Whether you’re a travel blogger, content creator, or simply enjoy helping others find smarter ways to travel, the world of affiliate programs can offer you lucrative forms of passive income. The usual juggernauts in the travel-booking sphere have included ExpediaTaap, Viator, Expedia, and Stay22. 

These travel affiliate programs all offer a variety of options for those looking to monetize their online platforms. Recent travel affiliate programs such as DealMiner are opting for different approaches to the traditional model through an impressive 100% acceptance rate, year-round cookie duration, and flexible attribution link integration for content creators.

If you don’t know what any of that means or feel overwhelmed by all the options, read along to see how this is all broken down. 

Comparison at a Glance 

Basics: Cookie Duration

The bread and butter to an affiliate program is its attribution system (how you make your sales!) and how you can seamlessly incorporate your affiliate links on your associated pages. A cookie—a small file stored on a user's device to track their activity—is created whenever your link is used, so that when that user clicks through a booking that sale will be credited to you. The range of cookie durations across each of the affiliate links varies from hours to months.

Why is the cookie duration important? 

Cookie duration is important because it basically determines the length of time in which you can be credited to a commission. If someone clicks on your affiliate link that expires after three days and decides to book something on the fourth day, you’ll be out of luck on those cash flows. 

The longer the cookie timeframe, the better it is for you in the long run. Some lifetime or longterm cookies do exist, but they are uncommon since it is more profitable for a company to get free advertising from the affiliate and avoid paying them a reward for a sale.

A blog from Commission Academy described it best: 

“Many companies pay out affiliate commissions higher than their actual product profit margins because they generate additional revenue from referrals making purchases outside of the cookie duration window.” 

So, there you have it – longer cookie duration = better profit opportunity for you. 

So which travel affiliate takes the cake in this category? 

On the lower end is Stay22 which, according to an official article published, has a 24 hour cookie. It’s not immediately obvious what the exact time frame is, but the signs don’t seem to indicate a long-standing cookie duration and potentially delayed payout depending on your bookings rate. 

Following Stay22 is the Expedia TAAP program, which indicates a 7 day cookie duration. Coming in after Expedia TAAP is the Tripadvisor Affiliate program sitting at a 14 day limit. After the Tripadvisor Affiliate program is the Viator Affiliate program topping off at the 30 day mark.

Finally, at a hulking 365 days, is the Deal Miner Affiliate program. No other program has a year-round cookie duration, meaning that if someone clicks on your affiliate link anytime within that year, you’d be responsible for the commission sale. 

This is a huge advantage for those wanting to maximize their potential earnings. After all, how often are people buying their vacation packages or bookings within a week–much less 24 hours? It’s likely more doable for those accustomed to a travel lifestyle, but for the average Joe, some vacation planning occurs over months or after much deliberation.  

A year-long timeframe certainly includes both the quicker planners and those who may be taking a bit longer to figure out their travel plans. 

Travel Affiliate Options 

ExpediaTAAP

The Expedia TAAP (Travel Agent Affiliate Program) is primarily designed for certified travel agents. Through the Expedia TAAP agent login, you’d have access to Expedia Group’s inventory of flights, hotels, and vacation packages. 

ExpediaTAAP gives you the option to join as an agent in an existing agency or register your travel agency. Once you’re in the Expedia TAAP login, the program also boasts rates for 20% less the regular price for booking hotel packages. 

Pros:

• Access to global travel inventory
• Trusted Expedia brand recognition
• Tools designed for professional agents

Cons:

• Requires travel agent verification
• Commission rates vary and are relatively low (typically 3-11%)
• Cookie duration is short—usually 7 to 30 days
• Not optimized for influencers or bloggers

Overall, if you’re not a travel agent or looking to pursue a career in travel booking, this affiliate program will likely not apply to you. 

An article detailing the affiliate program also lists feedback from travel agents who use it, citing that the earnings are not as impressive as booking it themselves (and perhaps needing to add a “planning fee” on top of the booking transaction). 

Viator Affiliate Program

Viator Affiliate, owned by Tripadvisor, is all about tours and experiences. This program lets you promote activities like city tours, museum passes, and day trips. The Viator Affiliate program seems largely popular with travel bloggers and offers 8% commission on every completed booking. 

Some perks of the Viator Affiliate program include access to their inventory of over 300,000 experiences in 2,500 destinations and various categories—which can include everything from walking tours to cooking classes. 

Pros:

• Up to 8% commission per booking
• Great for content focused on local experiences
• Integrates well with travel blog itineraries

Cons:

• Only covers experiences—no hotels, flights, or rentals
• 30-day cookie is decent, but bookings often happen last minute
• Payouts are only made after the tour is completed

This is great if you’re a travel influencer or looking to monetize your content based on itineraries from past trips. 

The Viator Partner program involves a login with Tripadvisor, which is something to keep in mind if you have never registered with Tripadvisor before. 

In comparison to the Expedia TAAP program, Viator for travel agents might provide more options for booking individual experiences over hotel bookings (it could be easier to book multiple experiences in one trip… but not many hotels within one trip). 

Whether you decide to become a quasi-Viator travel agent or use your travel content for passive income—this could be a solid option. 

The only downside to this program is that payouts are only made after the tour is completed and experiences may not be as lucrative as hotels, flights, or rentals. 

