Can I link my travel booking site if the deal is genuinely good?
No. The rule “No advertising/spam/self promotion” bans it outright, and the policy brief says promotion is banned here.
Subreddit guides
r/Shoestring rules, stats, and what to post
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/Shoestring: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.
By Anthony Riera, founder and operator of Rankhog.
Subreddit guides combine public Reddit source URLs, captured rules, visible verification dates, and Rankhog's account-safety workflow.
Current public stats
- Members
- 5,202,819
- Verified
- October 10, 2026
- Category
- Travel and rental car communities
Rules can change, so Rankhog keeps verification dates and the original public Reddit sources visible.
Rule summary
- No advertising/spam/self promotion: No advertising/spam/self promotion
- Be civil: Be civil
- All discussion must be related to Shoestring budget travel: All discussion must be related to Shoestring budget travel
- No facetious responses (e.g. telling people to swim): No facetious responses (e.g. telling people to swim)
Works well
- A breakdown of what a specific budget trip cost you, with the cheap choices you made and what you would do differently
- A plain question asking how people find cheap places to sleep in a city you are heading to
- A detailed answer to someone else's question about hostels, couchsurfing, or camping, based on your own experience
- A post about a cheap way to get somewhere, like hitchhiking or a budget route, told as your own story with no links
- A last minute deal you personally used, described with enough detail that others could repeat it
Avoid
- Posting a link to your own travel blog, booking service, or app, because the rule “No advertising/spam/self promotion” gets it removed
- Dropping a discount code or referral link in a comment, which counts as self promotion under “No advertising/spam/self promotion”
- Starting a thread about your product roadmap or startup, which fails “All discussion must be related to Shoestring budget travel”
- Replying with a joke answer like telling someone to swim, which breaks “No facetious responses (e.g. telling people to swim)”
- Arguing with people who question your post, which risks a removal under “Be civil”
- Writing a generic post about travel in general with no budget angle, which strays from “All discussion must be related to Shoestring budget travel”
What r/Shoestring Is For
This is a community for people who travel on very little money. The public description lists frugal travelling, last minute travel deals, cheap destinations, and cheap ways to get around. The kind of posts you find here are about couchsurfing, camping, hostels, hitchhiking, and staying in Airbnbs on a budget. The people posting are travellers who want to stretch every dollar, and the people answering are travellers who have done it themselves. It is a help and ideas room, not a marketplace.
Rules That Matter Before Posting
The first rule that decides everything here is “No advertising/spam/self promotion”, which means you cannot post links to your own blog, service, or product, and you cannot dress up a pitch as a question. The second is “All discussion must be related to Shoestring budget travel”, so even a well meaning post about general travel or your company will get pulled if it drifts off budget travel. “Be civil” matters if you plan to hang around and answer questions, because snarky replies to strangers are a fast way out. The last one is “No facetious responses (e.g. telling people to swim)”, which tells me joke answers to people asking for real help get removed, so if you reply, reply with something genuinely useful.
What To Post
If you travel cheap and want to be part of this community, post the kind of thing the description asks for. Share a real budget route you took, explain how you found a cheap place to sleep, or break down what a trip cost you and where the money went. Answer other people's questions with specifics from your own trips, no links attached. If you are a founder, the honest play is to participate as a traveller first and leave your product out of it entirely, because any promotion is against the rules here.
What To Avoid
The fastest way to get removed is self promotion, so do not share links to your own travel blog or services, do not drop discount codes for something you sell, and do not post your product even if it saves travellers money. Off topic posts get removed too, so a post about travel that has nothing to do with doing it cheaply does not belong here. Joke answers are a rule break, not a bit, so never reply to a real question with sarcasm. Being rude to anyone in the thread is also a removal.
Use Rankhog before posting in r/Shoestring
Want the version that does not run out? Subscribers get unlimited tool runs and more careful checks before posting.
Get my free Reddit SEO auditStart your 3-day free trial. Card required. $99/month after trial. Next, connect a verified Reddit account; no strategy starts until you explicitly start Rankhog.
Common questions about r/Shoestring
Are links allowed at all?
The rules do not say links are banned in general, but any link that promotes your own thing falls under “No advertising/spam/self promotion”, so treat links to your own work as off limits.
Can I ask for feedback on my startup idea?
Only if your question is about shoestring budget travel. Anything else fails “All discussion must be related to Shoestring budget travel”.
Can I answer questions with my own travel experience?
Yes, as long as you stay on budget travel topics and keep it helpful, since “All discussion must be related to Shoestring budget travel” is the scope rule.
Can I be funny in my replies?
No. “No facetious responses (e.g. telling people to swim)” means joke advice gets removed, so every answer should genuinely help.
Related subreddit guides
r/travel
Travel and rental car communities
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/travel: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.
- Members
- 14.5M
- Verified
- 2026-09-18
r/TravelHacks
Travel and rental car communities
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/TravelHacks: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.
- Members
- 5.8M
- Verified
- 2026-10-10
r/solotravel
Travel and rental car communities
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/solotravel: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.
- Members
- 4.6M
- Verified
- 2026-10-10