commission International, which works to improve health standards in the international community.
The affiliate program is privately run and pays a flat $100 fee as commission for each procedure booked and fulfilled. The only unusual requirement is you have to notify the company where you’ve placed your link to ensure it is compliant.
Sign up to the Medi Travels affiliate program here.
4. Take Walks
Take Walks started as Walks of Italy and become the go-to walking tour guide operator for the 13-cities they covered around Italy.
Since then, the company has expanded to now include European and USA walking tours with a team of 600 guides operating at any time globally.
The tours are ideal for people who want to explore the countries they visit, and would make ideal add-ons to bookings people make elsewhere as flights and accommodation aren’t covered. Just the walking tours with local guides, each lasting anywhere from a couple of hours to full-day walking tours lasting 7.5 hours.
The affiliate program is managed by Tapfiliate, pays 15% commission and uses 30-day cookies.
Sign up to the Walks affiliate program here.
5. Natulle
Natulle is a Spanish ecotourism marketplace run by a team that’s based in Barcelona. Starting out, the company focused on building a marketplace for ecotourism brands to promote their package vacations around Spain.
They’ve since expanded to cover various locations throughout Europe, with some destinations farther afield. Currently, they have 500+ partners (all involved in sustainable tourism) providing 1,500+ experiences and counting.
Spanish cities and its nature reserves are at the core of what’s available.
On the trips, people can enjoy wildlife spotting, birdwatching or just enjoy the time in tranquil locations such as woodlands, or even explore rivers in darkened caves. All in conservation areas, and with a local guide.
As a marketplace, Nattule get paid 18% from their partners when a booking is made. As a Nattule affiliate, you earn 25% of their 18% fee. It works out at around 4.5% commission.
The affiliate program is privately run and there’s currently no publicly available information on cookie tracking or when payments are made.
If you have a travel blog, or an audience interested in nature and ecotourism, it’s worth reaching out to the Nattule team to request more information.
Apply to join the Nattule affiliate program here.
6. Monkeys and Mountains
Monkeys and Mountains started as an adventure travel blog that grew into a personalized adventure tour operator, providing meticulously planned adventure tours personally experienced by the founder, Laurel Robbins.
For those who love being in nature but hate the idea of roughing it on vacation, this is where to get the best of both worlds. Nature vacations including wildlife tours, cycling and hiking vacations with some luxury included.
Laurel has hiked the West Highland Way in Scotland, completed the Path of Gods in Italy, and cycled the Danube from Germany to Vienna. The difference with booking with Monkeys and Mountains is the personalized vacation experience.
Conversion rates are higher than average as customers get assistance with vacation planning, tailored advice and the indisputable advantage of having an adventure vacation planned by someone who has tackled the trip previously with a bunch of advice to make the trip go smoothly.
As an affiliate of Monkeys and Mountains, you earn 8% commission (highest in adventure vacations) and a 90-day cookie tracking. The average value of orders is €1900, earning €152 commission per booking.
The affiliate program is privately run, and payments are made 30-days after vacations are completed. Not 30-days from the time of booking so this is really for long-term affiliates happy to wait a while for payments.
Additionally, payments are made in the currency used to book the vacation, which can be USD or Euro. European affiliates are paid by bank transfer and affiliates outside of Europe are paid via Currency Fair.
Affiliate reports are sent every 3-months showing pending transactions. The ideal affiliates are adventure travel bloggers that have content published covering available tours that receive at least 500 page views monthly.
Join the Monkeys and Mountains affiliate program here.
7. Raffles
Raffles have luxury hotels located on five continents, each exclusive and focused on providing relaxing vacations in an oasis of calm.
The hotels are popular among honeymooners as well as business executives who travel internationally regularly as they have an exclusive loyalty rewards program that gives more back the more their hotels are used.
For guests who frequently attend business conferences and events in China, India, Europe and Dubai, the loyalty points can be exchanged for various upgrades including room upgrades, free drinks, VIP experiences and even a free night’s accommodation.
For people booking with Raffles for the first time, VIP treatment is provided to encourage repeat bookings. Upon arrival, there’s a complimentary bottle of champagne and fresh flowers in the room.
Breakfast can be in-room dining or buffet and they’ll also provide hotel credits to be used either for food or beverages or for the hotel spa facilities.
The affiliate program is managed by Commission Junction, pays 5% commissions and uses 30-day link tracking and you can promote three luxury vacation brands – Raffles, Swissôtel and Fairmont hotels.
Sign up the Raffles affiliate program here.
8. IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group)
The InterContinental Hotels Group has over 5,600 hotels split across 15 brands to cater to every type of traveler in all corners of the world.
IHG brands include:
- All Holiday Inn brands (Express, Resort and Club Vacations)
- Avid Hotels
- Even Hotels
- Hotel Indigo
- Crowne Plaza hotels
- VOCO
- Kimpton
- Regent Hotels
- Staybridge
- Candlewood Suites
Some brands are suited to business travelers requiring shorter stays of one or two nights, while others are for casual vacationers such as the Crowne Plaza, with more luxury 5-star accommodation being available through Regent Hotels.
The Candlewood Suites brand is for longer-term stays or self-catering vacations as the rooms are equipped with spacious kitchens and modern amenities.
The affiliate program is managed by Commission Junction, has 14-day cookie-tracking, paying 3% commissions on all room bookings at any of their hotel rooms or suites.
Apply to join the IHG affiliate program here.
9. Hilton
Similar to IHG, Hilton has thousands of rooms and operate hotels and suites in 113 countries and represent 16 brands, all synonymous with the Hilton experience.
Hilton caters to short-stays and have suites for extended vacations and they even have a new back to basics brand – Tru by Hilton – which is more suited to budget travelers who need to work on the go.
The Hilton affiliate program pays a 4% to 6% commission (depending on the hotels booked), provides 30-day cookie-tracking and use a few affiliate networks to manage their affiliate program.
Linkshare manages the affiliate program for the Americas, and Tradedoubler for European affiliates, with the exception of the UK that’s currently managed by Affiliate Window (AWIN).
Sign up to the affiliate network that’s right for you at hiltonaffiliates.com.
10. Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas
The Paradise Islands is the largest vacation resort in the Bahamas, popular for celebratory vacations including honeymoons, weddings and other special occasions requiring exuberant venues.
The resort features 8 hotels with rooms suited to families and couples and there are activities on the resort to suit all age groups.
Recently, the resort has partnered with Pieces of 8, Atlantis Tours, a private boat charter company to provide boat tours to off-resort pristine beaches. With plenty to see and do in and around the Paradise Islands, guests will not be disappointed.
The affiliate program is managed by Commission Junction, affiliate links have a 7-day cookie and commissions are 4% on all resort stays, so day trips are excluded.
There is affiliate support and regular promotions are run helping affiliates boost conversions.
Sign up to the Atlantis, Paradise Island affiliate program here. (login to CJ.com first)
11. TEP Wireless
The Teppy (as frequent travelers call this) is a mobile hotspot device that automatically connects to Wi-Fi hotspots in over 100 countries.
For those taking extended vacations on foreign soil, or backpacking through several countries, the Teppy is an invaluable piece of tech that can actually save money by connecting to local Wi-Fi hotspots and saves the hassle of having to swap out SIM cards each time you cross a border to connect to another local Wi-Fi service.
TEP devices are available to buy or to rent. For those who travel frequently, including business users, it will make more sense to buy a TEP device. For infrequent international travelers, renting will be the more affordable option.
One TEP device can connect up to 5 devices at the same time and the battery lasts the full day with Wi-Fi on, so this is suitable for small group trips or families traveling abroad.
TEP Wireless is a UK technology company but they consider themselves a telecom service provider because of the heavy reliance travelers have (especially solo travelers) on internet coverage.
To ensure any problems are resolved fast, they’ve even developed an app (TEP+) that people can use to make VoIP calls while traveling and also to connect to customer service should they experience any problems.
The affiliate program is privately run and there’s also a referral program managed by GetAmbassador.com that pays a flat fee of $20 per rental or purchase made through your referral links.
Join the TEP Wireless affiliate program here.
12. Expedited Passports and Visas (US)
Not to be confused with PassportsandVisas.com, Expedited Passports, and Visas can put applications on the fast track with a processing time of under 9 days in most cases, although there are sometimes cases where they can deliver a faster turnaround service.
The company is a private organization and not affiliated with the government, but they do have a daily allotment of slots for in-person drop-offs at regional passport offices that allow for faster processing times that aren’t available to the general public as they need to go through an authorized courier.
For anyone in the U.S. who finds themselves needing fast passport issues resolved, such as finding only a couple of blank pages left on a passport shortly before traveling, the service can be a vacation saver.
Same if you find yourself needing a Visa for an unexpected trip, they may be able to help.
The affiliate program here pays 15% commission and they offer a responsive support team, and assistance with any creatives you need to help with your marketing. Affiliate payments are 14-days from the month-end from the sales occurred.
Sign up to the Expedited Passports and Visa affiliate program here.
