Luxury travel affiliate programs are a great way to earn money online.
Sure, only a relatively small subset of the population can afford regular luxurious vacations. But that hasn’t stopped the luxury travel niche growing (and growing, and growing) in recent years.
In 2019, the market was valued at a frankly obscene $945 billion, and by 2027 it’s expected to reach almost $1.2 trillion. That’s a whole lot of world cruises and high-end hotel bookings. And with the average travel website earning nearly $14,000 per month according to our affiliate marketing statistics, there’s never been a better time to dive into this niche.
Fancy spending your days writing about luxury hotels, vacation packages, and private jets? Check out our guide to the world’s best luxury travel affiliate programs:
Luxury Travel Affiliate Programs
- Sandals Resorts
- Emaar Hotels
- FRHI Hotels & Resorts
- Time and Place
- Blacklane
- Priority Pass
- Anantara Resorts
- MSC Cruises
- Boatbookings
- Qatar Airways
- Villiers
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Join the Free TrainingSandals Resorts
Sandals is one of the biggest names in luxury Caribbean resort travel, with upscale hotels in paradisiacal private beaches in Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Antigua, The Bahamas, Grenada, and Barbados.
Whichever Sandals resort you choose, you’ll get unlimited, all-inclusive gourmet dining, access to unique bars serving premium wines and spirits, and the chance to enjoy almost every land and water-based sport known to humanity.
Most resorts offer PADI® certified scuba diving, while green fees are included at golf resorts.
Sandals is so well-known, you shouldn’t have to do too much “selling” here. Its affiliate program pays a 4% commission rate on all sales within the 60-day cookie window, and the three-month EPC of $137.99 shows plenty of money to be made here.
- URL: Sandals affiliate program
- Commission rate: 4%
- Cookie duration: 60 days
Emaar Hotels
First up is Emaar Hotels, a premium luxury hotel group that operates multiple Middle Eastern hotel brands. Specifically, it’s the company behind:
- Address Hotels + Resorts, a premium hotel and residences brand
- Vida Hotels and Resorts, an upscale lifestyle hotel and residences brand
- Rove Hotels, a contemporary midscale hotel and residences brand
In turn, Emaar Hotels is part of Emaar Properties, which also owns golf clubs, restaurants, spas, a marina, and a polo club. Fancy!
Emaar’s travel affiliate program is available on the FlexOffers affiliate network and offers a 30-day cookie window.
- URL: Emaar Hotels affiliate program
- Commission rate: Unknown
- Cookie duration: 30 days
FRHI Hotels & Resorts
While you likely haven’t heard of FRHI, you’ve almost certainly heard of the three groups of luxury hotels it manages — Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel.
Between them, those chains own more than 100 hotels and resorts in over 30 countries across North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia Pacific.
FRHI’s in-house affiliate program pays a 5% commission on all completed hotel stays. That might not sound like much compared to a lot of other niches, but when a single booking can run to hundreds or thousands of dollars, those commissions can add up fast.
You can leverage FRHI’s extensive collection of marketing materials, including logos, banner ads, and text links, to help drive sales.
One word of warning: sadly, you can’t participate in this affiliate program if you’re a resident of, or domiciled in, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Mexico, or West Virginia.
- URL: FRHI Hotels & Resorts affiliate program
- Commission rate: 5%
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Time and Place
Time and Place aims to offer luxury vacation villas in the world’s best destinations, covering the Caribbean, Central and North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
That’s easy to say, but with Time and Place, it might just be true. Founder Mitch Willey certainly seems to have an eye for upscale properties, including a 16th-century French penthouse and a Palm Springs desert house once owned by Frank Sinatra.
Like many of the other luxury travel-related websites on this list, Time and Place’s affiliate program offers a comparatively low commission rate of 3%. However, that becomes much more attractive when you factor in the average booking commission of $300.
Sign up, and you’ll receive exclusive monthly offers, high-quality images, and insider information on key international cities, resorts, and properties.
- URL: Time and Place affiliate program
- Commission rate: 3%
- Cookie duration: 365 days
Blacklane
Okay, let’s take a short break from all the luxury hotels and vacation rentals to look at the slightly less glamorous world of transportation.
The thing is, even if you own a private jet, you still need to get from the airport to your accommodation — and you can’t possibly organize your own car rentals and drive yourself. That’s why you need a chauffeur company like Blacklane.
Blacklane offers high-quality chauffeurs in more than 50 countries, 250 cities, and 500 airports. It’s seen massive growth over the past decade, expanding from a two-man team in Berlin to an international operation with more than 300 employees across multiple hubs, including Dubai and Los Angeles.
Part of the appeal of Blacklane is its flexibility. Customers can book a ride one hour or several months in advance via its website or app. Every Blacklane trip is guaranteed to be 100% carbon-neutral too.
- URL: Blacklane affiliate program
- Commission rate: Unknown
- Cookie duration: 90 days
Priority Pass
Priority Pass is arguably the biggest and best-known of all the world’s airport lounge class membership programs, with a presence in more than 1,300 airports.
Priority Pass allows fliers to beat the crowds and enjoy complimentary pre-flight bites and drinks (plus the obligatory free WiFi) regardless of class or airline.
