
{"id":29678,"date":"2026-05-11T14:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/?p=29678"},"modified":"2026-05-12T12:32:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:32:26","slug":"drive_giveaway_winners_stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/drive_giveaway_winners_stories\/","title":{"rendered":"What happens after you win $1,000? 3 travel bloggers answer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We run a lot of campaigns at Travelpayouts: with brands, tools, and partners at every stage of their journey. One of those was the Drive Giveaway, where five partners won $1,000 each for enabling Drive on their websites.<br><br>The winners had very different projects. But after enabling Drive, they all saw the same thing: automated monetization started finding new revenue opportunities in the content they already had.<br><br>For those who don\u2019t know, Drive is our AI-powered monetization system that helps partners earn more from the traffic they already have. You install it once, and it automatically:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Places relevant travel widgets where they naturally fit into your content<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Matches pages with suitable offers, from hotels and flights to tours and activities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Shows useful offer previews with hotel details, tour options, or prices<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Finds missed monetization opportunities across both old and new content<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Works on top of your existing website, without requiring you to rebuild your pages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;\">&#x1f389;<\/span>&nbsp;And now there is another pretty compelling reason to try Drive: with our new giveaway, you can win up to $3,000 &#x1f389;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#8dd2fc4f\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to enter the Drive Giveaway<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To join, you just need to either enable Drive or turn on additional functions before May 20. Already running Drive at full capacity across all your projects? You\u2019ll be entered automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This time, we\u2019re giving away three cash prizes: $1,000, $2,000, and $3,000. This means that you have three chances to win. All that money, just for the five minutes it takes to set up a tool that starts working for you immediately.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"d-flex justify-content-center col-12\">                         \n    <a class=\"tpe-btn tpe-btn-article\" href=\"https:\/\/app.travelpayouts.com\/tools\/drive\/?tp_place=blogpost_drive_giveaway_winners_stories\/\">                                \n        Enable Drive to join giveaway\n    <\/a>                        \n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But don&#8217;t just take our word for it. A few months ago, we caught up with previous winners to ask: What changed after you turned on Drive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile tp-no-border\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8220;Drive is lifting the load for me.&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2013 Tavia Carlson from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bigbravenomad.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Big Brave Nomad<\/a><br><\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"935\" src=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bigbravenomad_2-3-1-1024x935.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29689 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bigbravenomad_2-3-1-1024x935.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bigbravenomad_2-3-1-300x274.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bigbravenomad_2-3-1-768x701.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bigbravenomad_2-3-1-1536x1402.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bigbravenomad_2-3-1-2048x1870.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bigbravenomad_2-3-1-534x488.jpg 534w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bigbravenomad_2-3-1-416x380.jpg 416w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Blogging journey<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Tavia Carlson is a mom of three and the creator behind Big Brave Nomad, a travel platform focused on helping families and solo parents plan confident, experience-driven trips.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tavia started blogging after realizing there wasn\u2019t any realistic advice for people traveling with kids. In an effort to make travel more approachable and less overwhelming, she created a blog initially shared with friends and family. Then it grew into something much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Monetization strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Tavia does everything on her blog herself, which means the manual workload adds up and takes time away from creating content. That\u2019s why she turned to Travelpayouts Drive for help with monetization.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"blockquote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Drive has made monetizing my travel content feel much more seamless. I love that it automatically places relevant tools based on how my audience is engaging, instead of me having to manually optimize everything.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The income shift was immediate. In just the first month after enabling automated monetization through Drive, Tavia\u2019s earnings grew by 4,070%(!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"402\" src=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1024x402.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1024x402.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-300x118.png 300w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-768x302.png 768w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1536x603.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1243x488.png 1243w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-416x163.png 416w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Big Brave Nomad\u2019s click growth after enabling Drive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While Drive certainly changed the game for Tavia, she also recognizes the value of unique content that truly resonates with her audience. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"blockquote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>You don\u2019t need to do what everyone else is doing; your unique angle is what will set you apart. For me, every trip is an opportunity to create resources that help families plan their own experiences, so it directly supports both my work and my readers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Since all her content is based on personal experiences traveling with her own kids, she can offer practical guidance on whether a trip is doable with kids or not worth it at all.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile tp-no-border\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8220;Drive started driving bookings right away&#8221;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2013 Noelle from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.girlwhotravelstheworld.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Girl Who Travels the World<\/a><br><\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"935\" src=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/girlwhotravelstheworld_2-2-1024x935.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29684 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/girlwhotravelstheworld_2-2-1024x935.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/girlwhotravelstheworld_2-2-300x274.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/girlwhotravelstheworld_2-2-768x701.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/girlwhotravelstheworld_2-2-1536x1402.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/girlwhotravelstheworld_2-2-2048x1870.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/girlwhotravelstheworld_2-2-534x488.jpg 534w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/girlwhotravelstheworld_2-2-416x380.jpg 416w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Blogging journey<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Before Noelle became a full-time travel blogger, she was a small business owner alongside one of her friends. But within a few years, it became apparent that travel was her real calling. So she sold part of her business and started her journey.