Is Stay22 a Good Travel Affiliate Program?
i.e. How Do Travel Bloggers Make Money?
This isn’t my typical post. Typically, I write for future travelers, giving them insight on various cities & on where to stay, what to do, etc. However: this post is specifically written for other travel bloggers ~ or anyone who earns money by making hotel recommendations. I’ve been working with Stay22 for almost three years: I had to make a near-immediate change after Kayak discontinued their affiliate program, which left me scrambling! Here, I’ll give my 100% honest opinion: is Stay22 a good travel affiliate program? And would I recommend it to other travel bloggers?
I’ve been working with Stay22 for almost 3 years, & this article discusses my experience with them.
**Author’s Note: I have no affiliation with Stay22 other than that I’m a blogger in their network; all opinions are entirely my own. They didn’t pay me to write this article…& in fact, they don’t even know I’m writing it!
So rest assured: you’re getting nothing but the truth here.
Why Did I Switch to Stay22?
I’ve typically worked with three different hotel booking services for my travel blog: Travelpayouts (which houses many booking services in one dashboard), Kayak, & HotelsCombined. Kayak paid for clicks ~ not bookings, which was both good & bad. Stay22 only pays when somebody actually books a stay.
But I’ll tell you right up front: I’m making at least 3-8X more per month with Stay22 than I was with Kayak.
Some of my biggest bookings came from HotelsCombined (up to $1,000 for a single booking). And to be transparent: I haven’t reached that number yet with Stay22. Some of my highest single bookings with Stay22 are more in the $200-300 range. There are also a lot of bookings in the $40-100 range.
Right from the start, I made 3-8X more per month with Stay22 than I did with Kayak. And that income comes in consistently, every month, whereas with Kayak it wasn’t always paid monthly.
Stay22 pays like clock-work.
When Kayak discontinued their affiliate program, I had to make an immediate change. Luckily, Stay22 had reached out to me ~ not in a pushy way; more in a friendly, informative way.
How Hard Was it to Switch to Stay22?
Not hard at all. The change-over literally takes about 5 minutes. All I had to do was insert a piece of code that Stay22 provided into the back-end of my website, & presto! All my links were now switched over to Stay22.
I had my first booking within about 3 days of making the change.
So that part was very easy.
What’s also nice: if you ever need to make changes to your code (i.e. let’s say they introduce flights into their offerings, & you don’t want to include flights), all you need to do is reach out to Stay22 & tell them what you’d like to change.
They’re extremely responsive & will often make the change that day.
My first booking with Stay22 was for a ski vacation that earned me over $200, & I received that booking within about 3 days of switching over.
Was Anything Hard about Switching to Stay22?
YES!! When my Kayak links switched over to Stay22, I was still getting paid ONLY for the click. But with Stay22, you’re only getting paid when someone actually BOOKS via that Kayak link. So let’s say that someone books a 7-night stay in the Bahamas through my Kayak link (which did actually happen to me). With Stay22, I’m only getting paid around $1.00 for that booking (for the click, basically), when I could be earning more like $300+ for that same booking if the link was for Hotels.com or Expedia.
So clearly: it was in my highest & best interest to switch out ALL my Kayak links immediately!!
The problem was: I had to go through my ENTIRE website (over 600 articles), & manually find every single link that was still referring to Kayak, & change it to Booking.com, Hotels.com, or Expedia (my new Top 3 hotel companies). This process took MONTHS!!! It was, by far, my biggest pain point in switching over to Stay22.
The good news for you is, if you didn’t work with Kayak before: all of your links should switch automatically, & save you from doing the work I had to do.
Take a Look at My Stay22 Dashboard…
If you take a look at my Stay22 dashboard below, you’ll notice:
- I’m getting a nice mix of bookings between Booking.com, Hotels.com, & Expedia. The beauty of Stay22’s algorithm: their AI predicts which booking service your reader prefers, & it typically shows them that link. It’s one reason why I think they have significanly higher conversion rates then others.
- You can see when someone made the booking, start & end dates for their trip, if it’s pending or cancelled, your commission, etc.
- I get the most bookings for Booking.com, followed by Expedia, with Hotels.com being the least amount of bookings.
With Stay22, my cancellation rate is about 10-15%.
This is a screenshot from my Stay22 dashboard, with part of my bookings shown.
How Many Bookings Do I Get per Month?
In July 2025, I received 31 bookings. In March 2025, I received 53 bookings. In January 2026, over 60 bookings. And in March 2026, I got paid for over 70 hotel bookings. The more I’ve updated old articles: the more it has paid off! Not only does it help those articles rank higher with the algorithm, but when all the links are going to the right places: you’ll make more money with Stay22, or Travelpayouts, etc.
In slower months, I may get more like 30-40 bookings per month (which can still be lucrative if you have high commissions). My highest commissions are from hotel stays (flights pay much less). And the longer someone stays: the more you get paid.
For reference, I have over 600 articles on my website, & receive about 15,000-30,000+ views per month.
The good news is: even if you’re new to blogging, or don’t receive millions of views per month…you can still make good money with Stay22!
Also, if you’re new to Stay22: they will pay you an extra $100 after you make your first 100 commissions ~ but only if you sign up through my link!
At a rate of 50 bookings per month, this would only take about 2 months to receive that extra commission check. I know brand-new bloggers who only have around 80 blog posts, & are already making THOUSANDS of dollars per month from Stay22!
It’s still possible.
Sign up for Stay22 through my link to get this deal!
This is an extension of the dashboard: they also show what hotels people are booking, & which articles are driving traffic ~ super helpful info.
More Info from the Stay22 Dashboard…
You can also see which hotel your reader booked (if they book via Booking.com), how much your commission is, which article the reader clicked from, where they’re from (you can see above that I have readers from all over the world…not just the States). And finally, you can see if your reader made the purchase via desktop or phone.
Phones account for about 60-70% of my bookings, which was something I didn’t know before working with Stay22.
Knowing this makes it a priority to keep my website highly functioning & fast on mobile.
Writing about travel & earning reliable monthly income is pretty amazing!
I can be sipping coffee in Panama, & still making money via my blog with Stay22!
Pros of Stay22
- The Switch-Over is SO Easy – Literally: one link inserted into the backend of your website, & you’re ready to earn money with Stay22. It took me about 3 minutes to insert this link on my site.
- Money is Ready 7 Days After Check-Out – Stay22 offers the quickest turn-around in terms of getting paid than any other company in the hotel space. 7 days after your guests check out of their hotel, those funds are “Ready” in your dashboard. You can only request funds once every 30 days, but after requesting funds: it typically takes exactly 3 weeks to receive them. Their payments have gone like clock-work for the many years I’ve worked with them; they’re VERY reliable Kayak once took over 6 months to pay me the final thousands of dollars they owed me! I can’t imagine this happening with Stay22.
- Great Communication – If you’re having any kind of issues: I’ve never met any company in the travel space that’s as responsive as Stay22. Margot, one of their reps, used to send me videos to walk me through various issues. Don’t like video? Just tell them you prefer bullet points in an email. Their typical response time is same-day (as long as you reach out early in the day, they’re based in Toronto).
- Consistent Income You Can Count On – Since I’ve switched over to Stay22, I’ve made money with them EVERY single month, except one (May 2024, to be exact). This can become an incredible source of passive income.
- A Back-End that Gives You Lots of Helpful Information – The thing that helped me most with Stay22: they actually show you which articles are converting the most. This is HUGE! When you know which articles are making you money: you can write more articles like them, which translates to even more money.
- Stay22 vs. TravelPayouts – For awhile, I was really enjoying working with TravelPayouts. I was making money consistently with them each month, & via HotelLook, earned some of my highest single hotel commissions (over $1,000+). But in the last year, TravelPayouts has taken a nosedive for me. Income from them is more hit & miss than with Stay22, by a long-shot. In a head-to-head match between Stay22 & TravelPayouts: the clear winner is Stay22. It’s more reliable, more consistent income.
- Stay22 Doesn’t Report to the IRS – In no way do I wish to offer tax advice, but I’ve asked Stay22 numerous times, & their answer has always been the same: because they’re a Canadian company (based in Toronto), they do NOT report income to the United States IRS. Do with that information what you wish…
Cons of Stay22
- Lack of Transparency re: Commissions – Affiliates earn a 30% commission rate. But 30% of what? The total commission..? Of Stay22’s share of the commission? They aren’t 100% transparent about this.
- Difficulty of Changing Over Kayak Links – As mentioned above, if you have Kayak links on your website: you will earn pennies for these “commissions.” It will be in your best interest to switch them over to Booking.com, Hotels.com, or Expedia links. In my case, this took MONTHS of work.
- Lack of Transparency re: Kayak Click Commissions – When I still had Kayak links on my website, it stands to reason that someone was still earning money when people clicked those links (even if nothing was booked). Since I never received this money, I’m assuming that Stay22 did/does? I’ve never gotten a straight answer about that.
- Lack of High-Dollar Commissions – As mentioned above, with HotelLook (within TravelPayouts) & HotelsCombined, I’ve received several $1,000+ commissions, from multi-day trips to Paris & ski trips to Vail, etc. The highest commission I’ve received so far with Stay22 is in the $300-range, which is great: but those $1,000 commissions are even more valuable. I’m unclear if people just aren’t booking such high-value vacations anymore ~ or if Stay22 simply has a lower commission rate than my previous companies. This kind of ties back in with Point #1: a general lack of transparency re: commissions.
If you want to travel the world + create passive income: Stay22 is a GREAT affiliate option.
Is Stay22 a Good Travel Affiliate Program?
So what’s the bottom line here? Is Stay22 a travel affiliate program I’d recommend to other travel bloggers? The answer is: YES, absolutely. Even with the few cons mentioned above, they’re still far & away the most professional, easiest company I’ve worked with in the travel blogging/hotel space.
And if you have a website where one of your other hotel affiliates is going extinct: Stay22 will be the easiest way to start earning money ~ virtually right away.
If you have any questions about working with Stay22, ask me in the comments below!
xoxo Noelia
Pin It
Discover more from Girl Who Travels the World
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Welcome to GWTW!
Reading this honestly felt like having a conversation with a fellow traveler over coffee.
The way you laid it all out — not just the shiny parts, but the hard parts too — that kind of honesty is rare in the affiliate world. It’s so easy to just share the wins, but you actually walked us through the real work behind it. That months-long hustle of updating 600+ articles? Oof. I felt that in my bones.
Especially for those of us from places like Nepal, where tourism plays such a big role — having access to tools like Stay22 can be incredibly valuable. But like you said, it’s not just about jumping into a new platform. It’s about really weighing the pros and cons, seeing what works for your audience, and making thoughtful decisions. The way you explained it makes it easy for others to actually do that.
And I love that you’re not pushing anything — just sharing what’s worked for you, what hasn’t, and letting people decide for themselves. That’s the kind of content that builds trust. And honestly? The part about Stay22 not ghosting you, replying with helpful videos, and actually being reachable — that’s golden. So many platforms forget that bloggers are human too.
You’ve sparked something in me to take a second look at the tools I use and whether they’re really serving both my readers and me. So thank you — this was more than a review. It was a reminder that we’re all learning as we go, and there’s power in sharing the journey.
https://www.himalayaheart.com/activity/trekking
Wow…thanks for such a lengthy and heartfelt comment! I really just don’t love when other reviews only show the “shiny” parts: because even though Stay22 is a great company, there were still some issues in switching over that I wanted to be 100% transparent about, so that other bloggers can make an informed decision. Changing those 600 articles was DAUNTING!!! Haha let me tell you! But aside from that, Stay22 has been so professional & helpful, & always on-time with payments: & you just can’t say that about many other hotel affiliate programs. xoxo Noelia
Hi Noelle,
Thank you so much for your kind and genuine reply! I totally felt your struggle with switching 600 articles — that sounds like a true marathon 😅. It’s refreshing to see someone share both the wins and the challenges honestly; it really helps others make thoughtful choices.
