How to Make Money With a Travel Blog: My Honest Review of Stay 22 (2025)

One of the questions I get asked the most from readers is: “How do you actually make money with a travel blog?” And honestly, I get it, it’s one of the biggest mysteries when you’re first starting out. The truth is, monetizing a travel blog isn’t always as easy as it might look from the outside. But one tool has made a huge difference for me: Stay22.

In this article, I’ll walk you through exactly how I use Stay22 to monetize my blog and why it’s become my single biggest income stream. If you’re not yet familiar with Stay22, don’t worry, I’ll explain what it is, how it works, and how you can use it to start earning money as a travel blogger. I’ll also share real numbers from my own blog, so you can see just how powerful it can be.

So, if you’re ready to finally figure out how to make money with your travel blog, let’s dive in.

How to Make Money With a Travel Blog – My Experience

I started my travel blog as a New Year’s resolution. On January 1st, I sat down, wrote my very first articles, and decided to treat this like a full-time job, even though I had absolutely no money coming in and no real idea of how to make money with a travel blog.

Fast forward just nine months, and I’m sitting here writing this article at the end of September having just made my very first $10,000 month and the majority of that came from Stay22.

Honestly, I still don’t fully believe it. Less than a year ago, I was completely clueless about monetization, and now this little blog is paying my bills. I don’t feel like I have everything figured out (spoiler: I don’t), but what I can do is share exactly how I went from $0 to over $10k/month in under a year and why Stay22 has been the single most important tool in that process.

At the beginning, I was testing different affiliate tools and barely making anything. I think my best month was around $60 (in January), which felt discouraging but also gave me hope that it was possible. Then, kind of randomly, I stumbled across Stay22 on Instagram, installed it on my site, and within my very first month I earned more than I ever had before. That was the moment I realized: this actually works.

Since then, my Stay22 income has only gone up month after month. It’s been such a game-changer that I honestly can’t imagine running my blog without it. If you’re just starting out and wondering how to monetize your travel blog, I’d say this is one of the smartest places to begin.

👉 Do you want to start earning from your content like I did? sign up through my
referral link to get $100 once you reach 100 bookings!

What is Stay 22?

Alright, so let me back up for a second and actually explain what Stay22 is, because if you’ve never heard of it before, everything I’ve said so far might sound a little cryptic. I felt the exact same way when I first started my blogging journey.

In the simplest terms, Stay22 is an AI-powered monetization platform for creators. That includes bloggers (like me), but also YouTubers, influencers, podcasters, basically anyone who creates content online. Anywhere accommodation links exist, Stay22 can help you earn
more on them.

Here’s what makes it so great: Stay22 allows me to create affiliate links for my website, but it also automatically converts existing links into affiliate links. That means I don’t have to spend hours manually inserting links, Stay22 does most of the heavy lifting for me. Honestly, the convenience is one of my favorite parts.

Most of my income with Stay22 comes from hotel bookings. It integrates with partners like Booking.com, GetYourGuide, Hotels.com, Expedia, Vrbo, and more. So whenever someone clicks a link on my blog and books something, I get a commission.

Of course, there are other affiliate platforms out there, and I’ve tested quite a few. But I can honestly say Stay22 has been the most effective for me, it’s smarter, more user-friendly, and just so much more convenient than the others.

Ready to turn your blog posts into passive income? Sign up with my referral link and start earning with Stay22 today.

How Stay 22 Helps Me Make Money Off A Travel Blog

To give you a bit more detail on how Stay22 actually works for me as a travel blogger: the main thing is pretty simple, I can manually place links in my blog posts, and Stay22 automatically converts them into affiliate links. So for example, in my Where to Stay in Amsterdam article, I mentioned a few hotels and just added the normal Booking.com links. Stay22 then turned those into affiliate links behind the scenes, which honestly saves me a ton of time.

But that’s just the start. Stay22 also has a few extra features that make things even easier and help me boost earnings without me having to constantly think about it:

• Spark: This one scans your content and finds spots where you could add affiliate links that you might have missed. It then inserts them automatically, but in a way that blends into your text so it doesn’t feel spammy or cluttered. I like that it doesn’t rewrite anything, it just quietly adds a couple of extra links per article that you probably would have overlooked.
  
• Nova: Nova is basically AI that knows when your readers are likely to book something. It opens an affiliate offer at the right time, but it’s not a popup (thank god). It feels pretty seamless. I don’t have to do anything, and it just works in the background.
  
• LinkSwap: This one is underrated but so useful. If you’ve been blogging for a while you probably have old links that no longer work or redirect weirdly. LinkSwap replaces those with higher-converting, updated links automatically so you don’t lose out on commissions.
  
• Map: This is one of my favorite features visually. It shows a live map with accommodation options based on the location you’re writing about. So if I write about Oktoberfest in Munich, my readers can actually see hotels around the festival grounds. It makes the guide more useful and, of course, helps with conversions.
  

For me, these tools all just run in the background and make monetization feel way less overwhelming. Instead of me stressing about affiliate links in every article, Stay22 handles the heavy lifting.