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When she started traveling to places like Colombia and Peru, she noticed how people kept warning her how dangerous it was. This made Noelle furious because she knew for a fact they were wrong \u2013 and she was ready to prove it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She turned this passion into a user-friendly travel blog with practical travel tips and hotel recommendations. Importantly, she uses it as a platform to show how safe it was for solo female travelers in these destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Monetization strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The next step for Noelle was figuring out an easy way to monetize her content. This is how she found Travelpayouts Drive.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"blockquote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Drive started driving bookings right away \u2013 I think a day or two after I installed it. It&#8217;s also very fast and doesn&#8217;t slow down my site at all, which is crucial. The graphics fit seamlessly into my design without being intrusive.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>This captures one of the reasons Drive can work well for content-heavy travel websites: it does not require creators to manually rebuild their pages around affiliate tools. It can fit into the existing user experience without slowing down the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the strongest results here came from the Switch Links. This feature helps monetize existing travel links by automatically turning them into affiliate ones. In other words, it can help partners earn from links that are already in their content \u2013 without manually replacing every link across the website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, almost 100% of Noelle\u2019s Travelpayouts income comes from Drive, with Switch Links becoming her main revenue driver. And the best part: the revenue continues to grow even if you take a break from your blog.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"blockquote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I took several weeks off from producing any content. But the beauty of a blog is: I was still making money, even though I technically wasn\u2019t producing any articles.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"408\" src=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1-1024x408.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29685\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1-1024x408.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1-300x120.png 300w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1-768x306.png 768w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1-1536x612.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1-1225x488.png 1225w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1-416x166.png 416w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-1.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Girl Who Travels the World\u2019s click growth after enabling Drive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, this doesn\u2019t mean that one function is better than another. Drive works as a system, with features performing differently depending on the site, content format, traffic, and user behavior. That\u2019s why the best approach is to enable all Drive functions at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>And with the Drive Giveaway, enabling Drive fully also means you get the chance to win up to $3,000.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"d-flex justify-content-center col-12\">                         \n    <a class=\"tpe-btn tpe-btn-article\" href=\"https:\/\/app.travelpayouts.com\/tools\/drive\/?tp_place=blogpost_drive_giveaway_winners_stories\/\">                                \n        Enable all Drive functions\n    <\/a>                        \n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile tp-no-border\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8220;Today, Drive is one of my top-performing affiliate tools.&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2013 Romane from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lelephant-voyageur.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">L&#8217;\u00c9l\u00e9phant Voyageur<br><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"935\" src=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pp-elephant-voyageur-25-2-1-1024x935.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29690 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pp-elephant-voyageur-25-2-1-1024x935.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pp-elephant-voyageur-25-2-1-300x274.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pp-elephant-voyageur-25-2-1-768x701.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pp-elephant-voyageur-25-2-1-1536x1402.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pp-elephant-voyageur-25-2-1-2048x1870.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pp-elephant-voyageur-25-2-1-534x488.jpg 534w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pp-elephant-voyageur-25-2-1-416x380.jpg 416w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Romane is the creator behind L&#8217;\u00c9l\u00e9phant Voyageur, a French-language travel platform focused on authentic trips across Asia, the Middle East, and Mediterranean Europe. Since 2015, she has been building a travel audience across her blog, YouTube channel, and Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"blockquote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The giveaway rewarded several months of consistent work on my platform. And today, Drive is one of my top-performing affiliate tools. I didn&#8217;t expect an affiliate tool to fit so naturally into my travel content strategy, but that&#8217;s exactly what Drive enabled me to do.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Now, Travelpayouts has become a significant part of Romane\u2019s monthly affiliate income, with a reported 700% increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-2-1024x405.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29687\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-2-1024x405.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-2-300x119.png 300w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-2-768x303.png 768w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-2-1536x607.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-2-1235x488.png 1235w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-2-416x164.png 416w, https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-2.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">L&#8217;\u00c9l\u00e9phant Voyageur\u2019s click growth after enabling Drive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What these winners have in common<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Each partner had a different starting point: a French travel platform, a solo family blog, and a content-rich hotel site. Their audiences were different. Their traffic levels were different. Their content was in different languages. Still, the same patterns kept coming up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Results appeared sooner than they expected<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Automation took the repetitive work off their plate<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monetization tools blended into existing content naturally<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Drive found revenue opportunities across different formats, niches, and languages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Our honest take? The hardest part is pulling the trigger. Once you activate Drive, it will immediately start working with whatever traffic you already have \u2013 you don\u2019t need to rebuild your site, manually manage links, or wait months for results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>And now there is an extra reason to try: the new Drive Giveaway is live. Enable Drive before May 20, join the giveaway, and you could win up to $3,000. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It takes just a few minutes to set up. That is a pretty low bar for something that might change your numbers the way it changed theirs.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"d-flex justify-content-center col-12\">                         \n    <a class=\"tpe-btn tpe-btn-article\" href=\"https:\/\/app.travelpayouts.com\/tools\/drive\/?tp_place=blogpost_drive_giveaway_winners_stories\/\">                                \n        Enable Drive to compete for up to $3,000\n    <\/a>                        \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Travelpayouts giveaway winners share how enabling Drive helped them save time on monetization and grow their affiliate income.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":29680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[527],"tags":[704,711,48,541],"class_list":["post-29678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-drive","tag-drive-giveaway","tag-monetization","tag-success-story"],"acf":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29678"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29705,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29678\/revisions\/29705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpayouts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}