Booking.com Drops Thousands of Affiliates: What It Means for Travel Content Creators

One Email. Zero Warning. No More Commission.

That’s the situation thousands of travel bloggers and content creators found themselves in this week.

Booking.com, one of the world’s most used hotel affiliate platforms, has announced that it will end partnerships with a huge number of smaller affiliates on June 20, 2025. Only high-performers (those earning over €1,000/month) will remain in the program.

For creators, this wasn’t just another affiliate adjustment. It was a complete switch-off of their primary travel monetisation stream — right before the busiest season of the year.

Why This Affiliate Program Change Matters

Travel blogs, Pinterest boards, YouTube videos, TikToks, and SEO-optimised itineraries have long been key drivers of traffic—and bookings—for platforms like Booking.com. Many creators have spent years building up content that drives intent and trust, only to have their revenue model vanish overnight.

Key impacts of the change:

• Affiliate links will no longer earn commissions after June 20, 2025

• Thousands of travel-related blog posts and pages will need updating

• Upcoming summer travel traffic will no longer translate to affiliate income

• Affiliate marketers must scramble to find replacement partners or networks

For creators, it’s more than an inconvenience—it’s a full-scale business disruption. And for brands, it’s a cautionary tale about relying too heavily on limited partner groups.

Travel Affiliate Programs Are Changing – Fast

This isn't just about Booking.com. The affiliate ecosystem, especially in the travel and lifestyle space, has been evolving rapidly. Over the last 12 months, we’ve seen:

• Commission rates cut across several major travel affiliate programs

• Fluctuations in tracking reliability, particularly on mobile

• Increased competition from AI-generated content displacing organic rankings

• Rising thresholds for acceptance into leading affiliate networks

Add Booking.com’s latest decision to that list, and it’s clear: Travel content creators need a more resilient affiliate strategy.

Smart Creators Are Adapting—Here’s How

We’re seeing savvy creators and affiliate professionals take action right away. Here’s what they’re doing to protect and rebuild their affiliate income:

• Auditing top-performing travel content to update affiliate links with alternative partners like Agoda, Expedia, or niche hotel networks

• Exploring affiliate platforms such as Awin, CJ, Travelpayouts, and Skimlinks to uncover new partnerships

• Negotiating direct affiliate deals with boutique hotels, DMCs, and travel brands for better terms

• Shifting to evergreen content that’s less dependent on one booking engine

• Building email lists and community-driven traffic, reducing reliance on algorithmic reach

This isn’t just damage control—it’s long-term strategy. It’s about turning affiliate volatility into an opportunity for diversification and control.

What Brands Can Learn From This Affiliate Disruption

For travel brands and booking platforms, this moment serves as a reminder of how much value content creators deliver—and how risky it is to treat affiliate marketing as a short-term performance lever.

RevWise works with brands across the travel and leisure space, and we consistently see the best results when affiliate strategies include:

• A balanced partner mix: influencers, SEO content sites, cashback, voucher, social, and comparison

• Strong publisher relationships that go beyond transactional link placements

• Continuous recruitment and optimisation to avoid stagnation

• Clear tracking, attribution, and communication with all partners

Cutting smaller content affiliates may reduce overhead in the short term—but it weakens a brand’s visibility at the research and inspiration stages of the customer journey.

Moving Forward: Building a Stronger, Safer Affiliate Revenue Model

If you’re a content creator, this is your moment to futureproof. If you’re a brand, it’s your chance to rethink how your affiliate program works—and who it serves.

At RevWise, we help travel and ecommerce brands build diverse, scalable affiliate strategies that aren’t dependent on just one partner, platform, or publisher type. Whether it’s onboarding a broader mix of content partners or optimising commission structures for long-term growth, we’re here to make affiliate marketing sustainable.

Need help rebuilding your affiliate strategy? Get in touch with RevWise to explore how we support creators, brands, and platforms through affiliate program transformation.