A step-by-step guide to setting up and managing your affiliate relationships

Affiliate partnerships can significantly enhance your business by broadening your audience and increasing bookings. However, many operators hesitate to pursue these relationships due to the complexity of agreements, pricing structures, and invoicing. The good news is that with a well-organized approach, establishing and maintaining these partnerships can be straightforward and incredibly rewarding.

With our FareHarbor Strategic Partnerships and Affiliates teams, FareHarbor operators have a plethora of seamless resources to manage their affiliate relationships — so they can focus on delivering exceptional experiences.

This guide will walk you through the key steps to building strong, profitable affiliate relationships, along with a few of the tools FareHarbor has to support you along the way.

Step 1: Set up your contracts and agreements

A contract serves as the foundation of your affiliate relationship. It ensures transparency, prevents misunderstandings, and clearly outlines the expectations for both parties. Without a contract, discrepancies in payment terms, commission structures, or booking policies can lead to disputes that damage relationships and affect your revenue.

What to include in your contract

Your contract should cover several key aspects to establish a mutually beneficial partnership:

Contract length and renewal terms: Specify how long the agreement is valid as well as the renewal process.
Roles and responsibilities: Define exactly what is expected from both you and the affiliate.
Payment collection and invoicing details: Clarify who collects payments and how invoices are handled.

Pro tip: A contract doesn’t have to be overly complicated. A simple, well-structured agreement that lays out the key details is often enough to ensure a successful partnership.

Step 2: Solidify your rates and terms

Pricing your tours with affiliates can sometimes get confusing, so it’s essential to break it down to ensure you’re still making a profitable amount.

First you’ll want to identify your net rates vs. your retail rates. Net rates are the amount you receive after commissions, whereas retail rates are the prices customers pay.

Then, you need to consider which fees will be applied to your prices, such as commission and taxes.

Rather than guessing at how you should set your prices, work backward from your profit margin to ensure your rates are financially sustainable. For example, if your minimum requirement is a $200 net rate per booking, account for commissions, taxes, and fees before determining your final retail rate.

Pro tip: Utilize a rate sheet to structure and document your pricing clearly. FareHarbor’s rate sheet template helps streamline this process and ensures accuracy across all affiliates.

Step 3: Consider your profit margins and financial sustainability

To set fair and sustainable rates, it’s crucial to thoroughly evaluate all factors that influence profitability. Begin by assessing your operational expenses, taxes, and additional fees, as these directly impact the revenue you retain from each booking.

Additionally, consider seasonal fluctuations in demand — many tourism businesses experience peak and off-peak periods, which can impact profitability. Adjusting rates to reflect seasonal demand can help maximize revenue during busy periods while maintaining competitiveness during slower seasons.

A flexible approach to pricing ensures that your affiliate relationships remain financially sustainable in the long run.

Be sure to avoid common pricing pitfalls

Overcommitting to high-commission partnerships can significantly reduce overall profitability by cutting into your margins, making it difficult to sustain long-term business growth.
Ignoring price adjustments for peak and off-peak seasons can lead to missed revenue opportunities and financial inefficiencies.

Step 4: Create a strong rate sheet

A rate sheet is a crucial document that provides a structured pricing guide for your affiliates. It ensures consistency and prevents misinterpretation of rates. Many affiliates connect via separate systems and rely on your rate sheet to correctly configure products within their platforms.

Key components of a solid rate sheet

Specific tour or activity: Be very clear which experience you are referencing to create consistency and ease of integration.
Customer types: Include all different customer categories associated with the experience, such as adult and child.
Retail rate: State the price paid by customers.
Tax rate and fees: Outline all applicable charges.
Commission and taxes on commission: Provides a transparent breakdown of costs.
Net rate total: Confirms the final amount you will receive per booking.

Step 5: Choose your payment processes and invoicing

Before selecting a payment model, confirm with the affiliate how their business operates. Many resellers already have a set process for booking and collecting customer payments, which may not always align with your preferred setup. For example, an API-connected affiliate may not be able to function like a referral affiliate. Clarifying these details upfront helps avoid misalignment and ensures a smoother partnership.

There are several different payment models to consider. Be sure to pick a system that can help streamline operations and works best for your unique business. A few processes are:

Referral invoicing: The affiliate collects payment, and you invoice them for the net rate.
Billing invoicing: You collect the payment, then pay the affiliate their commission.
Net rates: The affiliate pays you a pre-agreed net rate in advance.

Step 6: Communicate key information with affiliates

Providing clear and accessible information helps affiliates effectively market and sell your experiences. Be sure to share:

A fact sheet outlining tour details, logistics, and guest requirements.
Rate sheets detailing commission structures, retail pricing, and net rates.
Customization options to align with your affiliate’s business model.

Step 7: Support your affiliate relationships to foster long-term growth

Conduct regular reviews

Maintaining a strong affiliate network requires ongoing evaluation to ensure mutually beneficial partnerships. Assess commission structures annually to keep rates competitive and sustainable as market conditions shift. Monitor affiliate performance through booking reports and sales insights to identify top-performing partners and improve underperforming relationships.

Communicate regularly

Strong communication is key to successful affiliate relationships. Keep affiliates updated on pricing, product changes, and policies to avoid misunderstandings. Provide training materials to help affiliates market your offerings effectively, ensuring they can accurately represent your brand and drive conversions.

The FareHarbor solution for affiliate success

FareHarbor simplifies affiliate management by providing a dedicated team that assists with the setup and optimization of your partnerships. This team works closely with operators to configure their Dashboards, support pricing structures, and streamline payment processes. Most importantly, we ensure all of your API connections are integrated perfectly, with bookings seamlessly flowing into a single Dashboard.

By handling these critical aspects, FareHarbor enables operators to scale their affiliate network efficiently and maximize revenue opportunities.

How it works (as a client)

Submit a new affiliate request through FareHarbor support.
FareHarbor configures the partnership within 3–5 days.
Ongoing support is available for troubleshooting and pricing updates.

Expand your network even more

Join our very own affiliate program, the FareHarbor Distribution Network (FHDN) to easily connect with local operators, niche OTAs, travel influencers, and bloggers to expand your reach and increase bookings—all under a single contract. Instead of negotiating and managing individual agreements with each affiliate, FHDN streamlines the process, saving you time and effort.

Establishing strong affiliate relationships requires clear communication, well-defined pricing, and effective financial planning. By implementing these best practices, you can build long-lasting partnerships that drive growth and increase bookings.

FareHarbor takes the complexity out of affiliate management by handling pricing, invoicing, and integrations so you can focus on your core business.

For further insights, check out our blog on the channel mix fix strategy for more ways to grow your bookings.