Summary
In this interview, Antoine Adragna reveals how the Weekendesk acquisition channel, powered by affiliate marketing and its partnership with Affilae, drives traffic diversification and boosts brand awareness. This strategic collaboration improves efficiency and sets the stage for the company’s next phase of growth.
Interview with Antoine Adragna, Paid Channel Manager at Weekendesk
Could you introduce Weekendesk and its positioning?
For the past 15 years, Weekendesk has been an online travel agency specializing in short getaways close to home.
We offer package deals that always combine a hotel stay with an experience — such as dinner, a spa treatment, or an amusement park entry. Never just a simple night’s stay!
We’re active in five countries — France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands — and we partner with all types of hotels, from small independent properties to major hotel chains. Our dedicated team negotiates deals and availability with hotels every day. Prices displayed on our website are valid for specific periods and vary depending on seasonality.
Could you tell us more about your role and its main challenges?
I’m responsible for paid acquisition at Weekendesk across France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. That includes SEA, hotel comparison sites, and affiliate marketing. My manager oversees the Spanish market.
What initially motivated Weekendesk to launch an affiliate program?
The goal of our affiliate program is to create a new acquisition channel, diversify our traffic sources, and feed our other audiences. We mainly focus on upper-funnel campaigns — they don’t always generate immediate conversions, but they help us boost brand awareness. It’s a long-term strategy.
What objectives and KPIs do you use to evaluate the success of your affiliate program?
We monitor several key performance indicators, including:
ROI
Traffic quality: number of sessions, new visitors, bounce rate, number of pages viewed, and time spent on site.
Partner types: mainly editorial partners publishing blog articles and newslettersWe only work with cashback partners like Joko, and we also activate web push campaigns through Adrenalead. Since November, we’ve been testing influencer collaborations in partnership with our branding team and Affilae. We had previously tested a few influencer profiles on our own, but the first results have been stronger with Affilae — especially thanks to tracked links.
How has the Affilae team supported you throughout this project?
When I joined Weekendesk, the affiliate program was already up and running. I took over the project just as Mélanie, our Account Manager at Affilae, took over the account on their side.
We have regular check-ins every two weeks. Mélanie focuses on partner follow-ups and activations, which allows me to dedicate more time to strategy and monthly priorities. It’s truly a collaborative team effort!
What are the main advantages of working with Affilae?
For me, the biggest advantage of working with a platform like Affilae is the time saved. Managing an affiliate program can be complex, and through Affilae we gain access to a wide network of partners we might not have reached otherwise.
Our next goal is to launch the program in Belgium. Since I don’t have much time or deep local knowledge to identify the right partners, we rely on Affilae’s expertise to support us there.
The platform itself is intuitive and easy to use, with streamlined performance analysis.
Great teams and great collaboration!
Would you recommend Affilae?
Absolutely.
Want to learn more?
Discover our results in the Weekendesk case study.
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