Airbnb Affiliate Program and Referral Program (2024)
[UPDATE 2021] Effective March 31, 2021, the affiliate program was shut down. Currently you can only earn with the host referral program.
Airbnb is one of the biggest online marketplaces for lodging and the Airbnb affiliate program was an important factor in the company’s expansion.
Did you know that since Airbnb launched in 2018, it has hosted over 400 million guests? Pretty amazing! Airbnb is popular and it’s continuously growing.
In this affiliate program review, you will learn about both the Airbnb affiliate program and the affiliate referral program.
Airbnb Affiliate Program
There is not much information to be found on the Internet about the Airbnb affiliate program. Their landing page has very little information but makes one thing very clear.
The Airbnb affiliate program only accepts affiliates with an audience consisting of at least 1 million visits or app openings each month.
Furthermore, your content has to be centered around travel or hospitality and your audience should have a high intent to book accommodation or host their homes.
It is therefore obvious that the program has very high standards and not that many affiliates get the chance to promote Airbnb.
Airbnb Affiliate Program Commission
Airbnb doesn’t publicly disclose anything about its commission structure. The only way to find out would be to get accepted to the program.
I suppose that their commission will be very generous otherwise no big websites with 1 million visits a month would be willing to promote them.
Websites with such traffic have many options for monetization so Airbnb has to offer good value to the affiliates.
Guest and Host Affiliate Program
If you are one of the chosen ones and get accepted to the Airbnb affiliate program, you will be able to decide whether you want to be an affiliate for their guest or host affiliate program.
As a guest affiliate, you will be able to feature any Airbnb listing and earn commission for each booking.
As a host affiliate, you will earn commission every time a new host signs up through your link.
Airbnb Referral Program
If you want to promote Airbnb but you don’t meet the high standards of the Airbnb affiliate program, you still have a chance to do so through the Airbnb referral program.
With the Airbnb referral program, you will not earn any cash just coupon credits (‘travel credits’) towards your future homes/experience’s bookings. If you frequently use Airbnb, you can save some money with this program.
Anyone can join the Airbnb referral program, you just need to have an Airbnb account.
Once you are logged into your account, click on the profile picture and in the dropdown menu you will see links to ‘Invite Friends’ and ‘Refer Hosts’.
You earn travel credits for every person who completes a first-time stay or experience. Just like in the Airbnb affiliate program, Airbnb also rewards you if you get someone to start hosting.
What’s important to note is referrals should only be used for personal and non-commercial purposes. They specifically mention in the terms and conditions that referral links should not be published on blogs.
The person who makes a booking from your link also gets a travel credit. Specifically, if they sign up for Airbnb with your link, they get $31 off their home-booking. Also, if they book an experience worth at least $51, they will get $12 off it.
How much can you earn with the Airbnb Referral Program?
If your friend books and completes a home stay or books and attends an experience, you’ll get up to $24 in travel credit (this varies depending on the type of booking and experience).
For every new host you refer, you earn $50.
According to the Airbnb referral program terms and conditions, the maximum travel credit you can earn is $5,000 USD in respect of home bookings and $2,000 USD in respect of experience reservations.
You must use your travel credits within one year from the date they are issued.
Airbnb Affiliate/Referral Program Review Conclusion
The Airbnb affiliate program has very high standards for applicants, as you need to have at least one million visits a month to be even considered. The program may be very profitable, but it is available only for website owners with a lot of traffic.
On the other hand, the Airbnb referral program is very accessible, and everyone with an Airbnb account can join. However, you can only earn travel credits towards your bookings on the platform, not cash. You will not earn any money with this program, but at least you can save some money on your travels.
…since Airbnb launched in 2018…
What? How reliable is the information in this article?
Hi, on March 31, 2021, the affiliate program was shut down