diff --git a/.ci/check_travis_deploy_vars.sh b/.ci/check_travis_deploy_vars.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..32bce9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci/check_travis_deploy_vars.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -ex
+
+if [[ $TRAVIS_BRANCH == master && $TRAVIS_EVENT_TYPE == push && 
+      ! "$GITHUB_TOKEN" ]]; then
+  echo "Please set GITHUB_TOKEN in your Travis CI environment settings"
+  false
+fi
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index e4719c6..dd2624a 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ jobs:
       script: coala --non-interactive -V
 
 before_install:
+  - .ci/check_travis_deploy_vars.sh
   - npm config set spin false
 
 before_script: