Hotels.com Affiliate Program
The Hotels.com affiliate program pays 4% per completed stay with a 7-day cookie window, and is available to LinkApprove creators and publishers in the US, UK, EU and Canada without a separate application.
- Free to join
- No separate Hotels.com application
- Decision usually within 2 business days
Last reviewed by the LinkApprove partnerships team
01Overview
About the Hotels.com affiliate program
Hotels.com is an Expedia Group property, and that shows in the two things it does best: near-total city coverage with a deep long tail of independent hotels, so a creator writing about almost any destination has something to link, and One Key, the group-wide rewards program whose points and member rates carry across Hotels.com, Expedia and Vrbo. A traveler already inside that ecosystem has a concrete reason to book here rather than comparison-shop.
Read more
The seven-day cookie is the real problem, and it is a serious one for travel. Hotel booking is research-heavy, people browse for weeks before committing, and a week-long window will not survive that. Commission is also calculated on the room rate alone, so the taxes and resort fees inflating a headline nightly price never reach your payout. This program rewards content that catches people at the point of decision, not top-of-funnel inspiration.
Hotels.com has one of the shortest cookie windows of any travel program in the LinkApprove directory, and publishers consistently report that bottom-of-funnel hotel picks outperform broad destination inspiration on it, because a seven-day window rarely survives a hotel research cycle.
Program fit score
Weighted against 28 travel programs
2.8/ 5
| Factor | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Commission per conversion | 40% | 1.17 |
| Cookie window | 25% | 0.27 |
| Average order value | 20% | 0.78 |
| Region breadth | 15% | 0.63 |
Cookie window
23 days shorter than the median
7days
Shorter than most travel programs, so content works best close to the moment of purchase. Dots are the 28 programs in travel; the range is 7–31 days.
02Conversion
Why Hotels.com converts
- Global inventory means a link stays relevant from major capitals down to small regional towns a creator covers
- One Key rewards and signed-in member rates give repeat travelers a concrete reason to book here specifically
- Free-cancellation inventory lowers the barrier to booking early, which matters when attribution lasts only seven days
- Neighborhood, star-rating, and guest-score filters make it easy to deep-link one named property from a where-to-stay guide
03Audience fit
Which creators this suits
- Where-to-stay and single-hotel review content
- City guides aimed at travelers who have already picked their dates
- Deal and rate-alert publishers working within the short attribution window
04Getting started
How to join the Hotels.com affiliate program
- 1Create a free account on LinkApprove and submit your content channels for review.
- 2Get approved, usually within two business days, then find Hotels.com in the program directory.
- 3Generate a deep link to any Hotels.com product page, adding sub-IDs for the platform or campaign.
- 4Publish and track clicks and validated commission in one balance alongside every other program you run.
LinkApprove already holds the upstream approval, so you don’t submit a separate application to Hotels.com.
Create a free account05Attribution
When you get paid on this program
- ClickDay 0
- PurchaseWithin 7 days · cookie
- ValidatedAdvertiser confirms · 30–60 day hold
- PaidNext payout run
- Minimum (wallets)
- $100
- Minimum (wire)
- $1,000
- Schedule
- Monthly → daily
EPC isn't published yet: our sample on this program is too small to mean anything. Full thresholds, rails and schedules are on the payouts page.
Travel
How Hotels.com compares in its category
Travel commissions are validated on completed stay rather than booking, which means longer hold periods, 60 to 90 days is normal. In exchange, the vertical has the longest cookie windows in the directory and very high order values.
- Emiratesup to €37.9230 daysNot published
- Expedia3%7 days$620
- GetYourGuideup to 8%31 days$95
- Hiltonup to 4%30 days$480
- Hostelworldup to 6%30 days$85
- Hotels.com4%7 days$420
- Kayakup to 3%30 days$460
- Kiwi.comup to €19.8430 daysNot published
- Klook5%30 days$85
- Lufthansaup to €35.3314 daysNot published
- Marriottup to 4%30 days$520
Showing 11 of 28 programs. Commission and cookie figures are indicative and set by the advertiser.
Compare all 28 programs06FAQ
Common questions
Something else? Contact the partnerships team.
How much does the Hotels.com affiliate program pay?
The Hotels.com affiliate program pays 4% per completed stay (commission is calculated on the room rate excluding taxes and fees). Average order value on the program is $420, so commission per conversion is calculated against that basket rather than a single item price.
What is the cookie duration for the Hotels.com affiliate program?
The Hotels.com program has a 7-day cookie window. A purchase made after that window has closed is not attributed to you, which is why content timing matters on this program.
How do I join the Hotels.com affiliate program?
You can join the Hotels.com affiliate program through LinkApprove without applying to Hotels.com directly. LinkApprove already holds the upstream approval, so once your LinkApprove partner account is approved you can generate tracked links to any Hotels.com product page immediately.
Which countries does the Hotels.com affiliate program accept?
The Hotels.com program accepts traffic from US, UK, EU, CA. Traffic from outside these regions may not be attributed even when the click is tracked, so check your audience geography before committing content to it.
Related programs
Programs partners often run alongside this one
For creators
Creators and publishers
Promote Hotels.com and every other program in the directory from one account, with a single payout. Free to join, from 1,000 followers.
- Free to join
- From 1,000 followers
- One payout
For brands
Advertisers
Recruit vetted creators across the UK, EU and US without managing hundreds of individual partner relationships.
Promote Hotels.com from today
Join LinkApprove free and generate your first tracked Hotels.com link once approved. No separate application, and no advertiser approval queue.