Program ends June 20 — thousands of links made worthless, income streams cut
Travel bloggers around the world got a slap in the face today. Booking.com is ending its collaboration with a large group of affiliates, effective June 20, 2025. A distinction seems to be made: content creators who structurally generate more than €1000 per month in commission will be spared (for the time being). But those who are below that risk being kicked out of the program. Without any personal explanation or opportunity for consultation.
The decision comes at the worst possible time: right before the peak summer season. And the consequences are massive.
“We have determined that our current strategic focus unfortunately does not support continuing our partnership.” – Booking.com
Booking.com: Hundreds of pages and links instantly rendered worthless
For many travel bloggers, this email means that hundreds — if not thousands — of pages filled with hotel recommendations, booking links, and travel itineraries now need to be updated or removed. It’s not just incredibly time-consuming — it’s financially devastating. Any bookings made after June 20 will no longer earn commissions.
In other words: if content creators do not update the hundreds or even thousands of links in-time, Booking.com keeps the revenue, while the bloggers who drove those bookings walk away empty-handed. Preparations for this summer — generated by hard-working content creators — will not be paid out. Booking.com even advises partners to “cease promotional activity as soon as possible” to avoid “customer disruption.”
The timing? Brutal. Many bloggers in private communities are calling it “exploitative” — and that’s putting it mildly.
Not the first hit: travel bloggers are under pressure
Unfortunately, this decision is not an isolated case — it fits into a broader trend of growing pressure on travel content creators. Over the past few months, we’ve published several articles about these challenges on DutchTravelBloggers.com:
? Affiliate Marketing – Can it still be trusted?
? Press Trips & Day Rates – Time for new standards
We’ve addressed key issues such as:
- Declining affiliate earnings and shrinking commission rates
- Unreliable tracking and late or missing payouts
- The growing impact of AI on organic visibility
- Google algorithm updates that penalize independent sites
Booking.com’s latest move is simply the next blow in a series of setbacks for a sector that’s constantly shifting — and rarely in favor of small creators.
⚠️ What now? The best alternatives for Booking.com affiliates
Don’t want to be left empty-handed? Then now is the time to pivot. These two affiliate platforms are user-friendly, reliable, and specifically built for travel content creators.
✅ Stay22.com
A visual, map-based affiliate tool that lets you seamlessly integrate hotel options directly into your website. Easy to use, trustworthy, and backed by solid analytics. It also works great for event pages and road trip content. Their script allows you to automatically convert all your existing Booking.com links with just one click.
UPDATE 28-5: After careful consideration and negotiations with Stay22, we decided to split our own referral bonus with our followers. This means that we can now offer our readers a whopping $400 referral bonus, instead of the standard $100 bonus. If you apply via our affiliate link here, your $100 bonus will be manually upped to $400. If you have already applied last week, you can send me an email and share your AID – Stay22 is willing to add your AID to our referral list manually if needed.
✅ Travelpayouts.com
A broad affiliate network offering Booking.com alternatives such as Agoda, Hotels.com, and even flights and car rentals. The platform runs smoothly, offers transparent tracking, and is a strong match for professional travel bloggers. Travelpayouts has also released a script that lets you mass-replace all Booking.com links — ensuring you don’t lose your commission income.
⚙️ Important to know: Both Stay22 and Travelpayouts offer scripts that still send users to Booking.com, but via their own tracking. This means your visitors continue to book as usual, with no negative impact on their experience — but you get credited for the sale, not left out.
Both platforms allow you to protect your affiliate revenue — without having to manually update every single page on your site.
Prefer to update manually?
✅ Stop using Booking.com links before June 20
Anything you promote after this date will no longer earn commission — no matter how well your content performs.
✅ Update your content step by step
Start with your most visited and highest-converting articles — think top 10 lists, travel itineraries, and hotel recommendations.
✅ Consider switching to Stay22 or Travelpayouts
Both offer better terms and usability than CJ.com. And with their automated scripts, you can replace all Booking.com links site-wide — saving time and preserving revenue.
Join the Dutch Travel Bloggers community
In times of sudden change — like this unexpected Booking.com shutdown — it’s more important than ever for travel and lifestyle content creators to stand together.
DutchTravelBloggers.com is the go-to community for professional creators who believe in transparency, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration in the travel industry.
? As a member, you’ll gain access to:
- Exclusive updates and practical solutions for affiliate issues
- Hands-on support when switching to platforms like Stay22 and Travelpayouts
- Tools, tips, and scripts to efficiently update your affiliate links
- Peer discussion and experience exchange with serious travel bloggers and creators
- Shared press opportunities, job offers, and invitations
- And soon: plug-and-play checklists, templates, and strategy tools for digital creators
? At Dutch Travel Bloggers, we identify trends early, call out platform abuse, and help shape fair, future-ready earning models for content creators.
? Join us today at DutchTravelBloggers.com
Together, we’re raising the standard for independent travel content — honest, resilient, and future-proof.
Final thoughts: time to rethink our relationships
This situation painfully reveals just how dependent many travel bloggers still are on big platforms. Booking.com — which benefitted for years from thousands of unpaid SEO backlinks and authentic content recommendations — has now cut ties without warning or a proper explanation.
? Maybe this is the wake-up call we all needed.
Now is the time to build more independence, diversify income, and foster better partnerships — by creators, for creators.
Let’s work together.
