Hotel booking websites can make money in several different ways, and the disclosure required depends on which arrangement is involved and where the service operates. A hotel may pay for an advertisement or a higher position, a publisher may earn a referral commission when you click a link, or a review may be sponsored or incentivised. Those are separate practices with different transparency expectations.
For U.S.-facing affiliate content, Federal Trade Commission staff says the paid relationship should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously near the recommendation or link. In the European Union, covered platforms must identify advertisements and provide specified information about the advertiser, payer and targeting; separate rules require platforms to explain ranking parameters to business users. In the United Kingdom, accommodation-booking guidance calls for paid and unpaid listings to be clearly differentiated.
First identify what is being paid for
The phrase “sponsored listing” is often used loosely. It can describe different commercial mechanisms:
| Arrangement | Who pays whom | What the payment may affect | Transparency issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertisement | An advertiser pays the platform or publisher | An ad slot, promotional card or other clearly commercial placement | The user should be able to recognise that the item is an advertisement and identify the advertiser or payer where the applicable rule requires it. |
| Paid ranking or placement | A hotel or other business pays an intermediary | Position, visibility or ordering among otherwise similar results | The commercial influence on ranking should not be hidden from the people making a choice; business-facing rules may also require an explanation of ranking parameters. |
| Affiliate referral | A booking merchant pays a publisher after a qualifying click or booking | Usually the publisher’s recommendation or link, not necessarily the merchant’s internal search order | The publisher should tell readers that it may receive a commission, close to the recommendation or link. |
| Sponsored or incentivised review | A hotel, agency or other party provides money, benefits or another incentive | The review or rating content | The commercial relationship must be distinguished from an ordinary independent review; it does not explain whether the hotel’s search result was paid for. |
A site can use more than one arrangement at the same time. An article can contain an affiliate link while the booking site separately sells promoted search positions. One disclosure does not automatically explain the other.
What U.S. affiliate publishers should disclose
Federal Trade Commission staff guidance addresses affiliate marketing through its Endorsement Guides questions and answers. It says: “You should disclose your relationship to the retailer clearly and conspicuously on your site, so readers can decide how much weight to give your endorsement.” The guidance is about applying endorsement principles under the FTC Act, not a hotel-booking-specific statute.
Use plain language that explains payment
A useful example given by the FTC is: “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.” The important information is that the publisher has a financial relationship and may be paid when a reader acts. The words “affiliate link” alone may not communicate that meaning to everyone.
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Put the disclosure where the decision is made
Place the notice close to the hotel recommendation, comparison, button or link that could generate the commission. A disclosure hidden on a general policy page, in a footer, or several screens away from the recommendation may not be effective. The FTC guidance says separating the review from the affiliate link can make a disclosure inadequate because readers may not see the relationship when assessing the recommendation.
Make it conspicuous on every format
The FTC’s 2023 Endorsement Guides update added a definition of “clear and conspicuous” and noted that a platform’s built-in disclosure tool may not be enough by itself. The notice should be easy to notice and understand on the page, mobile layout, email, video description or other format in which the recommendation appears. Do not rely on colour, hover behaviour, an icon without an explanation, or wording that readers must decode.
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What the disclosure does not need to claim
An affiliate notice does not mean the hotel paid for a higher position in the booking site’s own results. It explains the publisher’s referral relationship. If a hotel paid for a placement, that is a separate fact requiring its own treatment under the rules that apply to the platform and market.
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European Union rules for advertisements
Article 26 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) applies to providers of online platforms that present advertisements, subject to the regulation’s scope and definitions. For each ad, the recipient must be able to identify, in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner and in real time:
- that the information is an advertisement;
- the person on whose behalf the advertisement is presented;
- the payer, if that person is different; and
- meaningful information, directly and easily accessible from the ad, about the main parameters used to target it and how the user can change those parameters where applicable.
The DSA’s recitals emphasise salience and adapting the presentation to the interface. A label that is technically present but difficult to see or understand may not meet that objective. The DSA does not mean every hotel website or every hotel result is automatically subject to the same provision: the service’s role, audience, size and the particular presentation must be assessed.
Ad labels should describe the commercial nature
A traveller should not have to infer that a result is paid from its position, colour or a vague term such as “featured.” A prominent label such as “Ad,” “Advert” or “Advertisement,” or an equivalent term in the relevant language, is more informative when the item is an advertisement. The European Commission has described earlier EU consumer-authority action in which less informative “sponsored” indications were replaced with clearer labels and made more prominent. That account concerns the action described by the Commission; it is not a universal label mandate for every country and service without checking the applicable law.
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Regulation (EU) 2019/1150, commonly called the Platform-to-Business (P2B) Regulation, addresses online intermediation services such as online travel agents. Article 5 requires the provider to explain in its terms and conditions the main parameters that determine ranking and the relative importance of those parameters compared with others.
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When payment can influence ranking
Article 5(3) adds a specific requirement: “Where the main parameters include the possibility to influence ranking against any direct or indirect remuneration paid by business users or corporate website users to the respective provider, that provider shall also set out a description of those possibilities and of the effects of such remuneration on ranking in accordance with the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 and 2.”
This is primarily information for business users—the hotels and other companies using the intermediary—not a consumer-facing label for every result. A platform can therefore satisfy a P2B terms-and-conditions obligation yet still need a separate, visible ad disclosure when a particular result is an advertisement under the DSA or another consumer-protection rule.
