What Is Agoda?
Agoda started in 2005. It is a major online travel agency that focuses on booking hotels and places to stay. Agoda is part of Booking Holdings, which also owns Booking.com and Priceline.
Agoda mostly focuses on the Asia-Pacific market, but it also covers the rest of the world. The website offers over 2.5 million properties in more than 200 countries, from cheap hostels to expensive resorts.
Travelers like Agoda because they often have flash sales, loyalty points, and an easy-to-use mobile app for booking.
Why this matters for affiliates: How many people know the Agoda brand changes by region. Agoda is very strong in Asia, but it must compete with Booking.com and Expedia in Western countries. Where your audience lives directly changes how likely they are to book.
How the Agoda Affiliate Program Works
Agoda manages its own affiliate program using its platform. You can join for free. Once you get approved, you can start promoting their hotels using special affiliate links, ads, and search tools.
When a person clicks your link and finishes a hotel booking, you earn a commission from that sale.
- Tracking Time: 24 hours (This is very difficult for travel)
- Commission Style: You only get paid for the first booking (no money from future bookings).
- Minimum Payout: $200 (This is a high amount to reach).
Agoda gives you tools to promote them, like hotel data feeds, search widgets, banners, and links that go deep into specific hotels or cities.
Best for: Travel writers, people writing city guides, hotel review sites, and travel deal sites—but only if you remember the harsh 24-hour time limit.
Now, let’s look at how much money you can actually make.
Commission Rates Explained
Agoda uses a commission structure that goes up based on how many bookings you bring in each month:
| Monthly Bookings | Commission Rate |
| 0–49 bookings | 4% |
| 50–299 bookings | 4.5% |
| 300+ bookings | 5% |
| Top performance | Up to 7% |
Here is what that looks like in real money:
At 4% commission:
- $150 average booking = $6 per sale
- $250 average booking = $10 per sale
- $400 average booking = $16 per sale
To reach the $200 minimum payout, you need:
- 34 bookings if the average is $150 ($6 commission each)
- 20 bookings if the average is $250 ($10 commission each)
- 13 bookings if the average is $400 ($16 commission each)
Does that seem easy? Now you must think about the 24-hour tracking time.
The 24-Hour Tracking Problem
This is the point where Agoda’s program fails for most travel affiliates.
People often take 7 to 21 days to research a trip before booking. They look at cities, compare hotels, read reviews, check dates with friends, and wait for payday before they buy.
Agoda only pays you if the person finishes the entire process within 24 hours of clicking your link.
What we often see: Travel affiliates who use Agoda report earning 60% to 80% less compared to programs that offer 30-day or 60-day tracking times. If people research today but book next week, you lose the credit. This seriously hurts your ability to earn money.
Let’s be honest: this short tracking time is designed to help Agoda, not its partners. They get the booking anyway, but you only get paid if the customer makes a quick choice.
Payment Rules and Minimums
Agoda calculates your commissions on the 1st of every month. They pay you by the 15th through:
- Bank transfer
- PayPal
- Wire transfer
The $200 minimum payout creates another issue. If you earn 4% commission and your average is $10 per booking, new affiliates have to wait 2 to 4 months before they see their first payment.
Key idea: If you do not earn $200 in one month, your balance carries over. But there is a real risk that Agoda could change its rules or close the program before you ever reach that payment level, especially since the travel industry can be unstable.
The Honest Pros and Cons
After checking how different travel affiliate programs perform, here is what is truly important about Agoda.
What Works in Your Favor
- Better rates for high volume. If you can bring in 50+ bookings every month, the increase to 4.5% helps your earnings. If you get 300+ bookings and reach 5%, you are making a lot of sales.
- Asia-Pacific hotels are excellent. Agoda’s choices in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea often beat other companies. If your audience travels to these places, Agoda will get more bookings.
- Ready-to-use marketing tools. You receive search widgets, hotel data feeds, banners that are already made, and deep links. For new partners, this makes it easier to start promoting.
- Dedicated support team. You get a manager who can share promotion calendars, featured places, and tips on how to improve your performance.
The Hard Truths Nobody Shares
Here is what makes earning money with Agoda very hard.
- 24-hour tracking destroys credit. This is the biggest problem. People do not decide on travel in 24 hours. You will send traffic, help them decide, and then watch someone else (or Agoda directly) get the booking money days later.
- $200 minimum payout slows down new partners. With 4% commission and $8 to $10 per booking, you need 20 to 25 successful sales before you see any money. For new partners without much traffic, this can take many months.
- No money from future bookings. Did you book someone a hotel today? Do they use Agoda for their next 10 trips? You earn nothing from those later bookings. This is different from software partners who earn money every month.
- Unstable industry. Lockdowns, slow economies, seasonal changes—travel is one of the most unstable types of affiliate work. Your income will change a lot.
