Affiliate Disclosure
How EliteForCheap makes money, what we get paid for, and why our recommendations are still honest.
EliteForCheap earns commissions when you apply for certain credit cards or book certain hotel stays through our links. This never changes your price, your sign-up bonus, or the hotel rate you pay. We only recommend cards and stays we believe earn the best loyalty points per dollar.
Who pays us
EliteForCheap participates in several affiliate programs. When you apply for a credit card or book a hotel through one of our links, the issuer or booking partner may pay us a referral commission. The programs we use, or expect to use at launch, include:
- CardRatings — credit card affiliate network. The Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite card and other AAdvantage cards we recommend route through CardRatings. Approved applications pay a per-acquisition commission, typically $200–300 for the Executive World Elite tier.
- FoundersCard — referral program for FoundersCard memberships. Mentioned in our coverage of related travel benefits.
- Hotel booking partners (post-launch) — Booking.com, Agoda, and similar networks pay 1–4% commission on completed stays booked through their tracked links.
If we add new affiliate relationships after launch, we'll update this page and note the addition.
What this changes for you
Nothing about your price. Your credit card sign-up bonus is exactly what the issuer offers anyone — applying through our link doesn't reduce it. Your hotel rate is the same one any other AAdvantage Hotels search would show. The card issuer and the booking partner pay us out of their marketing budget, not out of your pocket.
What this changes for us
We're transparent about the incentive: we make money when you apply for cards that pay us a commission, and (eventually) when you book hotels through our partners. That creates an incentive to point you toward those products. Here's how we keep it honest:
- The Citi Executive World Elite recommendation is technically driven, not commission-driven. We recommend that card because its 10× hotel multiplier is mathematically the best path to AAdvantage status for someone running this strategy. The commission is real, but the math came first.
- Deal rankings are not pay-for-placement. Hotels in our top 25, Hall of Fame, and Best of Month listings are ranked purely by Loyalty Points per dollar from our scrape data. No hotel has ever paid us to appear higher.
- If we wouldn't recommend it, we don't link to it. There are AAdvantage cards we don't promote because their earn rates aren't competitive. We pass on that affiliate revenue.
Required FTC disclosure
EliteForCheap is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to credit card applications, hotel booking sites, and related products. As an affiliate, we may earn a commission from qualifying applications and bookings. This disclosure complies with the Federal Trade Commission's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 CFR Part 255).
Questions or concerns
If you have questions about our affiliate relationships or want to flag a recommendation that doesn't seem honest, email realestatejimmy@me.com. We take this seriously — the value of EliteForCheap depends entirely on you trusting our math.