1. Every creator gets a tracked link
Each creator gets a tracked link into the commerce rail (an affiliate network, OTA, or booking API) tied to their unique sub-id.
Introducing a New Standard for Travel Influencer Marketing
EMV is a guess. Earned Booking Value is a receipt.
Earned Media Value estimates what a creator's exposure would have cost as an ad buy. Earned Booking Value (EBV) is the verified booking revenue that exposure actually drove. We're introducing EBV as the number travel marketers report instead of EMV.
The Definition
What is Earned Booking Value (EBV)?
Every travel brand and DMO has a number for what their creator program "earned." Almost none of them can defend that number in front of a CFO or a board. EBV is built to be the exception.
Earned Booking Value (EBV) is the verified booking revenue a creator's content actually drove, measured through tracked links and reported net of cancellations. That includes hotels, tours, activities, and trips.
If it didn't get booked, it doesn't count.
InfluenceKit introduced Earned Booking Value in 2026 as an open standard for travel creator marketing.
The Formula
How to calculate EBV
EBV = verified booking value from a creator's tracked links − cancellations & refunds
Example (illustrative, not real InfluenceKit data): 63 bookings worth $41,200, $3,700 in cancellations → EBV = $37,500.
EMV vs. EBV
EMV answers the wrong question
Earned Media Value estimates what a creator's earned exposure would have cost if you'd bought it as advertising — impressions multiplied by an ad-equivalent rate. It's a proxy nobody actually banks. You can't verify it outside the platform that made it, and it ignores the only question travel marketers actually care about: did we sell anything?
The Old Way
Earned Media Value (EMV) — A Guess
- Measures hypothetical ad-equivalent cost of exposure
- Built on reach and impressions, priced at an estimated CPM
- Unverifiable outside the platform that produced it
- Answers: "how much exposure did this get?"
The New Standard
Earned Booking Value (EBV) — A Receipt
- Measures real booking revenue attributable to the creator
- Built on booking and commission data from tracked links
- Verified by the booking platform, net of cancellations
- Answers: "how many bookings did this drive?"
The Methodology
How EBV is measured
Honesty is the point. EBV is designed to be a floor you can defend, not an inflated headline. Here's exactly how it's calculated.
2. Booking events flow back by sub-id
As travelers book, the commerce rail reports the booking amount, status, and any cancellations back against that creator's sub-id.
3. EBV = verified booked value, net of cancellations
Sum the booking value attributable to the creator's sub-id, subtract anything cancelled or refunded. What's left is EBV.
4. Reported as a conservative floor
Attribution windows and cross-device booking journeys mean some bookings never get credited back to the right link. EBV doesn't guess at what's missing — it reports only what's verified, so the number is always a floor: "verified minimum booked revenue," never an inflated headline.
Who EBV Is For
Built for buyers measured on bookings, not impressions
EBV gives travel brands and DMOs a shared standard for creator campaign measurement and ROI, built on attribution instead of assumption. EBV is for the people in the room where the question isn't "how much exposure did we get" — it's "how many rooms did we fill."
Travel brands
Hotels, resorts, tour operators, and travel platforms that are done reporting earned media value to a CFO who wants to know what actually got booked.
DMOs & tourism boards
Destination marketing organizations measured on visitation, not impressions. A per-creator EBV line item is something you can put in front of your board. DMOs can report EBV through any bookable rail they can track — partner hotels' booking engines, attraction ticketing, or book-direct programs with tagged links.
InfluenceKit for Tourism Boards & DMOs →
Travel platforms & OTAs
Booking platforms and affiliate networks running creator programs that need a number tied directly to the commerce data they already collect.
EBV: Frequently Asked Questions
What is EBV (Earned Booking Value)?
Earned Booking Value (EBV) is the verified booking revenue a creator's content actually drove, measured through tracked links and reported net of cancellations.
What does EBV stand for?
EBV stands for Earned Booking Value — the verified booking revenue a creator's content drove. It's named in direct contrast to Earned Media Value (EMV), which estimates the ad-equivalent cost of a creator's exposure rather than measuring what it actually sold.
How is EBV different from EMV?
Earned Media Value (EMV) estimates what a creator's exposure would have cost as an ad buy — it's a hypothetical number built on reach and an assumed CPM. EBV measures actual booking revenue attributable to a creator through tracked links, verified by the commerce rail (affiliate network, OTA, or booking API) and reported net of cancellations. EMV is a guess about attention. EBV is a receipt for revenue.
Is EBV just affiliate revenue with a new name?
No — the tracked-link plumbing is often the same affiliate or OTA infrastructure travel marketers already use. What's new is the standard on top of it: a consistent definition, a required net-of-cancellations calculation, and a floor-not-ceiling reporting discipline that makes the number defensible instead of just tracked.
How is EBV calculated?
Each creator or campaign gets a tracked link with a unique sub-id on the commerce rail. Booking events — amount, status, cancellations — are pulled back by that sub-id. EBV is the sum of verified booked value attributable to the creator, net of cancellations. See the full methodology.
Why is EBV so much lower than EMV?
Attribution windows and cross-device booking journeys mean some real bookings never get credited back to the right tracked link. Rather than estimate or extrapolate to fill that gap, EBV reports only what's verified — a conservative floor, described as "verified minimum booked revenue." It's designed to be a number you can defend, not one you have to explain away.
Who should report EBV?
Travel brands, DMOs and tourism boards, and travel platforms — any buyer measured on bookings and visitation rather than impressions. EBV proves the exact thing those buyers are accountable for.
Can I start reporting EBV today?
Yes. EBV is a standard we're introducing, not a packaged product — this page defines the metric and the methodology so any travel brand, DMO, or platform can start applying it to their own tracked-link data right away. If you want help setting it up, talk to our team.
We wrote the standard. Use it with or without us.
Travel marketers deserve a number they can defend in a boardroom, not one that just makes a deck look good. Earned Booking Value is that standard: conservative, verified, and tied to real commerce data. We're publishing the definition and the methodology because every travel brand, DMO, and travel platform should be able to report it.