What we see again and again: Travel affiliates use 4 to 6 booking companies to make up for the credit they lose from short tracking times. Those who only rely on Agoda have a hard time earning reliable income.
5 Steps to Join Agoda’s Affiliate Program
Want to join despite the difficulties? Here is what to do:
Step 1: Go to Agoda’s affiliate page. Go to Agoda.com and scroll to the bottom. Click “Partner with us” and choose “Affiliate Program.”
Step 2: Fill out the form. Give your website link, traffic numbers, how you plan to promote Agoda, and details about your audience. Agoda checks the quality carefully—basic applications often get turned down.
Step 3: Agree to their rules. Read the agreement completely, especially the rules about using their name or bidding on their brand name.
Step 4: Wait for approval (about 3 to 7 days). Agoda reviews sites to make sure they have real traffic, good content, and fit well with their company image.
Step 5: Get your login details. Once approved, find your tracking links, widgets, banners, and hotel feeds on their platform.
My tip: When you apply, be specific about your traffic and plan. Do not write, “I have a travel blog.” Write this instead: “I run a Southeast Asia guide with 15,000 visitors per month. 60% of them look for Thailand and Vietnam. I will make hotel comparison posts and add search tools to my city guides.”
How to Beat the 24-Hour Window
General travel advice will not work with such a short tracking time. Here is what actually succeeds:
- Only target people who book at the last minute. Create content for people booking within 24–48 hours: “Hotels Available Tonight in Miami” or “Last-Minute Deals for This Weekend.” These searchers match Agoda’s payment window.
- Focus on Agoda’s best areas: Asia-Pacific. Your best chance to earn is by promoting hotels in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea where Agoda has the best hotels and prices.
- Use deal roundups to get fast bookings. Daily or weekly lists of Agoda flash sales create a feeling of urgency: “72-Hour Flash Sale: London Hotels 40% Off.” Deals that expire soon make people book right away.
- Put search widgets on popular destination pages. Agoda’s search tool lets visitors check dates and prices without leaving your site. This makes it faster and increases bookings within the same session—your only real chance with the 24-hour limit.
- Use email for time-limited sales. Build an email list for travel deals. Then, send Agoda flash sales as soon as they happen. People who are planning trips may open the email and book within hours.
The main point: The partners who still earn $300–$800 per month from Agoda all do the same thing: they focus only on content that makes people book right away and on places in Asia. Those who try to use simple hotel reviews and general guides see a 70% to 90% loss of credit because of the 24-hour limit.
Is Agoda Worth Your Time?
Here is my honest opinion after looking at many different travel partners:
Join Agoda if:
- Your audience travels a lot to Asia-Pacific destinations.
- You create content about last-minute bookings or flash sales.
- You are building a wide range of travel partnerships (not just relying on Agoda).
- You already have traffic that brings in 50+ bookings per month.
Skip Agoda if:
- Your content is mostly about planning a long trip and general guides.
- You need longer tracking times for audiences who research a lot.
- You are a new affiliate without much traffic (the $200 minimum will be frustrating).
- Your audience mostly travels to Europe or North America.
The truth is, Agoda offers good commissions but has the worst tracking time in travel affiliate marketing. You will send good traffic and watch your credit disappear after 24 hours.
What we see: Successful travel partners earn $2,000–$5,000 per month by using 4 to 6 booking platforms together. Agoda usually makes up only 10% to 20% of that total income because of the credit they lose.
Should you join? Yes, if you already promote travel and can add Agoda without much extra effort. But put your main work into platforms that offer 30-day or 60-day tracking times.
5 Better Options Than Agoda
Looking for travel booking programs with better tracking? Here is what works better:
Booking.com Affiliate Program (via Awin/CJ/Partnerships Hub)
This is the biggest company with over 28 million places to stay and much better tracking. They recently changed their direct program, so now you apply through Awin, CJ, or their Partnerships Hub. You get longer tracking times, a huge number of properties, and people trust the brand everywhere.
Expedia Group Affiliate Program
Expedia lets you promote hotels, flights, and travel packages with ready-made tools. Commissions start around 4% right away. They have a massive inventory in 200+ countries and are a famous brand.
Trip.com Affiliate Program
This program covers the world with over 1.2 million products. It supports many currencies and has a 30-day tracking time (much better than Agoda’s 24 hours). Their materials claim up to 7% commission. They are very strong for Asia-focused traffic and lose much less booking credit than Agoda.
Travelpayouts (Multi-Brand Network)
Instead of promoting one company, Travelpayouts connects you to over 100 travel brands (like Booking.com, Trip.com, GetYourGuide, etc.) using one dashboard. You get one payment and can easily test many offers. This is perfect for earning the most money across different seasons and destinations.
Hostelworld Affiliate Programme
Hostelworld is the perfect choice for budget travelers, backpackers, and young people. They offer deep links and a 30-day tracking time to earn money from hostel bookings in 170+ countries. The sales are smaller, but this specialized area converts well next to major hotel websites.