Affiliate Marketing Trends 2026: Rewards, Card-Linking, Creators and AI

Affiliate marketing is entering a new stage. For years, many brands have mainly associated this channel with coupons, cashback, comparison sites or sales attributed to the last click. However, the market is evolving towards a much broader, more sophisticated and more strategic model.

In 2026, talking about affiliate marketing no longer means talking only about final conversion. It means talking about partnerships, technology, content creators, loyalty, rewards, transactional data, artificial intelligence, incrementality measurement and traffic quality.

For companies in the travel and tourism sector, this evolution is particularly relevant.

Hotel chains, airlines, car hire companies, ferry operators, theme parks and any online travel business are competing in an increasingly complex environment, where generating direct sales, reducing dependency on intermediaries and optimising marketing investment have become key priorities.

In this context, affiliate marketing can move from being seen as a tactical channel to becoming a strategic growth lever.

1. Affiliate Marketing as a Full-Funnel Channel

One of the main trends for 2026 is the consolidation of affiliate marketing as a full-funnel channel.

Traditionally, the affiliate channel has often been associated with the final stage of the purchase process: the user has already made a decision, searches for a discount, compares options and ends up converting. This approach still exists, but it no longer reflects the full reality of the channel.

Today, affiliate partners can influence different moments of the Customer Journey:

• In the Discovery Stage: through editorial content, creators, travel guides, comparison sites or specialist communities.
• In the Consideration Stage: through reviews, recommendations, newsletters, rankings or inspirational content.
• In the Conversion Stage: through cashback, codes, rewards, personalised offers or high-intent partners.
• In the Loyalty Stage: through points programmes, benefit clubs, banks, fintechs or loyalty platforms.

This completely changes the way the channel is understood. Affiliate marketing is no longer positioned only as a tool to close sales, but as an ecosystem of partners capable of supporting users across different decision-making stages.

Why is this new scenario so interesting for travel companies? Basically, because travel purchases are rarely impulsive. A trip usually requires inspiration, comparison, trust and planning. That is why working with different types of partners can help influence users before, during and after the moment of booking.

2. Greater Focus on Incrementality

Another key trend is the growing focus on incrementality.

For a long time, one of the major questions in the affiliate channel has been: would this sale have happened anyway, or did the partner play a real role in generating it?

This issue is especially relevant in partner types such as coupons, cashback or loyalty, where there is a risk that some partners may capture demand that was already close to converting. That is why brands are starting to demand a clearer view of the real value each publisher brings.

Measuring incrementality means analysing which sales, bookings or users have been generated thanks to the actual intervention of a partner, and which have simply been attributed to the channel without delivering real growth.

In 2026, more mature affiliate strategies are not focused solely on increasing the number of partners or the volume of attributed sales.

They are focused on answering more important questions:

• Which partners generate new demand?
• Which partners help open up new markets?
• Which partners bring higher-value users?
• Which partners influence the purchase decision?
• Which sales are truly incremental?

For the tourism industry, this approach is fundamental. It is not just about selling more, but about selling better: more direct bookings, more validated sales, greater control over the channel and less dependency on intermediaries.

This is where expert management of the affiliate channel becomes more important. Activating partners is only part of the job. What is truly strategic is defining rules, controlling quality, analysing results, validating bookings and optimising investment according to the real value each partner provides.

3. Rewards and Loyalty: More value, but also more control

Rewards, cashback and loyalty models continue to gain importance within affiliate marketing. And this is no coincidence.

Today’s consumer is looking for value. It is not always just about finding the lowest price, but about gaining an additional benefit: cashback, points, miles, exclusive advantages, upgrades, priority access or accumulated rewards.

Clearly, this logic fits naturally with travel companies. A hotel booking, a flight, a car rental or a travel experience often has a high average order value. As a result, a reward linked to the purchase can have a significant impact on the user’s final decision.

However, brands are also evolving. Many strategies are now focused not on activating any cashback or loyalty partner without control, but on defining a clear strategy by answering, at the very least, the following questions:

• Which type of user do we want to reach?
• Which markets are a priority?
• What rules apply to new or returning customers?
• How can we avoid overlap with other campaigns?

Rewards and loyalty partners can be a major opportunity to generate direct sales, but they require careful management. Without a strategy, they can become a simple promotional lever. With the right management, they can help attract qualified demand, improve conversion and strengthen the direct channel.

For hotels, airlines and other travel brands, the key is to work with these partners not only as discount generators, but as allies to connect with high-value audiences.

4. Card-Linked Offers: A new affiliate layer based on transactions

One of the most interesting trends within the rewards ecosystem is the growth of card-linked offers, also known as Card-linking.