What a ranking explanation should cover
Terms should identify the principal ranking factors, explain their relative importance, and describe how direct or indirect remuneration can affect visibility when that possibility exists. Saying only that results are “personalised” or “based on relevance” does not explain the role of payment if payment is one of the main parameters.
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United Kingdom: paid and unpaid accommodation listings
The Competition and Markets Authority’s guide for online accommodation-booking sites calls for sites to “clearly differentiate ‘paid for’ listings with those that aren’t ‘paid for’.” The guidance followed an investigation involving several major accommodation services and commitments to change practices. It says the expectation applies to services offering accommodation to UK consumers, including online travel agents, search engines, hotel groups, short-stay rental services and smaller businesses.
The guide gives 1 September 2019 as the implementation date for the changes it addressed. That date is historical context, not a new compliance deadline. UK operators should check current legislation, CMA material and the facts of their own service rather than treating the old date as a safe harbour.
What a clear distinction looks like
Paid results should be labelled at the point where a traveller compares listings, using wording that distinguishes them from unpaid results. A broad statement in a terms page or general advertising policy is not a substitute for a visible distinction in the results interface. The label should remain understandable when results are viewed on a phone, sorted, filtered or shared.
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Sponsored reviews are a separate disclosure problem
A review can be paid, rewarded, selected because it is favourable, or produced under another incentive. EU accommodation-review principles address sponsored and incentivised reviews, but that transparency does not tell a traveller whether the hotel’s listing was purchased or whether its position was influenced by payment.
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Use separate labels for separate relationships. “Sponsored review” explains the review’s origin; “Ad” or “paid placement” explains a commercial search result; an affiliate notice explains a publisher’s commission. Combining all three into an unexplained “partner” badge leaves the reader guessing.
How travellers can tell whether a listing is sponsored
- Look at the result itself. Search for labels such as “Ad,” “Advertisement,” “sponsored,” “promoted” or “paid placement,” and check whether the label is visually attached to the result.
- Open the explanation. Some interfaces provide an information icon or “why am I seeing this?” link. Read whether it identifies the advertiser, payer or commercial reason for the placement.
- Compare the result type. A separate promotional block, banner or hotel card may be advertising rather than an ordinary organic result.
- Check ranking information. The platform’s terms may explain the main ranking parameters and whether remuneration can affect them, especially for services covered by the P2B Regulation.
- Do not treat position as proof. A first result is not automatically paid, and an unlabelled result is not automatically unpaid. Ranking can also reflect dates, availability, price, popularity, personalisation and filters.
Implementation checklist for booking platforms
- Classify each commercial feature as an advertisement, paid ranking, affiliate referral or sponsored review before choosing its label.
- Show the disclosure at the decision point, not only in a general policy document.
- Use plain terms that describe who pays and what the payment buys.
- Keep paid and unpaid results visually and textually distinguishable after sorting, filtering and on small screens.
- For EU services, maintain ad information required by DSA Article 26, including the advertiser, payer when different and meaningful targeting information where applicable.
- For services covered by P2B, describe the main ranking parameters, their relative importance and the effect of remuneration in the terms and conditions.
- For U.S.-facing affiliate content, place a clear commission disclosure near each relevant recommendation or link; do not rely solely on the phrase “affiliate link.”
- Label sponsored or incentivised reviews independently from paid search placements.
- Review disclosures by jurisdiction. U.S. FTC guidance, the EU DSA, the EU P2B Regulation and UK CMA guidance are not interchangeable.
Common mistakes and how to correct them
Using one generic “partner” label
“Partner” can mean an affiliate, advertiser, supplier or business customer. Replace it with a specific explanation such as “We may earn a commission if you book through this link” or “Paid placement.”
Putting the disclosure below the choice
If a traveller must scroll past the booking button or open another page to learn about payment, move the disclosure beside the result, recommendation or link that creates the commercial relationship.
Calling every prominent result an advertisement
Prominence alone does not establish that a result was purchased. Verify the mechanism. If payment affects ranking but the item is not an ad under the applicable rule, explain the ranking influence accurately rather than applying a misleading label.
Treating historical enforcement as a universal rule
Past actions involving named companies illustrate regulatory concerns but do not establish that every current booking site, country or listing is covered in the same way. Check the operator’s role, target market, interface and current law before drawing a legal conclusion.
Which rule applies?
| Your question | Relevant framework | Key point |
|---|---|---|
| Does a publisher earn money from my booking through its link? | FTC endorsement guidance for U.S.-facing content | Disclose the commission relationship clearly and conspicuously near the recommendation or link. |
| Is this result an advertisement, and who paid for it? | DSA Article 26 where the covered-platform conditions apply | Identify the ad, the person on whose behalf it is shown, the payer if different, and meaningful targeting information where applicable. |
| Can a hotel pay to affect its ranking? | P2B Article 5 for covered online intermediation services | Explain ranking parameters and the effects of remuneration in the terms and conditions for business users. |
| Are paid and unpaid accommodation results distinguishable for UK consumers? | CMA accommodation-booking guidance and applicable UK law | Clearly differentiate paid-for listings from listings that are not paid for. |
| Was the review itself sponsored or incentivised? | Applicable review-transparency principles | Label the review relationship separately from any paid listing or affiliate relationship. |
The safest editorial and product practice is to disclose the specific commercial fact at the moment a reader or traveller can act, while documenting the broader ranking and advertising model in the relevant policy or terms.
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