Every month, guests leave your property and buy things they used during their stay.
The espresso machine they loved. The throw blanket they kept grabbing off the sofa. The cast iron pan they cooked with every morning. The Bluetooth speaker they played all week. Sometimes they photograph the brand on their way out. Sometimes they just search for it once they're home and try to find the right one.
They buy it. If you don't have anything set up, the commission goes to whoever has an affiliate link on it — usually no one you know. You get nothing.
How this works, if you set it up
Your property is already functioning as a product showroom. Guests are already buying things they experienced in your home. The only thing missing, for most hosts, is a link between the experience and the purchase.
That link is your own affiliate account — Amazon Associates, or any other affiliate program you've joined — with links to the items in your property. When a guest scans a QR code on something they love and buys it through your link, the commission goes directly to you, into your own account.
This isn't something Shop My Stay runs for you or takes a cut of. You set up your own affiliate account, add your own links to items in your dashboard, and the commissions are entirely yours, for as long as the links stay live.
What hosts say they didn't know
In STR host communities, a common reaction when this comes up is some version of: "I had no idea this was something I could do." The concept of affiliate programs like Amazon Associates isn't obscure — plenty of bloggers and creators use it — but most vacation rental hosts have never thought to apply it to their own property.
Other hosts describe trying to set it up and getting stuck on the technical side — creating the account, generating links for individual items, figuring out how to present it to guests without it feeling like an ad. The concept makes sense; the execution can feel fiddly if you're doing it cold.
What it actually takes
Signing up for Amazon Associates is free, usually approved quickly, and doesn't require a following or a website. Once you're in, you generate a link for each item you want to connect — the coffee machine, the throw blanket, whatever guests tend to ask about — and paste that link into the matching item in your Shop My Stay dashboard.
From there, when a guest scans the QR code on that item, your link appears on its page. If you don't have an affiliate account yet, that's fine too — the item's page still works, there's just no purchase link until you add one.
Commission rates vary by category and program — typically a few percent on everyday items through Amazon, sometimes more through other retailers' own affiliate programs. It's a bonus revenue stream on top of running your rental, not a primary income source, and it compounds quietly the longer the links stay in place.
The thing worth understanding clearly
Every cent of commission goes to you. Shop My Stay doesn't take a percentage of your affiliate earnings, and we never touch your affiliate account — it's yours, created in your name, paid directly to you. The kit simply gives you a place to put the link: right where a guest is already looking.
Wondering which programs to join? Our host guide to affiliate links compares the main programs side by side and matches them to different property styles.