Anyone joined HotelsCombined.com on CJ?

[wilwak]

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Hi all

We feel that we've just been scammed on HotelsCombined.com's independent programme

HotelsCombined.com Affiliate Program - One to Avoid?

However I see they are also active on CJ.

Has anyone had any experience of them on there?

Do they act responsibly? Are there lots of reversals? Do transactions track ok?

Their network earnings seem quite poor so I'm wondering if their CJ programme is just as dodgy.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[JordanofHotelsCombined]

Hi Wilwak,

I can assure you that we act responsibly, and all transactions are tracked properly. If there are any issues with your account, please email through to affiliate@hotelscombined.com and affiliate support can offer a proper explanation.

Thank you for your time

Jordan

[wilwak]

I've just added an update here

HotelsCombined.com Affiliate Program - One to Avoid?

Hotels Combined is not a programme we would recommend joining.

[CommissionJunction]

Hi,

thank you for your feedback.
I am Melanie and I am the account manager for HotelsCombined here at CJ.
I have checked the programme for you again and I can assure you there have been no reversals for HotelsCombined through CJ and transactions will track if you make sure you use your CJ tracking links all the time.

I think what does lead to confusion sometimes is the way the merchant pays out commissions. Here is a short explanation on how it works:
HC pay per lead, So every time a user comes to HotelsCombined and then, after searching, clicks off to one of the booking sites they compare and aggregate, that’s called a lead. Using a variety of metrics, HC can determine the $$ value of that lead to them. HC then allocate 50% of the value of that lead to the publisher.
So if we determine that a lead generated would have yielded $2.24 for us, we allocate $1.12 to the publisher (I am using USD as an example).

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have further questions. You can contact me directly on mscheibner@cj.com

Many thanks,
Melanie

[wilwak]

Thanks for the reply Melanie

It seems that it's far better to join their programme through CJ than doing it independently. On their independent programme if 'successful' sales are below what they expect they suspend you from the programme and don't pay you anything. Our sites target the UK holiday market and most bookings take place in January onwards. We were unfortunate that we joined the indep HC.com programme for the poorest converting months of November and December. Although we did get bookings the conversion was below what they wanted so we were suspended and forfeited ALL our earnings. HC.com have confirmed that we supplied no fraudulent traffic, it just converted below the rate they wanted.

A very odd way for a 'legitimate' merchant to treat affiliates.