Your members have good reason to distrust travel perks. For more than 25 years, regulators have gone after travel clubs that oversold them. In 2019 the Illinois Attorney General settled with companies selling travel club memberships that cost "more than $10,000 in some cases." The AG's advice to consumers: "Be wary of suspiciously high savings claims that you are not able to verify prior to purchase."
Build your launch around that line. A member should be able to check the saving before spending anything, see how your organization is paid, and join without handing over more data than a booking needs. Below are the choices that decide each of those, then a checklist and a list of what to report.
Why members are skeptical of travel perks
The same complaints come up case after case. In the FTC's 2001 settlement with Med Resorts International, the FTC said the company had told buyers they could "travel worldwide whenever and wherever" they chose. The buyers in the Illinois travel club settlement later "reported being unable to schedule trips on their preferred dates and locations."
It still happens. In July 2026 the FTC announced a $35 million settlement with the travel app Hopper over what the FTC said were "pre-selected and hidden" fees, and a paid support tier whose buyers, the agency said, often couldn't reach an agent at all.
The pattern: pay first, find out later whether the saving was real, then discover the benefit doesn't work as described. Avoid all three and you've answered the question members will ask first.
Choose how members get in
There are 3 common ways to give members access. The table shows what each one costs you in work and in data.
| Route | What the member does | What you send the provider | Work for you | How sign-ups are counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A code on your benefits page | Types your code when they sign up | Nothing | A listing on a page you already run | The code saved on each account |
| A tracked link or co-branded page | Clicks through from your email or site | Nothing | An email and a page | The code the link carries |
| A membership check or single sign-on | Signs in with their member login | A yes or no on membership, or a login token | IT work on both sides | Every account created through the check |
Most organizations should start with one of the first two. Members identify themselves, so you never send a member list. That matches the FTC's advice in its data security guide for businesses: "Keep only what you need for your business," and if you don't need sensitive information, "don't even collect it."
If a plan does involve sending a provider your member list, check it with counsel first.
California's privacy law defines selling to include "making available" personal information to a third party "for monetary or other valuable consideration," and a list shared in return for a revenue share looks like what that definition describes. The California Attorney General's CCPA page says the law generally doesn't apply to nonprofits, but a for-profit benefits platform or employer network may be covered.
Tell members how you're paid
If your organization earns a share of bookings, the FTC's guidance points toward saying so. Under the FTC Endorsement Guides at 16 CFR 255.5, a connection that "might materially affect the weight or credibility" of a recommendation, and that the audience wouldn't expect, "must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously." The Guides' own Example 11 is a blogger paid a share of each sale made through a link.
The Guides don't name membership organizations, so ask your counsel how they apply to you. The FTC's Endorsement Guides FAQ is plain on the practical points. Consumers may not understand "affiliate link," while "paid link" placed right next to the link should be adequate. And "a single disclosure on your home page won't be sufficient."
So put one short line next to every recommendation: on the landing page, in each email and in each social post. Something like "We receive a share of each booking made through this benefit. It doesn't change the price you pay." Use the second sentence only if it's true of your provider.
Ask your tax adviser before you sign
For a nonprofit, a revenue share raises a tax question worth settling before launch. The IRS guidance on income from mailing lists explains that royalties are excluded from unrelated business taxable income under IRC 512(b)(2). But payment for services such as endorsing or marketing "may constitute unrelated business taxable income."
Travel also has its own regulation. Treasury Regulation 1.513-7 covers travel tour activities, and its first example is an alumni association whose travel agency "pays O a per person fee for each participant." Because those tours had no educational content, the regulation treats the program as an unrelated trade or business.
That example is about tours, not a booking benefit, and we can't tell you which side of the line your agreement falls on. Your tax adviser can, and it's easier to get the agreement right before launch than to restructure it later.
Get the email and landing page basics right
A launch email that promotes bookings is likely a commercial message under CAN-SPAM. The FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide requires your valid physical postal address in each one, and you must honor an opt-out "within 10 business days." Each email that breaks the law can cost up to $53,088.
