Affiliate Disclosure
How affiliate links work on Dubai Practical, which categories carry them, and why they don't affect our editorial independence.
Dubai Practical is free to use. To cover operating costs, some links on this site are affiliate links — if you click one and make a booking or purchase, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This page explains what affiliate links are, how to spot them, and how we ensure they never compromise our editorial independence.
Affiliate disclosure: Some links on Dubai Practical are partner/affiliate links (currently including GetYourGuide for tours and activities). If you book through them we may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you. This helps us keep the site free and independent. We only recommend services we would use ourselves, and editorial content is never influenced by commercial relationships.
What are affiliate links?
When you click certain links on Dubai Practical and then complete a booking or purchase on the destination site, the merchant pays us a small referral fee. This is a standard practice used by most travel and expat information sites. The fee comes from the merchant's margin — you pay the same price whether you click through our link or go directly.
Affiliate links are tracked using a unique URL parameter so the merchant knows the referral came from us. No personal data beyond the booking details is involved.
How to spot affiliate links
Affiliate links on Dubai Practical are marked in one of two ways:
Compact inline chip
A small “Partner link” label appears next to the booking button or CTA, like this:
Partner link (GetYourGuide)Section-level disclosure
On pages with multiple affiliate links, a full disclosure box appears at the top of the relevant section.
Which categories carry affiliate links?
Currently, affiliate links on Dubai Practical are limited to:
Tours & activities
Desert safaris, city tours, attractions, experiences. We link to specific tours that match what the page covers.
Partner: GetYourGuide
Activities & day trips
Day trips, adventure activities, cultural experiences.
Partner: GetYourGuide
No affiliate links in sensitive categories
Why affiliate links don't compromise editorial
We recommend first, then affiliate
We decide what to recommend based on quality and usefulness. If an affiliate programme exists for that product, we then use the affiliate link. We do not reverse-engineer this to find products we can earn from.
We cover operators we don't earn from
Many recommended operators, services, and venues on Dubai Practical have no affiliate programme. We cover them anyway because they deserve coverage.
Commissions do not vary by editorial position
Whether we call something “the best option” or “a solid alternative” is based on merit, not commission rate.
We don't accept payment for placement
No business can pay to appear in an article, to be ranked first, or to be described positively. Paying for placement is not an option on Dubai Practical.
We don't hide negative information to protect affiliates
If a service has a known issue — a queuing problem, a price discrepancy, a common complaint — we say so, even if that service is an affiliate partner.
Questions about affiliate relationships
If you believe an affiliate relationship has influenced content on this site, please use the corrections form to flag it. We take these reports seriously and will investigate.