Reading your insights got me thinking about how similar transparency and effort apply to travel too — especially in places like Nepal, where tourism is such a huge part of people’s lives. I’ve been guiding travelers through the Himalayas and sharing authentic local experiences, from hidden trekking trails to traditional Nepali food — it’s a journey that really rewards patience and curiosity.
If you ever consider exploring a new adventure, I’d love to help you experience Nepal in a way that combines breathtaking mountains, unique culture, and unforgettable food experiences. And honestly, it’s not just about the scenery — it’s about stories, flavors, and moments you won’t find anywhere else.
Thanks again for sharing your journey and insights — it’s inspired me to rethink some of the tools and experiences I offer my own readers too. Can’t wait to see what you explore next!
Warm regards,
Thakur
Himalaya Heart Trek
I’ve never been to Nepal, but definitely want to make it there someday! It looks absolutely amazing ~ the scenery, the people, the culture. It’s just much harder for me to travel right now with a home & a mortgage & multiple animals! Haha when I was traveling more full-time, all I had was a storage unit, so I was able to travel much more extensively. Life looks a little different now!
But if I ever head to Nepal, you will be first on my list to contact! xxoo Noelia
This is such a valuable article! 👏 I really like how you’ve managed to explain the topic in a clear and practical way—it feels authentic and easy to relate to. Reading it gave me some new perspectives on affiliate marketing that I can actually apply. Thanks for sharing—looking forward to more of your work! 🚀
Thanks, Jean! I just wanted to give some insight to other travel bloggers re: earning money via hotel commissions, & felt that after working with Stay22 for almost 2 years, I had some thoughts/advice that could help others : ) xoxo
I have a question: do you notice if you make a higher commission with Expedia, Hotels.com, or Booking.com via Stay22?
Hi Alicia, thanks for your question : ) No, I don’t really notice any difference in the commission rate between those 3 companies. The commission really depends on how many nights the client stays, & how expensive the room is. Hope that helps!
Does Stay22 pay you for flights booked? I’m new to blogging, and this article was super helpful.
Hi Bianca, thanks for your question : ) Yes, Stay22 does pay me for flight bookings: but that’s only a 60 cent commission (as far as I’ve seen). So flights are pretty inconsequential. Hotel bookings are how you will make real money, if you have a travel blog. Hope that helps! xoxo Noelia
Have you found that your Stay22 bookings have ramped up in the last few months? Curious, as I’ve heard mixed from other travel bloggers.
Hi Jason, thanks for your question : ) So yes: in the past 4 months or so, I’ve noticed increased in both my Stay22 earnings AND new bookings. There could be several factors for this: I’ve spent A LOT of time updating old articles/making it easier for people to book, & I’ve also written a lot on Mexico & Latin America, which are popular destinations during our cooler winter months. But I’ve definitely noticed an increase: my January 2026 bookings are about 8X higher than they were last January, which is extremely encouraging! Hope that helps : )
Hey, I’m thinking of joining Stay22 and have a question re: bookings: can you always see which hotel your clients/readers have booked?
Hey Mallory, thanks for your question : ) So the answer is NO: I only see which hotel someone has booked when they book via Booking.com. If they book via Expedia or Hotels.com, I can’t see which hotel they book. Which is a bummer! Knowing the hotel gives you that much more useful information. Hope that helps! xoxo
Do you plan on writing another post on all the different ways a travel blog can make money?
Hi Magnolia, thanks for your question! Yes I will, hopefully within the next month : )