Card-linking allows an offer to be linked directly to the user’s payment card. The mechanism is simple: the user activates an offer in a banking app, fintech, wallet, rewards platform or benefits programme; then makes the purchase with the linked card and automatically receives a reward, cashback, points or associated benefit.

The major difference compared with other models is that the user does not need to enter a promotional code or necessarily rely on a traditional affiliate link at the moment of purchase. The reward is connected to the transaction made with the card.

At Affilired, we see this as a major opportunity for travel companies:

• It reduces friction in the purchase process: the user does not have to copy codes, remember conditions or follow complex steps. They activate the offer, make the purchase and receive their benefit.
• It enables brands to connect with audiences within highly trusted environments, such as banks, fintechs, wallets or financial benefits programmes.

In addition, Card-linking can help brands work with models that are less dependent on cookies or traditional tracking systems, as validation is supported by transactional data. Card-linking does not replace traditional affiliate marketing: it significantly expands it. And it can become a premium layer within a results-driven partnership strategy.

5. Creators and Influencers with a performance model

Another clear trend is the evolution of Influencer Marketing towards more measurable models.

Content creators are no longer just an awareness tool. More and more brands are integrating creators into affiliate strategies, combining content, trust, community and performance.

Travellers trust recommendations from people, media outlets or communities they perceive as authentic. A creator specialising in family getaways, luxury travel, wellness, city breaks, specific destinations or local experiences can influence users long before they reach a booking website.

The key is not to work with creators only as a one-off visibility action. The real value appears when they are integrated into a measurable affiliate strategy, with clear objectives, proper tracking, defined conditions and results analysis.

In this sense, micro-creators and specialist profiles can be particularly relevant. They do not always have the largest audiences, but they often have more specific, more loyal communities that are better aligned with certain travel intentions.

This is a way to reach qualified audiences without relying exclusively on Paid Media campaigns or traditional intermediaries.

6. Artificial Intelligence, Conversational Search and Affiliate Content

Yes, Artificial Intelligence is also having an impact on Affiliate Marketing. The way users search for information, compare options and plan their trips is changing. More and more people are using AI tools, conversational assistants and enriched search engines to discover destinations, compare alternatives or answer questions before making a purchase.

This directly affects affiliate content: generic, undifferentiated articles created solely to capture SEO traffic have less and less room to grow. Instead, useful, expert, up-to-date content that responds to a specific user intent is becoming more valuable.

This means affiliates also need to evolve. It is no longer enough to create lists of offers or discount pages without context. Content must provide expertise, specialisation and trust, which has important implications for brands.

For travel brands, this evolution has two important implications:

• The first is that they need to take care of their own presence in AI-driven search environments. This means creating clear, structured and useful content that is aligned with the real questions their potential customers are asking.
• The second is that they need to identify and recruit publishers that are adapting their content to this new reality: specialist media, comparison sites with real value, vertical newsletters, traveller communities, expert creators and partners capable of influencing complex purchase decisions.

The future of affiliate marketing will not be based solely on traffic volume, but on quality of influence.

7. What do these trends mean for Travel Companies?

All these trends point in the same direction: affiliate marketing is moving from being a tactical channel to becoming a strategic growth ecosystem.

For companies in the travel sector, this represents a clear opportunity. The affiliate channel can help generate direct sales, access new audiences, reduce dependency on intermediaries and optimise investment through results-based models.

But to take advantage of this opportunity, brands need to go beyond the basic activation of publishers.

In other words, the question is no longer simply “how many affiliates does my programme have?”, but “what real value does each partner bring to my direct sales strategy?”

8. The maturity of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing trends in 2026 show a more mature, more technological channel that is more closely connected to real business objectives. Affiliate marketing is no longer just about links, coupons or last-click sales. It is about building a partner ecosystem capable of influencing the entire user journey, generating qualified demand, measuring real results and optimising profitability.

For travel companies, this evolution comes at a key moment. In an increasingly competitive market, where direct sales are a priority, commission-based affiliate models offer an effective way to grow without assuming unnecessary risk.

At Affilired, we have been growing alongside the affiliate channel for more than 15 years, supporting travel companies in the evolution of their direct sales strategies. This experience allows us to understand not only how the market has changed, but also which types of partners, models and solutions can bring the greatest value in this new stage.

Our team of specialists is ready to help travel brands identify, activate and optimise the most suitable affiliates for their objectives, combining technology, sector expertise, multichannel management and a results-based model.

Because affiliate marketing has matured. And today, more than ever, its true value lies in building quality partnerships, generating measurable direct sales and contributing to the sustainable growth of the direct channel.