Transparency, Usability & a Great Interface: How Rome Vacation Tips Boosted Affiliate Sales

Alessia Razzini

June 8, 2022

Rome Vacation Tips (RVT) was created in 2014 when its founders realised there was a significant information gap for visitors to the city. Questions such as ‘How to get from the airport to Rome city centre’ and ‘How to visit the Colosseum’ were among the most frequently asked, and yet the answers were hard to find.

“Italy as a country can be confusing for the visitor because it’s full of tradition-driven and bureaucracy-inspired quirks,” explains a representative for RVT. “Online communications about transport and opening hours – especially in English – were often non-existent.”

And that’s how RVT was born. It wasn’t long before their content started ranking in Google and traffic to the website rose steadily. The next step was obvious: to start increasing their revenue through affiliate sales. And while there are plenty of partner programs available, some are more successful than others. “Today, Tiqets accounts for over 90% of the overall affiliate sales we make,” says RVT’s representative.

Joining a partner program isn’t always smooth sailing; there’s often a lack of support. Travel sites will join a program and receive little guidance on how to use the tools available or how to measure the performance of the affiliate mechanisms in place. But with the right resources, a user-friendly interface, and strong communication channels, a partner program can be a steady source of revenue.

Today, Tiqets accounts for over 90% of the overall affiliate sales

﻿Rome Vacation Tips makes. ”

Rome Vacation Tips

The Challenge

Finding a responsive, easy-to-use partner program

Navigating a new partner program without proper support was RVT’s biggest challenge. What they needed was a dedicated team of friendly professionals, something that not all partner programs seemed to have. Before joining the Tiqets Partner Program, they encountered transparency and communication issues with other partner programs. “When we were inadvertently locked out of our account and tried to contact someone for help, we were repeatedly hung up on by the customer service team,” said RVT’s representative. This led to frustration and anxiety – two emotions no travel site owner wants to encounter with their partner program.

When RVT joined the Tiqets Partner Program, they discovered a partner program could be structured – and drive sales.

The Solution

Reliable communication channels & user-friendly resources

After their first foray into the affiliate world, RVT had figured out what they needed to get the most out of an affiliate partnership. “As a past member of several other programs, we knew that a good affiliate program should have a comprehensive product portfolio, easy deployment of affiliate assets, a transparent and easy-to-use interface, and a team dedicated to their affiliates.” That’s what Tiqets offered. “The program is accessible and has a great back-end interface. Their product portfolio is large and growing, and the commission rates are competitive,” says RVT’s representative.

As a past member of several other programs we have to say that a good affiliate program would have a comprehensive product portfolio,

easy deployment of affiliate assets, a transparent and easy-to-use interface, and a team dedicated to their affiliates.

Tiqets has all of these. ”

Rome Vacation Tips

01

Transparency

RVT had previously encountered issues with partner programs, particularly in terms of transparency. When Tiqets’ affiliate mechanisms were incorporated into the RVT platform, many of the challenges related to the previous lack of transparency were solved. “The transparency of accounting and the many ways it is possible to create affiliate links and widgets made it easy to connect our platforms. With other programs, we were largely in the dark until an invoice was issued and even then it was difficult to understand,” RVT’s representative comments.

Tiqets isn’t just transparent with their partners, they’re transparent with their customers. “Tiqets has a generous cancellation policy for clients, but allows affiliate partners to see when they occur, which removes concerns about month-end disparities.” A good transparency procedure is beneficial, especially when technical issues might occur. When the RVT team got locked out of their account at their previous affiliate program, not only were they missing a set of guidelines for what to do in this situation, they were left locked out permanently, without the possibility to get in touch with the assistance.

The transparency of accounting and the many ways it is possible to create affiliate links and widgets

made it easy to connect our platforms.”

Rome Vacation Tips

02

Reliable support

Having a good point of contact within an affiliate program is also an essential, especially during difficult times, like last year.

“Naturally the pandemic hit us very hard, and the almost total loss of income for several months was difficult to deal with – but not only did Tiqets reach out to us, but they also started doing the groundwork for when things got back to some semblance of normality,” says RVT’s representative.

The result is that now that tourism has returned in droves, RVT’s revenue is climbing in parallel with visitor numbers. Conversion rates are improving thanks to the innovative products and cross-selling opportunities that Tiqets is able to offer their affiliate partners.

03

A smart interface

One of the most attractive things about joining Tiqets was their easy-to-understand interface .

“The interface is so incredibly easy to use, and almost infinitely flexible. To be able to create new site brands, and self-customise the Tiqets’ look and feel to match our brand, is absolutely revolutionary compared to the alternatives. We run several site brands and we only wish Tiqets were in the hotel, car rental, and airline business so we could add these to our portfolio as well,” says RVT.

Avant-garde systems and a good backend interface are crucial for RVT because functionality is the key – especially to provide a great user experience to their visitors. They don’t require much guidance to get to the Tiqets portal and this is evident in Tiqets’ high conversion rates.

Of course it also helps that the inventory available is an impressive one. “Tiqets’ product portfolio is large and growing, and the commission rates are competitive. It was a natural fit for our business.” RVT was so satisfied with the Tiqets Partner Program that they signed up for two other of their travel websites, Istanbul Vacation Tips and Dublin Insights.

We only wish Tiqets were in the hotel, car rental, and airline business

﻿ so we could add these to our portfolio.”

Rome Vacation Tips

Partnering on a journey of success

Ever since joining the Tiqets Partner Program, RVT’s affiliate sales and that’s down to the partnership being one that works for both parties. Learning how to expand your travel business will be a one-of-a-kind journey, but good communication, reliable support and a user-friendly service will go a long way.

Want to learn more about how you can partner with Tiqets to boost your sales?

Sign up for the Tiqets Affiliate Program