Transparency First
FestivalAtlas earns small commissions when you book travel services through our affiliate links. This supports our research infrastructure and keeps festival data free for everyone.
🔒 Our Promise: Affiliate partnerships never influence festival inclusion criteria or research methodology.
How Affiliate Commissions Work
What Happens When You Click Our Links
- 1. You click a link to Booking.com, Airalo, or Skyscanner from FestivalAtlas
- 2. A tracking cookie is set by the partner (we don't control this)
- 3. If you make a booking, we earn a small commission (2-5% typically)
- 4. This costs you nothing extra - prices are identical to booking directly
What We Earn (Approximate)
- • Accommodation (Booking.com): 3-4% of booking value
- • eSIM Data (Airalo): ~10% of purchase
- • Flights (Skyscanner): Small fixed fee per booking
These are industry-standard rates. We chose partners with fair, transparent programs.
Our Current Affiliate Partners
Booking.com
Accommodation (hotels, hostels, apartments)
We link to Booking.com for accommodation near festivals because they have:
- • Wide coverage in remote/rural areas (important for authentic festivals)
- • Free cancellation on most properties
- • Verified reviews from actual guests
Status: Partnership activating Q2 2025
Airalo
eSIM data for international travel
We recommend Airalo because:
- • Instant connectivity - critical for finding festivals in remote areas
- • No physical SIM cards needed (works with modern phones)
- • Affordable regional plans (perfect for festival hopping across countries)
Status: Partnership activating Q2 2025
Skyscanner
Flight comparison and booking
We integrate Skyscanner for flights because:
- • Compares all major airlines and booking sites
- • Flexible date search (helpful when festivals don't have fixed dates yet)
- • Price alerts for festivals months in advance
Status: Partnership activating Q2 2025
How We Maintain Editorial Independence
🚫 Festivals Cannot Pay for Inclusion
No festival, tourism board, or commercial entity can pay to be listed in FestivalAtlas. Inclusion is determined solely by our 5-Point Community Test.
🚫 Partners Don't Influence Festival Coverage
Booking.com, Airalo, and Skyscanner have zero input on which festivals we document or how we present them. Our research is completely independent.
✅ We Only Partner with Services We'd Recommend Anyway
We chose these partners because they're legitimately useful for festival travelers - wide coverage, fair pricing, good user experience. If a service is bad, we won't promote it just for commission.
✅ Alternative Options Always Available
We provide festival locations and dates. You can book accommodation, flights, and data anywhere you prefer. Our affiliate links are convenient suggestions, not requirements.
What Affiliate Revenue Supports
Affiliate commissions help fund:
- ✓AI Research Infrastructure: Costs ~$0.50 per festival per year to maintain current dates via our FPDM system
- ✓Multi-Source Verification: Accessing government databases, cultural archives, and verification sources
- ✓Platform Development: Hosting, servers, database infrastructure
- ✓Free Access: Keeping 10 festival views/month free for all users
- ✓Expansion: Discovering festivals in new countries, improving focus-area coverage
Goal: Affiliate revenue + subscriptions should cover research costs, making FestivalAtlas sustainable without selling data or compromising editorial standards.
Legal Compliance
FTC Endorsement Guidelines (US)
This page serves as our formal disclosure under FTC 16 CFR Part 255. We clearly identify affiliate links and disclose our financial relationship with partners.
EU Consumer Protection Law
We comply with EU requirements for commercial content transparency. Affiliate links are clearly marked, and we never mislead users about partner relationships.
GDPR Data Protection
We do not share your personal data with affiliate partners. Tracking cookies are set by them directly when you click links. See our Privacy Policy for details on data handling.
Future Partnerships
We may add affiliate partners for:
- • Travel insurance (essential for international festival travel)
- • Ground transportation (car rentals, train passes)
- • Cultural travel gear (appropriate clothing, photography equipment)
Criteria for new partners: Must be genuinely useful for festival travelers, fair pricing, ethical business practices. We'll update this page when partnerships are added.
Your Choice Matters
Using our affiliate links is entirely optional. You get the same festival data and research whether you book through us or directly.
If you appreciate FestivalAtlas and find our research valuable: Booking through our links helps sustain this work at no extra cost to you. If you prefer to book directly, that's completely fine too.
Questions About Our Partnerships?
If you have concerns about affiliate relationships or editorial independence:
We're committed to transparency. If you believe a partnership compromises our standards, we want to hear from you.