Show total prices. The FTC's fees rule has required hotel prices to include mandatory fees since May 12, 2025, and our guide to the FTC total price rule for membership travel benefits covers what that means for a member offer. When you promote a saving, give members a way to check it; our guide to comparing a member rate with a public hotel rate is written for exactly that.
Build the landing page to WCAG 2.1 AA. The Department of Justice requires that standard of state and local government websites from April 2027 for larger governments and April 2028 for smaller ones, which matters if a public agency offers your benefit to its staff. For everyone else, it's the standard the DOJ picked for government websites, so it's a sensible target.
What to report each quarter
Agree on the reporting before launch, and ask for totals rather than member-level detail. You need to know whether the benefit is used, not where any member stayed.
| Field | What it tells you | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-ups with your code or link | How far the launch reached | Count typed codes, not only link clicks |
| Members who booked at least once | Whether the benefit is used | The number that matters most; sign-ups alone flatter |
| Hotel nights and flights booked | How much it's used | Travel is seasonal, so compare with the same quarter last year |
| Member saving against the public price | The value members got | Ask how and when the public price was captured |
| Revenue share paid to you | Your income from the benefit | Check it against the agreement's definition of an eligible booking |
| Clicks from each email | Which sends prompted bookings | Use clicks; Apple Mail Privacy Protection makes open rates unreliable |
| Impact funded, if the provider claims one | What members' bookings paid for | Built and operating, or only planned |
We couldn't find a credible public benchmark for how many members use a travel benefit, so treat any figure you're quoted with care. Set your own baseline in the first quarter and measure against it. For the impact line, our guide to evaluating climate-impact reporting from a provider lists what a sound report shows.
Launch checklist
- No fee to join or leave. An upfront fee is at the heart of most travel club cases.
- Pick the access route. A code or a link needs no member list.
- Write the disclosure line and put it next to every recommendation, not only in a footer.
- Settle the tax treatment of any revenue share with your adviser before signing.
- Check that every price members see is the total price, with mandatory fees included.
- Put your postal address and a working opt-out in every launch email.
- Build the landing page to WCAG 2.1 AA.
- Agree on the quarterly report before launch, in totals only.
- Remind members ahead of summer and winter-holiday booking, not only at launch.
How Dyme works with membership organizations
Dyme is free for members. They join with your code or link and book hotels, flights and car rentals at member rates, with the full price shown before checkout. We receive a commission from the travel provider on each booking, share part of it with partner organizations, and put part of it into solar projects for schools and hospitals.
Partners can list a code on their own benefits page, send a tracked link, or have a co-branded page. How Dyme works covers the member side. If you're planning a launch, tell us about your membership organization and we'll go through the options with you.
FAQ: launching a member travel benefit
Do we need to share our member list with the travel provider?＋
No, not if members join with a code or a tracked link. They identify themselves at sign-up, so no list changes hands. A membership check or single sign-on shares a yes or no on membership rather than a list. If a plan does involve sending the list, check it with counsel first. California's privacy law counts making personal information available for valuable consideration as selling it, though the state Attorney General says the law generally doesn't apply to nonprofits.
Do we have to disclose that we earn a share of bookings?＋
The FTC's guidance points toward yes. Its Endorsement Guides say a connection that could affect how much weight people give a recommendation, and that they wouldn't expect, "must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously." Their own example is a blogger paid a share of each sale made through a link. The Guides don't name membership organizations, so ask your counsel how they apply. The practical step is a short line next to each recommendation.
Is revenue from a travel benefit taxable for a nonprofit?＋
It depends on the agreement. Royalties are excluded from unrelated business taxable income, but the IRS says payment for services such as endorsing or marketing may be taxable, and Treasury Regulation 1.513-7 deals with travel tour programs specifically. Ask your tax adviser before you sign.
How do we know whether the benefit is working?＋
Track the members who booked at least once each quarter, against a baseline you set in the first quarter. Sign-ups alone flatter a launch. We couldn't find a credible public benchmark for how many members use a travel benefit, so your own trend is the useful comparison.
