Affiliate Disclosure

How We Earn Revenue

The Lowdown Guide is an independently operated travel resource. To keep our content free for readers, we participate in affiliate programs with select travel partners. When you click certain links on our site and make a purchase or booking, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Our Affiliate Partners

We currently work with the following affiliate programs:

  • Viator — Tours, activities, and experience bookings. We earn a commission when you book a Petrified Forest or Painted Desert tour, or another Viator activity, through our links.
  • Expedia — Hotel and lodging reservations and travel packages. We earn a commission when you book accommodation through our Expedia links, including hotels in Holbrook and the wider eastern Route 66 corridor.

How Affiliate Links Work

Affiliate links look and function like regular links. When you click one, a small tracking code tells the partner that you came from our site. If you go on to make a purchase, the partner pays us a referral fee. The price you pay is exactly the same whether you use our link or go directly to the partner's website.

On our site, affiliate links are typically found in:

  • Lodging booking call-to-action boxes (e.g., "Search Holbrook Hotels")
  • Tour and activity recommendation sections (e.g., "Browse Petrified Forest Tours")
  • Comparison guides and seasonal-timing sections

What Is Not an Affiliate Link

Petrified Forest National Park's entrance fee is paid directly to the National Park Service, and Holbrook's rock shops, restaurants, and the Navajo County Courthouse Museum are paid directly to those businesses and agencies — none of these are affiliate transactions. We earn nothing from any of them, and we will always tell you plainly when a direct payment or a free stop is the better call.

Our Editorial Independence

Affiliate partnerships do not influence our editorial content. Our recommendations are based on published source research and independent editorial judgment, not on which affiliate program pays the highest commission.

We will never recommend a tour, hotel, or attraction solely because it offers an affiliate commission. If we feature something, it's because we believe it provides real value to visitors planning a Holbrook or Petrified Forest trip — and we say plainly when a free or direct-booked option is the better fit for a given trip.

FTC Compliance

In accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, we disclose that this site contains affiliate links. This page serves as our comprehensive disclosure, and we also include brief disclosure notices near affiliate links throughout the site.

Questions?

If you have any questions about our affiliate relationships or how we fund this site, please contact us. We're happy to be transparent about how The Lowdown Guide operates.