Stay22 Review: How One Feature Earned Me an Extra $600/Month

Confession time: I regularly ghost my email inbox. After nearly nine years of blogging, I’ve been pitched everything under the sun, including absurd schemes where I pay to market someone else’s product. It’s no surprise that bloggers can be a bit wary of answering emails.

So, I ignored Stay22’s introductory emails for a while… and, as it turns out, left a significant amount of money on the table. Or rather, an amount I could calculate but prefer not to type out because it hurts too much.

I thought I already knew what I was doing with affiliates. I’ve had hotel affiliate links integrated into my site since 2016. What could Stay22 possibly offer that I wasn’t already doing?

Allison standing under a waterfall in Tahiti — *How I feel when I check my Stay22 earnings*

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you purchase something after clicking. Thank you for supporting the free content on this independent site! For more information on affiliate links and cookies, see my disclosure page for more details.

Turns out, a lot. Stay22 has features I simply can’t replicate myself, namely high-tech solutions involving advanced scripts and AI-driven customization that go far beyond basic affiliate links.

I tested Stay22 cautiously, in fits and starts. Trust issues, you know? After nine months of data, I can safely say I’m a huge fan and think they’re a game-changer for bloggers, new and established alike.

Here’s my honest review of Stay22, including transparent data points and insights into my traffic and earnings so you can see what implementing it might look like for you.

Table of Contents

Stay22’s Unique Features

NOVA AI Booking Agent

Allison Green on a beach in Indonesia wearing a red swimsuit and blue shorts

The first feature I tried was NOVA, an AI-powered exit-intent tool. Unlike traditional pop-ups which disrupt the user experience, NOVA opens a new tab in the user’s browser after they leave your site. It’s subtle and less intrusive.

Here’s how it works: Stay22’s AI detects when a user is about to leave your site and opens a new tab in the background. This tab contains a hotel or car rental search window customized based on the link they clicked, the page-level content that they were browsing, and any available user data stored in their cookie.

For those worried about reader experience, I understand your hesitation. Personally, I find it really unobtrusive as NOVA only triggers once every 30 days, so it’s not going to alienate your readership.

To start, I used only the NOVA script, without changing any of my existing affiliate links. Here’s what my revenue looked like over five months of using just this feature:

March: $602.10
April: $428.90
May: $472.72
June: $1,072.72
July: $475.14

screenshot showing june earnings of over 1000 us dollars — Stay22 data for just NOVA in June 2024

That’s an average of $610.32 per month in additional income from NOVA alone.

I averaged about 72,500 pageviews a month during this period, so this was a significant revenue boost. And again, this is purely from NOVA integration alone—not my total hotel affiliate earnings, which I kept separate up until August 2024.

Already piqued your interest? Stay 22 offers a $100 bonus to new affiliates who sign up through the referral program. You can learn more about Stay22 and sign up here!

Allez Generator

Allison Green walking in the Arctic Circle hiking area in Rovaniemi just outside the city center

Stay22’s Allez Generator is a game-changer for simplifying affiliate link creation. Instead of managing multiple programs individually, you can create links for up to five affiliates—including Booking, Vrbo, Expedia, and Hotels.com as well as GetYourGuide—directly in Stay22’s partner hub.

You can also add campaign trackers to analyze link performance more effectively. I’m a huge fan of doing this as it helps me A/B test certain deep links and calls to action (CTAs).

Personally, I still use GetYourGuide directly for its detailed analytics, as Stay22’s aren’t quite as robust, and because I already have an established relationship with the affiliate management team there.

However, the Allez Generator is an excellent all-in-one solution for those who don’t plan to dig heavily into the data and just want to streamline the process.

ROAM & SPARK

Allison Green in a hat, wearing sneakers and a coat, looking at the Taipei 101 in the distance

One of Stay22’s standout features is its AI-powered ROAM technology, which enhances conversion rates by about 25%.

Here’s how it works: If you link to a general affiliate homepage, like Booking.com, the AI automatically generates a deep link tailored to the user’s preferences and data. For example, a link to “hotels in Paris” would redirect the user to a customized page that is designed to convert based on their user profile.

Importantly, this doesn’t interfere with any manually created deep links, so you retain control over any targeted links you’ve already created.

Using AI, SPARK dynamically identifies the best places to insert links in your existing content — it does everything for you, like an automatic virtual assistant!