👉 I’ve been using Stay22 on Girl on a Zebra for months now, and it’s honestly been the easiest affiliate tool I’ve tried. Sign up through my link to give it a go.

Why I Use Stay 22 to Make Money With My Travel Blog

So why do I use Stay 22? Well… money, obviously (haha). But jokes aside, the reason I keep using it is because the results are simply better than with any other affiliate program I’ve tried. 

The number of bookings and conversions I get is just higher, and I’m convinced that’s thanks to all the features running quietly in the background. Stay 22 just does a great job at turning my content into actual income.

But it’s not only about the money. I also really like how easy it is to use. The dashboard is straightforward, the interface makes sense, and I don’t feel like I need a tech degree to figure it out. 

Another thing that stood out to me early on was the customer service. I’ve had a few questions along the way, and every time I reached out I got answers directly from the Stay 22 team, not some outsourced call center reading off a script. They actually know the platform inside out and genuinely helped me out, which I really appreciate.

Pros and Cons of Using Stay 22

Pros

• Easy to set up: Getting Stay22 running on my blog honestly took just a few minutes. They sent me clear step-by-step instructions, and it really is foolproof, you don’t need to be tech-savvy at all.
  
• Higher income: Simply put, I earn more with Stay22 than I ever did with other affiliate platforms. The number of bookings and conversions is just higher.
  
• User-friendly: The dashboard is clean, easy to navigate, and clearly made with creators in mind. Plus, their customer service is actually helpful (and fast) if you ever get stuck.
  
• Smart AI tools: My favorite feature is that Stay22 automatically converts my existing hotel links into affiliate links. So if you already have dozens of blog posts published, it updates all those links for you. Total game changer especially if you are planning on switching from another affiliate network to Stay22.
  
• Time saver: Because it does so much automatically, I spend less time messing with links and more time actually creating content.
  

Cons

• Cancellations: The only small downside I’ve noticed is a slightly higher cancellation rate compared to some other platforms. But honestly, the overall income still ends up way higher, so for me it’s not really a dealbreaker.

How Much Money Can You Make With a Travel Blog Using Stay 22

Alright, let’s get into the juicy part, the actual numbers. I’m all about being transparent with my earnings, because I want to show new creators that yes, it’s still absolutely possible to make money with a travel blog in 2025. 

Don’t listen to the people saying “blogging is dead” because of AI and Google algorithm updates. If they really had successful blogs themselves, they wouldn’t be saying that.

In the last 30 days alone, I made over $10,000 from my blog. That number includes ads and a couple of brand deals, but the majority came from affiliate income through Stay22. To be super specific: I made $7,690.80 from over 800 affiliate bookings. This was my highest month so far, and yes, I’m ridiculously excited about it.

To give you some context, my blog is currently at around 140,000 monthly pageviews (about 100,000 sessions). I grew that from zero in just nine months, so if you’re just starting out, trust me, it’s doable.

👉 Stay22 also has a partner program. If you sign up through this link, you’ll get a $100 bonus after your first 100 bookings. I hit that milestone within just a couple of months, so it’s a nice little boost to get you started.

$100 For 100 Bookings

One last thing I want to mention is the referral program that Stay 22 offers. If you sign up through my referral link, you’ll get an extra $100 once you hit your first 100 bookings. It only took me a couple of months to reach that milestone, so honestly, it’s free money.

When I signed up, I didn’t even know about this referral bonus. By the time I found out, I had just crossed 100 bookings, and I was so annoyed that I missed out on that cash. 

Don’t make the same mistake, make sure you sign up through the link so you get that extra bonus.

👉 Click here to sign up for Stay 22 and claim your $100 bonus

FAQs About How to Make Money WIth a Travel Blog Using Stay 22

How to make money writing a travel blog?

There are a few main ways: affiliate bookings (I use Stay22 for this), ad revenue through platforms like Mediavine, and the occasional brand deal or product placement. Most bloggers end up with a mix of these.

What’s the best way to monetize my blog?

Personally, I recommend starting with Stay22. The reason is simple: there’s no minimum traffic requirement. Ad networks often want you to have 10,000+ views a month before they’ll accept you, but with Stay22 you can start earning from day one.

How many blog posts do I need to make money?

Technically, even one post could start earning if it’s well-optimized and people are clicking your links. That said, consistency matters. For me, things really started to take off after I had around 80 posts published. Blogging is a long game, so think growth over time rather than quick wins.

Is Stay22 free?

Yes, totally free to use and set up. That’s one of the things I love about it, there’s no financial risk in trying it out.

How do you make money as a travel blogger?

I think consistency is really the key. It took me some time to grow to a size from when I was able to monetize my blog properly.

Final Thoughts on How to Make Money With Travel Blog with Stay22

Honestly, Stay22 has been the single biggest reason I was able to turn my blog into an actual business. It takes so much of the heavy lifting off my plate. I barely have to do anything besides check my earnings dashboard every day (which, not going to lie, is one of my favorite little rituals now).

With all the smart features running in the background, it really has made monetizing my blog almost effortless. 

If you’re curious to give it a go, I’d highly recommend signing up through [this link] so you’ll get a $100 bonus after your first 100 bookings, which is a great little boost to get started.