Book Hotels and Support a Great Cause

SD › Charitable Giving
Updated: December 16, 2024
By Santorini Dave

Total Donated: $801,570

For every stayed booking I donate $5 to GiveDirectly. SantoriniDave is an official partner of Give Directly.

FAQ About Donations

How does it work and how much do you donate?
Every hotel link on my site to Booking.com is an affiliate link. Meaning I receive a small (but fluctuating) fee when a reader reserves a hotel room. For each individual stayed reservation, I donate $5 to the wonderful non-profit GiveDirectly. This money goes to people living in poverty in Africa to improve their lives. The evidence says it’s one of the most effective ways to help the world’s poor. Read more about GiveDirectly here.

Does this in any way change or affect the rate I pay when booking a hotel?
No, not at all. You’ll pay the same rate whether you use my links or go directly to the booking site.

Does this in any way change the hotels you review and recommend?
No. That’s the beauty of the whole thing. As long as I’m delivering helpful information to my readers (that keeps them coming back) it doesn’t matter what hotels I recommend. Any stayed booking at any hotel counts as a booking, so I just need to be helpful and honest and the rest takes care of itself.

Does it matter what hotel I book?
No, as long as you click the above link or any hotel link on my site to Booking.com your stayed reservation will count towards a donation. For example, you could click on the Four Seasons link on my Paris page, but then search Booking.com for hotels in London and book a completely different hotel. It will still be a booking and contribute towards my donation (once you’ve completed your stay).

Do you make money (beyond the $5) from each booking?
Yes. This is a for-profit site and I take a salary for running it. I also pay salaries to my four co-workers and pay freelance travel writers from the affiliate earnings.

Do you really use Booking.com when reserving hotels?
Book Hotels with Santorini Dave
Yes. I honestly think it’s the best site for booking hotels. It usually has the best rates (not every single time, but most of the time) and is easy to use. I especially like the calendar feature that shows where you’ll be staying every night of your trip as you book hotels. The reader reviews come from verified guests which makes them much more trustworthy than reviews on Tripadvisor or other hotel sites.

More To Come!

In 2018 I made several donations to the the Against Malaria Foundation. Since 2019 my donations have gone solely to Give Directly.

About Santorini Dave

Santorini Dave I'm Santorini Dave. I started this site in 2011 with a short article on tips for visiting Santorini with kids. We're now a small team of writers and researchers dedicated to providing the best travel content on the internet. We focus on Santorini, Mykonos, Athens, and Greece, offering recommendations for top hotels, neighborhoods, and family-friendly hotels worldwide. I can be contacted at dave@santorinidave.com.