My name is Gavin Rooney and I’m the founder & CEO of AnotherTrip, an Irish startup. With 12 years in travel and hospitality and 20 years in tech, I started AnotherTrip after hearing the same pain from creators and travel brands: collaborations are still being run through DMs and spreadsheets, deliverables get messy, organic performance is hard to attribute and record-keeping is often an afterthought.
This matters more than ever as more and more countries have started to treat gifted stays and PR trips as taxable income when provided in exchange for promotion.
What's happening? Tax and free gift in the same sentence sounds wrong but it is increasingly common.
Unfortunately it’s true! In many countries, gifted stays, free trips, and PR trips and experiences are all now considered taxable income for content creators, even when no money changes hands, when these things are given in exchange for promotion.
This means: - A free hotel stay - A gifted experience/tour/activity - A PR trip can now in many cases also be considered taxable
The biggest challenge is that most of this activity still happens informally and is agreed over DMs or email chains, with random records of what was gifted, what it was worth, or how it should be reported.
Content creators are often left asking: - Wait, what? Do I need to pay tax on this? - What value was this even worth I can’t remember? - Where and how should I even be tracking this stuff?
And there’s two sides to this coin, brands are also under growing pressure to keep better records of collaborations as regulations across countries evolve. And without records how can they even begin to understand the ROI of collaborations to begin with?
Neither side wants surprises later, but the tools to manage this haven’t really caught up.
That’s why we’re building AnotherTrip.
To help content creators and brands bring structure and clarity to collaborations, without turning it into a tax advice service or killing the creative side of the work. While providing analytics for both parties on the content that worked.
For content creators, our meta-verified tech platform is designed to:
- Keep a clear record of paid and gifted collaborations - Your deliverables, payments, and gifts are all automatically logged for each campaign, no DMs, no spreadsheets and no email chains. - Manage all your campaigns and even find new collab opportunities - Store all your documentation and deliverables in one place - Automatically perform a self audit on your previous collaboration history. Helps your organise records and generate an export you can share with your accountant. - View campaign stats, posts, and activity over time to understand what’s performing well and keep a clean audit trail.
The good news is, we’re currently onboarding creators and brands to our pilot programme. No commitment, just early access to a clear collaboration management platform and the chance to have your say in how it grows.
I’d love to hear from you all! - Are you already tracking gifted stays or PR trips today? - Have you seen changes in how “free” gifts are treated for tax where you’re based? - What tools (if any) are you currently using to stay organised?
Happy to answer questions and learn from others’ experiences, this is a space that’s changing fast!
Marketing and Public Relations Consultant, MKR Communications
Great info. Are you seeing differences by market? Some creators seem far more cautious about gifted stays now, while others still handle things informally. There’s probably a big opportunity for processes that make valuation and expectations transparent upfront rather than something creators have to untangle later.
Thanks Maureen. Yes absolutely seeing differences by market. In countries where the rules have been clearer for longer (like the UK and Ireland), we're noticing more creators are at least aware they should be tracking gifted collaborations, even if they're not always sure how. But in many other markets, it's still very much the Wild West, with most activity happening informally through DMs and email chains. What's really interesting is that the divide isn't just geographic. It also depends on the creator's scale and sophistication. Established creators with accountants or managers tend to, but not always, be much more cautious and systematic, while newer or part-time creators often don't know there's anything to even track. On the brand side, we're seeing similar patterns. Larger hospitality groups and tourism boards are starting to ask for better documentation and valuation processes upfront, partly for compliance and partly to justify ROI. Smaller properties and independent brands are often still operating on handshake agreements. It is still all very fragmented at this time. Its this process that we are trying to change here. Where no collaboration will happen until both sides understand the obligations and expectations. The clarity benefits everyone.
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Hi Travel Massive Community,
My name is Gavin Rooney and I’m the founder & CEO of AnotherTrip, an Irish startup. With 12 years in travel and hospitality and 20 years in tech, I started AnotherTrip after hearing the same pain from creators and travel brands: collaborations are still being run through DMs and spreadsheets, deliverables get messy, organic performance is hard to attribute and record-keeping is often an afterthought.