A view of my income from Stay22 so far — *Numbers don’t lie – here’s the data from my Stay22 account — NOVA integrated in March and full integration in August*

The key advantage of SPARK is its ability to diversify affiliate links. For instance, it might prioritize Expedia or Hotels.com for American and Canadian audiences, which tend to convert better there than on Booking.com.

Since SPARK is still new, I don’t have enough data to form a strong opinion yet, as it’s been less than two months since its release. Stay22’s initial results have shown a 10% increase in conversions and bookings.

So far, I haven’t noticed dramatic changes attributable to SPARK, but it’s a promising feature, especially if you’re a blogger who hasn’t previously implemented affiliate links.

Interactive Maps

Allison Green in a robe and orange hat, sitting in the wood-fired sauna and thinking about how beautiful the Tromso fjord is in the winter.

Stay22 also allows you to embed interactive maps displaying Booking and Vrbo listings. Readers can click on a property to open it in a new tab.

While this could work well for “where to stay” posts or neighborhood guides, I found it unnecessary for most of my content. After testing it on a few pages, I decided not to implement it more widely, as it is a bit visually cluttered for my taste.

Learn more about Stay22’s offerings here!

Stay22 Pros

Significant Earnings Boost

Allison in front of the sign warning about polar bears in Svalbard

As shown in my NOVA results, Stay22 has dramatically increased my affiliate income.

Despite more than a 50% drop year-over-year in traffic (thanks, Google algorithm updates), my earnings have remained steady.

For example, in August 2023, I made $1,830.30 from direct bookings with 205,000 pageviews. In August 2024, I earned slightly more ($1,892.81) with just 77,000 pageviews, a little more than a third

Tech-Driven Solutions

Stay22 isn’t just an affiliate aggregator More importantly, it’s a tech company focused on optimizing conversions for bloggers. When bloggers win, Stay22 wins, and you can see this in the features they choose to roll out.

Their tools are cutting-edge, with features designed to maximize revenue while minimizing the impact on user experience.

Customizable Features

Stay22 lets you pick and choose which tools to use. For instance, I initially used only NOVA, while keeping my existing direct affiliate links intact.

This flexibility is invaluable if you already have established partnerships that you don’t want to sacrifice while you try something new.

Responsive Support

Unlike some OTAs I’ve dealt with — which have been nightmarish at times — Stay22’s team is quick to respond and highly collaborative.

I’ve been able to hop on calls to discuss new features and request customizations or tweaks to my code without hassle.

Interested? Sign up here to get started and be eligible for a $100 bonus!

Stay22 Cons

Limited Dashboard Insights

Allison standing on a rock with her arms up in the air

While Stay22’s dashboard is decent, I wish it offered more detailed data—especially regarding which Stay22 features drive which conversions.

This would help identify what’s worth doubling down on and what’s not to create the most balanced user experience, as there’s no point having a feature active if it’s not converting.

Confusing Commission Rates

Allison Green diving with a sea turtle in Tahiti

Stay22 negotiates its commission rates with partners, which are then split with you. However, the exact rates aren’t disclosed due to their confidentiality agreements with their partners, which has the effect of leaving you in the dark about some specifics.

That said, switching my Booking links to Stay22 hasn’t lowered my overall earnings, and as I mentioned above, my revenue per pageview has actually increased significantly: more than doubling it in some instances.

Final Thoughts

Allison with her hat on and bathing suit in a blue jacuzzi

Stay22 has been a game-changer for my affiliate earnings, especially with tools like NOVA, ROAM, and SPARK.

While there’s room for improvement—particularly in dashboard transparency—after 9 months of being a Stay22 partner, I can happily say that the pros far outweigh the cons.

If you’re a blogger looking to boost your affiliate income with minimal effort, Stay22 is worth a try!

NOTE: This review was sponsored by Stay22, but all opinions are my own. Convinced Stay22 is right for you? Give it a try — it’ll only take a few minutes of your time to implement. Sign up here to get started today and be eligible for a $100 bonus once you reach your commission threshold!

Allison Green

Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016, visiting 75+ countries in total. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. As a former educator, she merges her writing and educational experience to encourage ethical, sustainable travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and TBEX. Her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. When she’s not on the road, she lives in Bangkok, Thailand.