The pandemics kicked down many travel services, bloggers and webmasters, but some brands discovered new opportunities for growth. One such example is Sutochno.com, an accommodation booking platform, which is particularly well-known within the CIS market.
As with most travel brands, things were not easy for Sutochno.com during the first half of 2020, but the second half brought stunning growth during the pandemic. On our blog, Sutochno.com shared key factors behind its growth in bookings and discussed its experience launching a partner program with Travelpayouts.
About Sutochno.com
Sutochno.com is a large online booking platform for short-term vacation rentals. The website offers various kinds of accommodations from flats to houses to rooms. Overall, there are over 75,000 rentals available in CIS and abroad.
On Sutochno.com, clients can find the perfect accommodation for their holidays and business trips. Genuine reviews from real customers will allow for organizing the best stay, while special booking terms will help both visitors and owners remain safe.
Growth during the pandemic: Sutochno.com profits in 2020 and 2021
Sutochno.com calculated their profits during the month of August for the last three years. August is the top month for bookings on Sutochno.com, so we can easily see the growth in their profits over time from this example.
The increase in profits during August 2020 compared to August 2019 was 300%. The growth in August 2021 compared to August 2020 was 159%.
Growth factors for Sutochno.com profits
Recovery of domestic tourism
As Sutochno.com has always focused on domestic tourism, the consequences of the pandemic began to have a major influence on the business in March 2020. By late March, the number of bookings fell to near zero and, for two months, the service team earned almost nothing.
Meanwhile, Sutochno.com returned payments in full to all users who had their trips canceled because of the pandemic. The company returned real money and did not simply freeze deposits in its users’ personal accounts.
Demand in the domestic tourism began to recover by the end of May 2020, as news came out about restrictions being lifted in the Krasnodar region. The summer season saw even further recovery.
The second part of 2020 brought record website traffic and bookings to Sutochno.com. As a result, Sutochno.com almost managed to reach its pre-pandemic levels of business from 2019.
The 2021 season was very successful for Sutochno.com, as the brand doubled its volume of bookings and revenue year-over-year compared to the pre-pandemic era of 2019.
Sutochno.com meets the needs of travelers seeking private accommodations in the CIS
The service offers a vast variety of apartments and private accommodations in almost every corner of the CIS. Facilities in the south, such as in the Krasnodar region, are especially popular.
The private accommodation vertical has grown pretty well during the pandemic due to the following factors:
- Travelers chose private accommodations as these options were safer due to fewer social contacts.
- During the pandemic, many of us had to combine our vacations with remote work. To continue to work, it was more comfortable to rent private accommodations. This option was also cheaper than booking a long stay at a hotel.
- When renting private accommodations, the check-in rules are usually more flexible than at a hotel.
Continuing improvements of Sutochno.com
In 2020, Sutochno.com redesigned its destination pages and is now gradually optimizing them. In 2021, Sutochno.com managed to significantly increase conversions into orders, as it fully changed the payment stage on the website.
Sutochno.com actively works with a database of landlords. For example, since 2019, the company increased its database in the Krasnodar region by 50%. Now, it’s not just about quantity, but quality as well.
The service team always stays in contact with landlords in conferences, runs promotions, and adds additional incentives to increase loyalty. In 2021, the service launched free property insurance for owners. Soon after, the share of “immediate” bookings (you don’t need to wait for confirmation from a property owner to send an advance payment) doubled compared to 2019.
Travelpayouts partners choose Sutochno.com as an alternative to hotels more often
Sutochno.com is a strong player in the private accommodations vertical. That’s why, when the demand in domestic tourism was growing, Travelpayouts’ partners started to recommend Sutochno.com to their audiences more often.
The Sutochno.com partner program offers a good selection of partner tools and is constantly growing, sharing useful information with partners, and participating in Travelpayouts promotions.
- Each week, Sutochno.com shares a summary of popular and interesting destinations with top Travelpayouts partners.
- Sutochno.com provides partners with a necessary set of tools, which they regularly update and add to. Currently, the company is developing new widgets and API. Due to these updates, partners can run more complicated integrations.
Travelpayouts partner program VS Direct partner program
Sutochno.com has long been using affiliate marketing as one of its strongest sales channels. The company has been working with Travelpayouts since 2018 and launched its partner program in 2019. We compared two options of partner programs and discovered the advantages of each one.
| Partner program with Travelpayouts | Direct partner program | |
| Year of launch | 2018 | 2019 |
| For whom | For all partners. Traffic volume doesn’t matter. | Only for the largest partners. A direct affiliate program is needed to be able to quickly adapt partnership terms for each specific case. Basic terms of a direct partner program are the same as for a program at Travelpayouts. |
| Partner tools | Links, widgets, banners, API | Links, widgets, banners, API, white label (will soon be also available at Travelpayouts) |
| Advantages | Travelpayouts takes over all financial questions, helps programs grow, promotes them on their own platforms, and solves the problems of partners and brands. | One can set up any terms they desire and quickly change them based on a specific situation or for a specific partner. It’s also possible to develop tools individually for specific partners. |
A quote from Ayrat Musin (Head of Marketing at Sutochno.com):
“Travelpayouts is the only CPA platform we work with. I believe that they don’t have competitors in the travel niche. The main advantage of Travelpayouts is that the team has a deep knowledge and understanding of the niche and is interested in growing affiliate marketing.”
Three tips for travel brands from Sutochno.com on how to launch a partner program
- Be open and honest. If partners have any doubts about your transparency, it’ll be much harder to restore your reputation.
- Study the competitors in your vertical, as well as their terms and tools. Try to make your program just as good, if not better.
- Stay in touch with your partners. Attend conferences to communicate with managers and partners. You’ll get to know a lot of insiders on the other side and understand the pain points of your partners, which you can solve.
