Hi, I’m Jackie, the travel blogger and content creator behind Jou Jou Travels. My blog is all about solo travel and finding and discovering hidden gems along the way.
Before using Stay22, I was already earning through traditional affiliate links, but I always wondered how I could really scale my affiliate income with the 75 posts I had at the time without creating more work. Stay22 was the solution to that.
I joined in Q3 2023, I had 74K sessions that quarter (around 25k monthly), and the simple change of adding the Stay22 script to my site resulted in $30K extra in revenue since I joined with no additional work.
How Stay22 works for me
As a travel blogger and content creator, this is my full-time income, and I always look for ways to diversify my income streams. Stay22 was by far the easiest revenue stream to add to my portfolio, and it represented 12% of my earnings in 2025. That’s a significant portion, and it was all earned passively.
The way it works is really simple. You install the script they give you into the header section of your website and you start earning right away. You don’t even need tons of traffic to get started. I know many small bloggers who implemented it and earn more with Stay22 than any other affiliate program. You can choose to link directly to hotels and tour companies like GetYourGuide with Stay22 or opt to use the Nova feature only.
I highly recommend using Nova, as that’s where all my additional revenue came from. It leaves behind a window in the background to your readers and uses AI techniques to identify if they are fans of a specific hotel booking platform, and so on. That’s the feature I like most about it. It can be hard to figure out which link to use because each reader has different preferences. Nova bridges that gap.
I was mainly linking to Booking.com on my website, and so if someone would rather use Expedia, I’m missing out on this revenue opportunity. Stay22 eliminates this problem. As you can see below, I have readers booking from multiple booking platforms, and it’s impossible for me to link to all of them in my post. Not only that, it will look messy and confusing to the reader.
Plus, the insights you get from the dashboard are great at helping you understand which posts are driving the most revenue.
4 insights I learned from looking at my Stay22 data
Best Performing Content is for Readers with the intent to book
One of the biggest learnings I’ve seen from using Stay22 is that not all traffic is equal. The content that performs best is usually content where the reader is already in the planning stage of their trip.
For example, my highest-value conversions often come from highly specific travel guides rather than broad inspiration posts. Articles focused on things like seasonal travel, unique stays, hotel guides, and detailed destination planning tend to attract readers who are already looking for recommendations and are closer to making a booking.
So my top recommendation is to be strategic with your posts writing for user intent. For example, I always create a post on where to stay in xx city or something even more niche like best farm stays in Puglia. These types of posts perform best for me as they are for people who are ready to book accommodation.
Lesser-known destinations drive higher results
Another interesting insight has been seeing that destinations that are not widely covered generate incredible booking volume. While massive tourist spots like Rome and Paris are highly competitive, my posts on Albania and China have seen amazing results, as these destinations are still up and coming. My niche is hidden gems so I often write on these topics. Kimolos is a tiny island in Greece that not many people know, and it’s driving some significant bookings for me.
Target high-value bookings
Try writing a post on the best luxury hotels with a view in Paros or something along those lines to drive more revenue. This is a very niche search term, and even if it drives low volume, you will generate a lot of revenue from the actual booking value! Plus, the great thing is you attract that audience to your site, and if they click or have the Nova leave behind after visiting your site, you earn off their next booking, even if it’s not a specific hotel you recommended.
For example, a reader checked out my Best Places in Vietnam guide and ended up booking a massive holiday to the Maldives instead. So from one booking alone, I’ll be earning $279!
Mobile experience should be user-friendly
I found that 85% of my bookings are made on a mobile device. That’s massive! Mobile is definitely first when it comes to blogs. This means it’s extra important for you to have a mobile-optimized website. Ensure the experience is fast on mobile and that you have a responsive layout (it adjusts optimally to the user's screen). Get a hosting that is known for faster website speed! I use Lyrical Host, which has great hosting and customer experience. If you’re looking for more tips on how to start a travel blog and do things correctly from the start, then read my full guide on that. It helps you avoid common beginner blogger mistakes like signing up for Bluehost, which is known to be on the slower side.
Hopefully, these findings have informed you of the steps you need to take to scale your affiliate income. What’s great is Stay22 does the heavy lifting here, so you can focus on creating that amazing content and earning your best from it.
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