Stay22 vs Booking.com affiliate: which one is better?

Last Updated on February 23, 2026 by Ioana

Stay22 and Booking.com (through either CJ or Awin) are two of the biggest names and most popular affiliate networks for travel creators. In this blog post I will do a comprehensive Stay22 vs Booking.com affiliate program comparison so you can decide which affiliate solution is best for you. This post contains affiliate links. When you make a purchase I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Find out more here.

Quick answer: Stay22 is the best travel affiliate program

I have been using Stay22 since 2024 and it is my preferred program since it brings me 4 figures in affiliate revenue every month.

Their AI-powered technology converts very well for me and I am able to rely on this passive income coming from hotel bookings every month even when my blog’s traffic fluctuates.

While I don’t currently use Booking.com’s affiliate program, I use CJ as an affiliate platform for a luggage brand (LEVEL8). I have been using CJ for about 6 months and guess how much revenue I made?

Zero! I’m not joking. Despite having over 400 people click on my CJ links just this year, the conversion rate is zero. Which is really sad. 

Why Stay22 is the superior affiliate platform for travel bloggers

Stay22 has higher conversion rates

The main advantage of Stay22 is that you make a lot of money when you use them. And at the end of the day I think we can all agree that this is the most important thing when choosing an affiliate marketing platform.

They use AI-powered affiliate tools to drive conversion rates up. Stay22 uses a combination of their Let Me Allez script, interactive maps, and traditional affiliate links to earn you money.

I personally mostly use the Allez affiliate links and I had incredible results. Let me tell you a bit about my results.

I made my first affiliate booking the day after I installed the Stay22 Allez (LMA) script on my blog. It was only $1.97, but this was the proof of concept I needed and I knew things would grow nicely from there. And that’s exactly how it was. 

In June 2024, the first full month I was with Stay22 I made $191. This number made my blog profitable, so it was a huge win for me.

In December 2024 I was already making over $500 per month. 

And as of May 27 2025 my overall affiliate earnings for May were over $2,200 and I had 184 total bookings. That’s roughly an 11.5X or 1,150% increase in revenue compared to June 2024.

In less than a year my affiliate income skyrocketed just by switching to Stay22, no extra work. And ever since May 2025 my Stay22 stayed in the 4 figure range.

I truly believe that Stay22 is the best platform in the travel industry and if it’s not part of your affiliate strategy you are leaving money on the table.

You get access to more affiliate partners

Stay22 partners with top travel affiliate programs for hotels, car rentals, and activities such as Booking.com, Expedia, KAYAK, Hotels.com, TripAdvisor, Trivago, VRBO, GetYourGuide.

So the cool thing is that you can still use Booking links for specific hotels in your content without being part of the Booking direct affiliate program.

Once you get accepted to Stay22 you can automatically use all these affiliate partner networks. There is no extra application step for each of them.

For example, if you want to use Booking.com links to recommend accommodation options for a specific location you’re writing about, all you need to do is to include these deep links in your blog posts.

And whenever a person who clicked on these hotel affiliate links books a stay you make a commission that you can see in your Stay22 dashboard.

Stay22’s team is amazing

Stay22 uses real humans for their customer service team, not AI or robots. 

Every blogger that signs up with Stay22 has a Partner Success Associate. They are your dedicated person that makes sure you have everything you need to succeed.

They are also the point of contact for all the questions you might have or the issues you’re facing. I have a great relationship with my Partner Success Associate. She’s fantastic. 

Her response time is very fast. Usually I get a reply in a few hours. And she always makes sure my questions are fully answered and my problems are solved.

I love how she always asks me for feedback. Stay22 is constantly trying to implement new ideas and new features to make sure we thrive as bloggers. And they make sure to use our feedback in what they develop next.

It truly feels like a two-way partnership. 

Details about Booking.com’s affiliate program 

Booking.com’s program is set up through CJ or Awin

Booking.com is one of the most popular booking platforms for hotels in the world. And of course they have an affiliate program for travel content creators and bloggers.

However, as of May 2025, Booking.com terminated its direct affiliate program. And it is now relying on 2 third-party networks for their affiliate program: CJ and Awin.

CJ is the third-party network you join if you live in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Benelux, Eastern Europe, Nordic countries and Middle East.

Awin is the network you join if you live in Australia, Brazil, Latin America, North America and Asia Pacific.

Both CJ and Awin are affiliate platforms that manage a large group of affiliates for many brands and niches, not just for Booking.com affiliates and accommodation bookings.

On one hand, it’s easier for Booking since they outsourced their program. But on the other hand, relying on a broad affiliate platform usually means that conversions are not optimized since they have to cater to so many affiliate partnerships and programs.

Conversion rates and revenue are low

While I don’t currently use Booking.com’s affiliate program, I use CJ as an affiliate platform for a luggage brand (LEVEL8). 

I have been using CJ for about 6 months and guess how much revenue I made? Zero! I’m not joking. Despite having over 400 people click on my CJ links just this year, the conversion rate is zero. Which is really sad. 

So I can only extrapolate and imagine that even if I was using CJ for Booking.com hotel affiliates, I still wouldn’t see a lot of revenue.

I actually have a similar experience with Travelpayouts, another industry leader in affiliate platforms for travel blogging. You can read an in depth Stay22 vs Travelpayouts comparison I made to see the exact numbers.

But the main idea is that Travelpayouts also doesn’t convert for me.

At the end of the day, a lot of travel bloggers earn their full-time income through hotel recommendations and display ads, so it’s crucial to use an affiliate platforms that converts well for hotel links. For me, the only platform that converts well is Stay22.

Because it’s a direct affiliate program, you don’t get access to other brands

The other disadvantage of using Booking.com’s affiliate program, is that it’s a program just for them.

You can’t use their platform to include affiliate links for other brands. Which limits you a lot as a blogger or content creator.

If you use a platform like Stay22 you can insert links from Booking, Expedia, VRBO and many other brands.

So it allows you to better monetize your content by using affiliate links that make most sense for you audience’s geography and preference.

Final thoughts

I highly recommend Stay22 because it works. If I wasn’t making money through Stay22 I would never recommend it to you. But it truly is the only affiliate platform that converts well for me and through which I earn 4 figures monthly.

---

Do you want to learn more about blogging? Check out some of my other articles.

Amateur blogging: complete guide to start a blog

Stay22 review: is this affiliate platform the best?

Stay22 vs Travelpayouts: which platform is the best?

RankIQ review: is this the best SEO tool for blogs?

Affiliate marketing for travel bloggers: the best platforms

How to monetize a travel blog: all the insider tips