If you love traveling and want to monetize your blog or website, you’re in the right place. In this article, we’ll dive into the ins and outs of the Trip.com affiliate program, helping you understand how it can benefit you and your content. Let’s explore the possibilities together!
Overview of Trip.com
Trip.com is a leading global travel booking platform for those new to the brand. It provides booking services for flights, hotels, trains, cruises, car rentals, and more.
Trip.com operates in over 20 languages and over 200 countries and regions. It aims to make travel easy and stress-free by offering fantastic and convenient accommodation choices.
How the Trip.com Affiliate Program Works
Trip.com affiliate program is one of the good travel affiliate programs. The Trip.com affiliate program allows you to promote its services to earn commissions on referred bookings.
You will get a commission when users book through your link. Note that the commissions depend on the total number of confirmed bookings during the month.
As an affiliate, you receive a unique referral link to share on your site. You can join directly through Trip.com or affiliate networks like TravelPayouts.
The program provides banners, deep links, API feeds, search box, and promo campaigns to help drive conversions.
Trip.com Affiliate Program Commission Rates & Payment Details
The commission rates vary by category, ranging from 0.5-7%, depending on the product. Here are the details:
- Hotels: up to 7%
- Tours and tickets: up to 5%
- Trains: $1.5 per booking
- Domestic flights within China: $0.6 per ticket
- International flights: 0.5% (0-299 bookings) and 0.8% (300 or more bookings)
Note that achieving the next tier within a month ensures that all your bookings for that month will be compensated at the higher commission rate.
Besides, the 30-day cookie duration allows you to earn commissions for sales that happen within the next 30 days.
Payment processing is started on the 10th of each month when you reach the minimum payout threshold of US$200/HK$1500. If you don’t make enough money in one month, it will be added to what you earn next month. The process will be completed within 45 days and you’ll receive your affiliate earnings via wire transfer.
Benefits and Drawbacks for Travel Affiliate Marketers
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Attractive travel products | A highly competitive niche |
| Tier commission structure | No commission for canceled bookings |
| Generous 30-day cookie length | |
| Turnkey marketing materials |
Trip.com’s extensive range of travel products like flights, hotels and tours attracts a highly motivated audience with solid buyer intent.
The tiered commission structure offers increasing income potential for affiliates as their performance improves. For example, there is a rise from 0.5% to 0.8% if you can generate 300 or more international flight bookings.
With a generous 30-day cookie duration, affiliates have an extended window to earn commissions on referred sales.
Additionally, Trip.com provides turnkey marketing materials, helping affiliates promote the brand across different platforms with ease.
However, travel is a highly competitive niche, so affiliates will need smart strategies to stand out. You also need to note that no commission is generated for canceled bookings.
How to Become a Trip.com Affiliate (step-by-step)
Here is a step-by-step guide to joining the Trip.com affiliate program in 5 simple steps:
Step 1: Visit the Trip.com Affiliate Page
Go to https://www.trip.com and click on “Affiliate Program” in the website footer to access the Trip.com affiliate program sign-up page.
Step 2: Sign up for an account
Complete the registration form with your name, email, password, and contact details to create your Trip.com affiliate account.
Step 3: Get approved
Trip.com will review your application to ensure your website or audience aligns with their program. Approval can take 1-3 days.
Step 4: Access your links
Once approved, you will gain access to your unique affiliate links, banners, text links, and other creatives in your account dashboard.
Step 5: Promote Trip.com
Add your affiliate links and creatives to your website, social media, email newsletters, and anywhere else you engage with your audience.
Once your links are live, you can start earning commissions when site visitors book travel through your links! Make sure to abide by Trip.com’s terms of service.
How to Boost Your Earnings with Trip.com Affiliate Program
Here are some tips to boost your commissions as a Trip.com affiliate.
First, you can showcase diverse offerings by promoting exclusive Trip.com travel deals and packages, encouraging your audience to seize the services.
To make Trip.com stand out, you should share insights into the booking process, customer support, and unique features by creating reviews that detail Trip.com’s service quality and ease of use.
Also, emphasize Trip.com’s commitment to competitive pricing by highlighting its price match guarantee. You assure users that Trip.com matches or beats prices found elsewhere, building trust with budget-conscious travelers.
To enhance your audience’s savings, you can offer coupon codes for percent-off discounts on Trip.com bookings, providing exclusive value for engaged users.
Plus, enhance the user experience on your site by seamlessly integrating Trip.com’s flight and hotel search widgets. This allows visitors to explore and book travel directly from your platform using Trip.com’s powerful search functionalities.
Is the Trip.com Affiliate Program Worth It?
At the end of the day, joining Trip.com comes down to a few factors:
- Your audience – travelers are an obvious fit.
- Your current monetization strategy – what other affiliate programs do you use?
- Your promotional abilities – can you create relevant travel content?
For example, with a 5% commission on a $500 tour booking, you would earn $25. To make $1000 per month, you would need 40 sales. While achievable, this requires significant traffic and promotion.
Overall, the Trip.com affiliate program can be quite lucrative if you have an engaged travel audience and consistently promote relevant offers. Just be strategic with your marketing and have realistic expectations.
FAQs
How can I earn with Trip.com?
You can earn with Trip.com by receiving commissions from hotel suppliers on bookings made through its website. The commission charges vary and depend on the agreement with the hotel supplier, which may be a fixed or variable rate.
Who should join the Trip.com affiliate program?
The Trip.com affiliate program is ideal for travel bloggers, influencers, and websites in the travel niche with an audience interested in booking flights, hotels, vacation packages, etc.
Do I need a fee to join the Trip.com affiliate program?
No, there is no fee to join the Trip.com affiliate program. The sign-up process through their partner networks is free.
Are there any minimum requirements to become a Trip.com Affiliate?
Trip.com does not list any specific minimum traffic or audience size requirements. However, they likely look for affiliates who can actively promote their travel products.
What if I don’t have a website to promote the Trip.com affiliate program?
You don’t need a website to earn commissions with Trip.com. No need to add the link to a website, just go to ‘Dashboard’ → ‘Make My Booking’ to book directly and earn commissions.
Can the Trip.com program be combined with other affiliate programs?
Yes, Trip.com allows its affiliates also to promote other affiliate offers and programs. There are no exclusivity restrictions.
What are the best Trip.com affiliate program alternatives?
Some top alternatives are affiliate programs for Expedia, Booking.com, Airbnb, Kayak, Agoda, Bizaway, Tripscout, Tourradar and specific airlines, hotels, and travel review sites.
