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Hotels.com and Columbus Internet have announced the launch of the first in-Facebook affiliate programme through their joint app ‘Hotels WithMe’ in the UK, Italy, France, Sweden and Germany.
The ‘Hotels WithMe’ app enables friends, families and colleagues to get together to collectively browse, choose and book a hotel from Hotels.com’s portfolio of almost 140,000 properties worldwide. The app launched on the UK Hotels.com Facebook page in September 2010 and has since seen strong growth, also rolling out across APAC and Europe. In this new and innovative move, owners of other Facebook information pages can now install the app and earn commission on bookings made through it.
The app can be added to a facebook page in a few seconds, as is explained in the video shown here http://www.choosewithme.com/affiliate-marketing/. Once added, visitors to that page can browse and book properties. Every time a booking is made, the page’s owner will earn commission via the affiliate programme, which is managed by AffiliatePerformance GmbH.
AffiliatePerformance has developed a management tool for affiliate partners which gives a detailed overview of the performance of the app within their Facebook pages. The whole tracking system is accessible to page-admins from within Facebook, as well as via the AffiliatePerformance website directly.
Josie Shah, Director of Partner Marketing at Hotels.com, comments, “The launch of the affiliate programme utilising the app is a unique innovation for Hotels.com, and one we are pleased to be spearheading. The use of this app through Facebook pages will be of particular interest to those championing sports events, bands or concert tours as it can be pre-set with default dates and locations to match multiple tour dates. This offers a useful service to fans of the Facebook page as well as great commission opportunities for the owner.”
“This is not only the first real Affiliate Program to sit within Facebook, it is also a way for Facebook pages to significantly increase interaction with visitors to their pages,” said Andrew Sittermann, CEO at Columbus Internet. “We are very proud to be working with Hotels.com and AffiliatePerformance on this ground-breaking project.”
Matthias Juergensen, CEO at AffiliatePerformance, is convinced that this new Facebook2Facebook marketing programme offers clear added value to users and affiliates alike, adding, “This is the perfect integration of social media and online marketing.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