If you decide to receive monthly payouts via bank transfer, you’d need to make a minimum threshold of $50—although if you opt for PayPal, you can do weekly payouts without a minimum requirement.

Tripadvisor Affiliate Program

Viator Affiliate’s cousin, the Tripadvisor Affiliate program, works through partners like CJ Affiliate and focuses on clicks rather than bookings. It’s more about volume than high-ticket commissions. The program does have a commission system, allowing you to have 50% commission when a hotel is booked through your affiliate link. 

Pros:

• Massive brand trust and global reach
• You get paid per click—not just per booking

Cons:

• Click payouts are low ($0.15 to $0.75 per click)
• Cookie window is short (14 days)
• Doesn’t reward deeper user engagement or conversions

The program only pays commissions on hotels. It allows affiliate links on social media posts, but highly recommends using their blog links over social media links, explaining that they’ve discovered blog links have more earning potential than social media. 

They also accept applications with no minimum amount of followers or traffic, although they do specify that they only align with affiliates who seem compatible with the Tripadvisor brand (what this entails is unknown). 

The Tripadvisor affiliate program also requires you to log in and operate through CJ (formerly Commission Junction) and search for Tripadvisor in their network platform to get started. 

If you’re a blog writer, this might seem like a viable opportunity—but given that many content creators rely or have a social media presence as well, this might not be the best option for an affiliate partnership in the midst of other programs.

Stay22 Affiliate Program

Stay22 is an affiliate tool that lets you embed hotel and Airbnb maps for events, blogs, and travel pages. It’s more of a tech layer than a traditional affiliate platform. A blog post detailing her experience described it as “an affiliate solution that places a code (script) on your website.” 

They highlight their AI tools as a seamless way to monetize your links. 

Pros:

• Interactive map widget boosts user engagement
• Comparable commission rates to other affiliate programs (30%) 
• Supports Booking.com, Expedia, and more

Cons:

• Cookie duration ranges from 7 to 30 days, but varies on provider 
• Best suited for event-based content or travel conferences
• Steep payout minimums ($100-500) 
• Commission rate is based on share of commission from provider (varies) 
• Pop-ups may be a nuisance for some readers

The neat thing about Stay22’s AI model is how they use it to personalize each visitor’s experience. For example, the code will navigate users to a booking software used most commonly in their location, increasing the likelihood that they’ll book their accommodations. 

The program includes three features: Let Me Allez (the AI script that personalizes the booking recommendations for visitors), interactive maps for events, and customizable affiliate links/QR codes. 

Reviews are mostly positive for Stay22, but some users have complained about limited data (knowing if a booking came directly or from the AI feature) and less customization on the pop-up that prompts users to book. 

There’s a few caveats with this service—one of their blogs explains that the Stay22 cookie duration depends on the booking platform that the user is directed to by the AI script. This means that it’ll vary if the prospective buyer is redirected to Booking.com or Expedia. 

So, judging from the previous affiliate programs observed, the cookie duration is anywhere from 24 hours to 30 days. It’s not guaranteed that you’re getting the longest cookie duration needed for maximum opportunity for commissions.

Deal Miner Affiliate Program

As we’ve been going down the list, we’ve begun to reach the more innovative travel affiliate programs that challenge standards set by bigger travel companies. The Deal Miner Affiliate program is tailor-made for creators who want flexibility, high commissions, and an easy way to drive conversions. 

As previously mentioned, Deal Miner offers a 365-day cookie window, leaving all other travel affiliate platforms in the dust. With a cookie duration nearly twelve times longer than the average, Deal Miner allows you to earn commission on every booking for the next 12 months. 

Pros: 

• 40% revenue share 
• Closed-circle pricing and travel club rates for more savings 
• Multiple bookings from single users allow for multiple commissions from a single download
• Cross-platform range from sites like Booking.com, Expedia, Agoda, Vio.com and more 
• 100% acceptance rate, no matter your platform size or background 

Whereas some travel affiliate programs like Tripadvisor or Viator offer some competitive pricing, the commission rate averaging in the single digits puts tremendous pressure to advertise and push their branding and links as much as possible. 

In comparison, this up-and-coming affiliate program combines the best of both worlds: a high commission rate and an insanely long cookie duration. 

The Deal Miner Affiliate program is also most accessible for everyone. You don’t need to worry about how your brand “aligns” to a corporation like Tripadvisor (without much parameters on how to ensure you qualify) or whether you have enough traffic to qualify. 

You’re also not compromising on access to premiere booking inventory from platforms like Expedia.com, Tripadvisor, Vio.com and more. 

The Deal Miner Affiliate program is an exciting, competitive, and novel travel affiliate program for content creators, influencers, and bloggers. With high commissions, total flexibility, and a cookie window that puts every other program to shame, it's the clear choice for anyone serious about monetizing travel content.

In Conclusion 

While Expedia TAAP, Viator, Tripadvisor, and Stay22 all have their niches and advantages, they’re hampered by either low cookie duration time periods or low commission rates. They also all vary on acceptance rates based on how you qualify for their programs. 

If you're just looking to dabble in affiliate marketing or if you’re a certified travel agent, other programs might work fine. But if you're a content creator, influencer, or blogger who wants real, scalable income from travel content, it’ll be worth a chance to try out an affiliate platform that gives you the biggest cut and maintains competition of booking inventory and rates.