A proposal for Booking.com
What if 5–10% of Booking's marketing budget went to good causes instead of Google?
A community affiliate program redirecting $500m+ of annual spend toward charities and local communities — raising €1bn in three years, while matching or beating the ROI of pure performance marketing.
How does it work?
For community organisers
Sign up your cause — live in 5 minutes & easy to promote
How a sports club, school or charity creates a fundraising page, activates members, and gets promoted through Booking.com's own channels.
For travellers
Inspiring people to travel in a way that is good for them & the world
Community posters and Booking.com notifications reach the right people at the right moment — turning a trip they were already planning into a donation.
Booking.com
Community Program
Haarlem RFC
Book your next trip through us — and help fund our clubhouse renovation
Scan to connect your Booking.com account. Every trip raises money for the club — no extra cost.
Over 2,000,000 hotels, homes and more
Booking Genius rewards
5–10% of booking value for your club
Clubhouse renovation fund67%
Scan to connect
Powered by
Booking.com
Genius discounts preserved
4B
Year 4B Parents
Lisa, Mrs Patel, Sarah, Tom and 19 others
7 January
B.
Booking.com
Lisa van den Berg
Hi everyone! We're 67% to our playground goal — and this month Booking.com is doubling what we earn on summer holiday bookings.
Book any summer stay before 31 Jan and we get twice as much. Same price for you and you still get Genius discounts.
Takes 2 minutes to connect your account if you haven't already: Booking.com/st-josephs-primary
10:23 ✓✓
Message
Booking.com
noreply@booking.com
Subject
Your Corsica villa raised €83.40 for Haarlem RFC
Thank you for travelling with purpose.
Your stay at Villa Belvedere, Corsica raised €83.40 for Haarlem RFC — they're now 83% toward their clubhouse renovation. 23 members have contributed this year. You're one of them.
Clubhouse renovation83%
Support a cause on your next trip
Koh Tao Reef
Thailand
RNLI St. Ives
Cornwall
Comic Relief
Global
Booking.com Community Program
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Why now
Three reasons this matters more today
1
Agentic AI is disrupting performance marketing
Google-dependent PPC is structurally at risk. As agentic search absorbs travel intent, owned community channels — app installs, email subscribers, direct relationships — become the durable alternative.
2
A channel with genuine cut-through
Communities reach their members through trusted networks. Booking reaches people through CRM. Together they create a two-sided message — same person, two reinforcing sources — that lands where standard marketing doesn't.
3
A moment to do something genuinely good
Conflict, inequality, communities under pressure — the world has no shortage of problems. Travel has the scale and the direct relationship with people's lives to make a real difference. This gives Booking a commercially-grounded way to be part of the solution.
The opportunity in numbers
The numbers behind the program
€1bn+
Fundraising ambition
Annual — year 3 projection
1.5–3×
Target ROI
Adjustable commission & brand investment
10k+
Bookings per day
At 100k communities enrolled
58–78%
Donate to charity
Charities Aid Foundation
29–39%
Give their time
To charitable organisations
~2m+
Community orgs globally
Sports clubs, schools, charities
What next
Ready to explore further?
Did you see the community & traveller demos? Click to view the full demo pages:
"Let's talk through the details — and have a go at doing something genuinely positive for the world."
Email Rupert →