While it’s possible to book lounge access on a trip-by-trip basis, Priority Pass is all about annual membership subscriptions. Standard prices range from $99 – $429 and include one free guest visit.
Given those relatively high prices, the Priority Pass affiliate program offers a surprisingly high 10% commission rate. In addition, for the first month after signing up, you’ll earn 15% for every sale you drive.
- URL: Priority Pass affiliate program
- Commission rate: 10% – 15%
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Anantara Resorts
Anantara is a luxury hotel chain with a portfolio spanning Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, including high-end tourist hotspots like Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and the Maldives.
While tropical islands are definitely a big part of Anantara’s offering, that’s not all it does. Its resorts offer travellers the chance to explore key international cities, desert oases, and destinations rich in culture and history.
In short, whatever type of luxury travel you’re looking for, chances are Anantara has exactly what you need.
Its affiliate program is also pretty attractive. Run through Awin, it pays commissions of up to 5% — and with an average order value of more than $950, that’s not to be sniffed at.
- URL: Anantara affiliate program
- Commission rate: Up to 5%
- Cookie duration: 30 days
MSC Cruises
Weirdly for a cruise company, MSC is based in Switzerland, which was landlocked last time I checked.
Still, that clearly hasn’t held it back. It’s the world’s third-largest cruise brand, as well as being the market leader in Europe, South America, Southern Africa, and the Gulf region.
It’s also the world’s fastest-growing cruise company, with a growing presence in the Caribbean, North America, and the Far East.
Okay, that’s the investor presentation out of the way. Now, onto the affiliate program.
MSC Cruises pays a baseline commission rate of $40 on all bookings within the 30-day cookie window, which is solid if unspectacular.
Helpfully, MSC also offers some advice to any affiliate marketer planning to join the program — it favors sites that are aesthetically pleasing and don’t display pornographic or offensive content. Take note, all you aspiring porn-themed luxury travel affiliates!
- URL: MSC Cruises affiliate program
- Commission rate: $40
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Boatbookings
Luxury yacht charter company Boatbookings offers crewed yachts, catamarans, and bareboats in numerous high-end destinations, from the French Riviera and Italy’s Amalfi Coast to the British Virgin Islands and the Maldives.
It prides itself on providing custom boating experiences matched to the exacting specifications of each customer, which means giving unbiased advice on all the crews and yachts it presents — after all, as long as you make a booking, it doesn’t make much difference to them which option you choose!
Now, Boatbookings doesn’t actually own any of these yachts; it’s a booking agent that earns a commission from the actual owners. That means its affiliate program pays a percentage of the commission it receives — either 20% on new bookings or 10% on repeat bookings.
One potential catch is that you won’t start earning a commission unless the net charter value hits 3,000 euros, US dollars, Great British pounds, or Singapore dollars. But let’s be honest, chartering a yacht isn’t cheap, so it shouldn’t be an issue.
- URL: Boatbookings affiliate program
- Commission rate: 10% – 20%
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways is one of the world’s fastest-growing airlines. Although founded in 1997, it now flies to more than 160 destinations worldwide.
Along the way, it’s developed a reputation for excellent customer service, helping it become one of a handful of airlines to earn a prestigious five-star rating from Skytrax. Between 2011 and 2019, Skytrax also named it Airline of the Year five times.
The Qatar Airlines affiliate program pays a 2% commission on all airline tickets sold via its website within the 45-day cookie window.
Affiliates access regular sales promotions and incentives, plus a vast library of creative assets, to help monetize their traffic. And there’s also a dedicated affiliate support team to help you find new ways to increase your earnings.
- URL: Qatar Airways affiliate program
- Commission rate: 2%
- Cookie duration: 45 days
Villiers
Very few people have the money to own a jet, which is where companies like Villiers come in. It’s an online platform offering private jet charters to more than 40,000 destinations, with a network of over 10,000 private aircraft on its books.
You likely won’t be surprised to learn that chartering a private jet costs quite a lot of money.
But you might be surprised to learn that Villiers’ affiliate program terms and conditions are extremely generous. They include a 30% commission rate—including recurring commissions on future bookings—and a 365-day cookie window.
No wonder top performers are earning tens of thousands of dollars every month through the program.
However, there’s one small red flag to mention. Villiers demands a $15 deposit to apply for its affiliate program, repayable when you earn your first commission or if your application is turned down.
As a rule, we recommend steering clear of affiliate programs that require upfront payment. But Villiers is definitely “legit,” and the potential rewards arguably make it worthwhile.
- URL: Villiers affiliate program
- Commission rate: 30% per booking
- Cookie duration: 365 days
Check out our step-by-step guide on How to Start a Travel Blog
Conclusion: Are Luxury Travel Affiliate Programs Right for You
Lots of companies (and influencers) are already making a killing from the luxury travel industry. So why shouldn’t you do the same?
Well, there are a few potential pitfalls.
For one, travel is an extremely competitive space, with countless travel websites and social media accounts vying for a piece of the action. For another, the audience for many of these affiliate programs is extremely small simply because the average order value is astronomical.
If you’re going to overcome those barriers, you’re going to need superb content and a high-ranking, high-converting website.
That takes a lot of work, but if you sign up for our free training, we’ll give you all the tools to do it right.