This matters more than ever as more and more countries have started to treat gifted stays and PR trips as taxable income when provided in exchange for promotion.
What's happening? Tax and free gift in the same sentence sounds wrong but it is increasingly common.
Unfortunately it’s true! In many countries, gifted stays, free trips, and PR trips and experiences are all now considered taxable income for content creators, even when no money changes hands, when these things are given in exchange for promotion.
This means:
- A free hotel stay
- A gifted experience/tour/activity
- A PR trip can now in many cases also be considered taxable
These can all be treated as taxable transactions, depending on where you’re based, alongside any additional payments or benefits provided. For example, here's the Irish rules (www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/income-tax-capital-gains-tax-corporation-tax/part-04/04-01-22.pdf), as well as the UK rules on this (taxhelpforhustles.campaign.gov.uk/tax-rules-content-creators/). We'd really recommend you to check out the rules in your own tax residence country!
The biggest challenge is that most of this activity still happens informally and is agreed over DMs or email chains, with random records of what was gifted, what it was worth, or how it should be reported.
Content creators are often left asking:
- Wait, what? Do I need to pay tax on this?
- What value was this even worth I can’t remember?
- Where and how should I even be tracking this stuff?
And there’s two sides to this coin, brands are also under growing pressure to keep better records of collaborations as regulations across countries evolve. And without records how can they even begin to understand the ROI of collaborations to begin with?
Neither side wants surprises later, but the tools to manage this haven’t really caught up.
That’s why we’re building AnotherTrip.
To help content creators and brands bring structure and clarity to collaborations, without turning it into a tax advice service or killing the creative side of the work. While providing analytics for both parties on the content that worked.
For content creators, our meta-verified tech platform is designed to:
- Keep a clear record of paid and gifted collaborations
- Your deliverables, payments, and gifts are all automatically logged for each campaign, no DMs, no spreadsheets and no email chains.
- Manage all your campaigns and even find new collab opportunities
- Store all your documentation and deliverables in one place
- Automatically perform a self audit on your previous collaboration history. Helps your organise records and generate an export you can share with your accountant.
- View campaign stats, posts, and activity over time to understand what’s performing well and keep a clean audit trail.
The good news is, we’re currently onboarding creators and brands to our pilot programme. No commitment, just early access to a clear collaboration management platform and the chance to have your say in how it grows.
I’d love to hear from you all!
- Are you already tracking gifted stays or PR trips today?
- Have you seen changes in how “free” gifts are treated for tax where you’re based?
- What tools (if any) are you currently using to stay organised?
Happy to answer questions and learn from others’ experiences, this is a space that’s changing fast!
Thanks for reading,
Gavin
Great info. Are you seeing differences by market? Some creators seem far more cautious about gifted stays now, while others still handle things informally. There’s probably a big opportunity for processes that make valuation and expectations transparent upfront rather than something creators have to untangle later.
Thanks Maureen. Yes absolutely seeing differences by market. In countries where the rules have been clearer for longer (like the UK and Ireland), we're noticing more creators are at least aware they should be tracking gifted collaborations, even if they're not always sure how. But in many other markets, it's still very much the Wild West, with most activity happening informally through DMs and email chains.
What's really interesting is that the divide isn't just geographic. It also depends on the creator's scale and sophistication. Established creators with accountants or managers tend to, but not always, be much more cautious and systematic, while newer or part-time creators often don't know there's anything to even track.
On the brand side, we're seeing similar patterns. Larger hospitality groups and tourism boards are starting to ask for better documentation and valuation processes upfront, partly for compliance and partly to justify ROI. Smaller properties and independent brands are often still operating on handshake agreements. It is still all very fragmented at this time.
Its this process that we are trying to change here. Where no collaboration will happen until both sides understand the obligations and expectations. The clarity benefits everyone.