Why Should you Become a LockTrip Affiliate?

A Quick Introduction to our Affiliate Program

Welcome To LockTrip Academy! Here you will find all useful information regarding our affiliate program, enriched by useful tips on how to build your own affiliate career. Please contact us, should you need assistance.

If you consider becoming a LockTrip Affiliate, we strongly recommend filling the Affiliate Registration Form.

1. Overview and Comparison

As an affiliate it is not always easy to compare programs with each other, mainly because it takes a lot of time to get into the details and also because the programs of different companies do not always match. This is why we've prepared a quick table showcasing how our affiliate program compares to the leading player in the travel industry.

	LockTrip.com	Booking.com
Duration	Lifetime Income	Single-Time Commission
Tracking Prior to Event	30-Day Cookie	No Tracking, must be Timed*
Commission	3% (Flat) Lifetime	5% (Average) One-Time
Additional Prizes	Affiliate League	None
Compound Effect	Yes	No
Minimum Payout	$50	$100
Availability	To all Users	Only upon Application
Psychological Factor	Strong	Weak
Custom Landing Pages	Available	None
Local Guides	Available	None
Gift Cards	Custom, with Analytics	None
Custom Discount Tools	Available	None
Affiliate Teams	Supported	None
Personal Affiliate Support	Available	None
Mentorship Program	Available	None
Ambassador Program	Available	None

*Many affiliate programs such as the one of booking.com work with exact-moment conversions. This means that affiliates need to refer the customer at the very exact moment of their booking. If the customer closes the window and opens it again, the referral is lost. Even if the customer creates an account, the referral will be lost because booking.com doesn’t allow for cookies, which track.

See section 3.5 for more info.

2. Unique Affiliate Economy

2.1 Receive 100% of the Revenue

LockTrip operates on the fundamentals of a shared economy. As an affiliate you become the center of economic activity, which is also reflected by our simple and straightforward commission structure. You receive 100% of all commissions generated by your referrals, which equates to 3.1% of their booking value. We do not generate any revenue from your referrals.

The 3.1% are distributed as 3% for level 1 referrals and 0.1% for level 2 referrals (the referrals of your referrals).

2.2 Lifetime Revenue Stream

Most referral programs limit affiliate commissions to the first purchase of the referral. At LockTrip we allow our affiliates to build a steady stream of revenue without such limitations.

Referrals are linked to your account for a lifetime and you will receive a 3% commission on all future bookings made. This means that LockTrip affiliates continue to profit from their referrals, even after concluding marketing activities.

It also means that you will have a steadily growing revenue stream that you can re-invest to acquire even more referrals.

2.3 High Booking Values

There are very few industries that deal with higher value purchases than the travel industry. Hotel bookings worth $500 - $2,000 are no exception and result in very attractive returns for our affiliates.

The average spending of our customers is $1,000 per year.

A single referral with average booking activity would generate $150 in revenue over a period of 5 years. Let's examine some other scenarios below.

Referral A could be a regular traveler that books 2-3 short stays per year, just for himself.

Referral	Annual Booking Value	Active Period	Total Income
A	$700	5 Years	$105
B	$1,300	6 Years	$234
C	$5,000	3 Years	$450

Referral B could be a father who books 1-2 trips per year on behalf of his whole family. This is a common pattern worth emphasizing. In most cases a single referral means a whole family or group of people.

Referral C could be a business traveler, who travels frequently and generates bookings every few weeks.

Assuming an acquisition cost of $25 per referral, the total cost for the 3 examples above would be $75, compared to a cumulative revenue of $789. Reinvesting this income at the same cost of $25 per referral would allow for the acquisition of more than 30 new referrals.

"Affiliate marketing has made businesses millions and ordinary people millionaires."

-Bo Bennet

3. Easy to Sell Product

The best affiliate economy doesn't mean much if the product doesn't sell. This is why we are working closely with our community and customers for the perfect user experience and the most intuitive design. But this is not all. Let's explore some of the reasons why LockTrip is a great product for affiliates to promote.

3.1 Everyone Likes to Travel

Travel is a universally dominant industry with a very high popularity. Virtually anyone is a potential customer, starting from your friends and family and expanding throughout the human population. With the developed world already being accustomed to taking regular vacations and the emerging countries quickly catching up in wealth and mobility, there are no limits to your affiliate activity and customer base.

3.2 Visually Appealing

Platforms like Instagram and YouTube are exploding with travel related content as we speak. The growing trend of getting out and exploring the world is to a great part carried by the strong visual appeal such content has to offer.

This makes it a perfect match for affiliate marketing, as it is easy to catch the attention of your audience through dedicated channels and visually rich content.

3.3 Hyper-Competitive Prices

This is really the core of our product and the reason that we exist. Our mission is to free customers from the hefty commissions imposed by the dominating booking sites. LockTrip's inventory of more than 500,000 hotels & properties is tailored towards hyper-competitive pricing. Customers enjoy on average 20% cheaper prices compared to conventional booking sites, without any compromises.

We achieve this by significantly cutting down on intermediary commissions and by working with leading suppliers from around the world.

The travel industry is extremely price-sensitive. Being able to offer 20% lower prices has the potential for industry-leading conversion rates.

3.4 High Retention

The LockTrip marketplace comes with high retention rates, which is important in the context of generating revenue for as long as possible after the single-time referring activity.

• All customers are registered with LockTrip, which means that there is a barrier from leaving the platform

• Our hyper-competitive prices make the booking process an unforgettable experience. Most of our first-time users report being surprised by the savings they were able to realize

• We support various tools that allow our affiliates to create a bond with their referrals. This can happen through our Local Guides as well as Travel & Support features.

3.5 No Need for Timing

Many affiliate programs only pay you for direct conversions. In order to receive the reward, the person you referred needs to purchase/book exactly at the moment of referral, otherwise the commission will be voided.

We believe that affiliates should be compensated for their work, regardless of when the actual booking is made.

1) 30-Day Browser Cookies

We use cookies to ensure that your hard work pays off. When you refer someone to LockTrip through your referral link, a cookie will be installed on the browser of the referral. This allows us to assign the referral to your account even if the referral closes the browser and registers a few days later.

The cookie remains for 30 days, which means that the referral will be assigned as long as the registration happens within 30 days of clicking on your link.

2) Registration with Lifetime Assignment

The 30 days period ensures that you get your deserved registration assigned. Once the registration is complete, all future bookings will yield commissions regardless of when they are made.

This is a very important feature, because it is much easier to have someone register at a given time and wait for their booking compared to referring the person at the exact moment of booking.

3) Gift Card Code

Another way to escape timing is to utilize gift card codes. Just hand out your gift card and tell your referral to enter the gift code upon registration. Our system will automatically detect the origin of the gift card and instantly assign the referral.

We make sure that you don't miss out on revenue due to bad timing.