Stay22 and Travelpayouts 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 Travelpayouts 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.
Ready to start a blog? Check out these helpful resources:
- Web hosting: BigScoots (use code SSBG9QHYST56 for 40% off)
- Keyword research: KeySearch
- SEO tool for blogging: RankIQ
- Travel affiliate platform for bloggers: Stay22 (get $100 when you get to 100 bookings if you sign up through this link)
- Travelpayouts
Stay22 pros
There are no minimum traffic levels you need to sign up
This is a great advantage if you are a new travel blogger. You can apply as soon as you get some traffic. I personally applied when I had about 5K sessions per month on this blog.
You can also be based anywhere in the world. Your geographical location does not matter. I am based in Romania, for example. You can use Stay22 and will get paid in your local currency.
You get access to all their 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.
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.
Conversion rates are high and, thus, your affiliate revenue is high
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 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 income skyrocketed. And the best part is that I’m just getting started. I’m so excited to see the affiliate income growth a year from now.
They have a great customer service team
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.
Financial incentives are aligned
One of my favorite things about Stay22 is that our incentives as bloggers and their incentives as a tech company are aligned.
They make money if you make money. So they actually want you to succeed and grow your income because it helps them too.
Stay22 cons
It can only be used by creators who have a website
If you are a content creator on social media, but you do not have a website you won’t be able to use Stay22. They are a platform specifically designed for blogs, not social media.
I also started on Instagram first. I thought being a social media creator in the travel niche will bring me the financial freedom that I wanted. But in my experience, securing continuous paid partnerships on social media is very hard.
That’s why I started this blog. I diversified my income streams and now I earn passive income every time someone reads my blog posts (through ads income) or when people book something I recommend (through affiliate links).
If you’re a travel creator, I highly recommend you start a blog. You can read my guide on how to start a blog here. It’s so worth it!
Their list of partners could be more comprehensive
While Stay22 partners with some of the top brands in the travel industry, their partner list could be longer. For example, they don’t yet have partners for eSIMs, travel insurance, bus tickets, or private transfers.
I do appreciate that they constantly expand their partner list, but I would love to see even more names on the list.
You can’t track Stay22 affiliate referrals
Stay22 also offers a referral program. For example, if you sign up for Stay22 using my referral link you make $100 when you reach 100 confirmed bookings, and I make $500. It’s one of the highest-paying referral programs in the industry and I’m a huge fan of it.
But the drawback is that you can’t track these affiliate referrals in your dashboard. So I have no idea how many people signed up for Stay22 through my link.
In order to find out I have to email my Partner Success Associate and ask. It’s not the end of the world, but I find it quite inconvenient.
I love to be able to see all my data, so this is a disadvantage for me.
Travelpayouts pros
The list of partners is larger
Travelpayouts has a longer list of partners compared to Stay22. They partner with 100+ top travel brands.
If you are a blogger who wants to promote a lot of different services in the travel space, this is a great advantage since you have everything in one place.
It can be used by creators who don’t have a website
If you are a content creator on social media and you don’t want to start a blog, you can still use Travelpayouts. You can create affiliate links in their dashboard and share these links with your audience on social media.
Whenever someone books through your links you make a commission. It works exactly the same as it works for blogs, but you can share these links on social media.
You can track Travelpayouts affiliate referrals
Travelpayouts also offers a referral program. If you sign up for Travelpayouts through my affiliate link I will earn a commission that is equal to 7% of all your earnings for the next 24 months.
The good news is that you can track your referrals in your Travelpayouts dashboard. If you’re someone like me who loves to track everything this is a nice perk.
Travelpayouts cons
Conversions are low and, thus, your affiliate revenue is low
The main disadvantage of Travelpayouts is that their conversion rates are low and you don’t make much money through them. At least this was my experience with them.
I used Travelpayouts ever since I started this blog in January 2024. In May 2024 I was at 5,000 monthly sessions, but I still hadn’t made any affiliate income through Travelpayouts.
Even though my blog didn’t have that much traffic I was still expecting to see at least a few hotel bookings via Travelpayouts. But this was not the case.
Even though I could see that people clicked on my accommodation links, I literally made $0 in hotel affiliate revenue.
This was what made me look for alternatives. And that’s how I switched to Stay22 for hotel, car rentals, and activities links.
I now use Travelpayouts only for programs that are not yet available on Stay22. As soon as these brands will join Stay22 I will stop using Travelpayouts.
Even though my blog is now close to 50,000 monthly sessions I still only make $15-25 per month on Travelpayouts.
You have to apply to each partner program
Unlike Stay22, you have to apply to each partner you want to use on Travelpayouts. You don’t get direct access to all their 100+ partners.
If you want to use 20 partners, you have to apply to each of the 20 partners through the Travelpayouts dashboard.
I think this defeats the purpose of being an aggregator like Travelpayouts. I use an affiliate platform because I don’t want to submit individual applications to all the affiliate programs. But it turns out you still have to do that on Travelpayouts.
Final thoughts
While I use both Stay22 and Travelpayouts on my blog, Stay22 is my preferred program since it brings me exponentially more affiliate revenue compared to Travelpayouts.
With Stay22 my average earnings are $2,000+ per month, while with Travelpayouts I make $50+ every few months. That’s a huge difference!
The only reason I still use Travelpayouts is that there are partners that are not yet available on Stay22, such as Airalo for eSIMs or Omio for bus tickets. As soon as these brands will join Stay22 I will stop using Travelpayouts.
This is my personal experience with the two programs. Feel free to try both options, but I highly recommend you include Stay22 in your affiliate strategy.
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?
RankIQ review: is this the best SEO tool for blogs?
Keysearch review: the most affordable keyword tool
SEO for travel blogs: free tips that get you traffic
Free guide on keyword research for travel blog posts
Ioana was born and raised in Romania, lived in NYC for 14 years, and is now back in Romania. She fell in love with traveling when she was little and used to visit her aunt in Vienna. Then in high school she was able to visit Siberia, Turkmenistan, Istanbul, and Tokyo through chemistry competitions. As an adult she started to travel solo once she turned 30 and visited 20+ countries so far. Ioana is a full time travel blogger and content creator with an audience of 80K+ people on Instagram. She loves to share travel recommendations and tips.