Yahoo Finance 'Travel Now Pay Later': App allows 5 months to pay for holidays
A Melbourne startup has brought the "buy now pay later" fad to its travel booking site, allowing Australians to go on holidays while paying for it over five months without interest.
The "pay later" capability – made famous by providers like Afterpay and Zippay – was added natively to the travel site and mobile app Travlr last week.
The company hopes the feature will bring in $10 million in additional revenue.
"Adding in a pay later solution just completes that big picture of dreaming, easily booking and experiencing travel for us as a business,” said Travlr founder and chief Simon te Hennepe.
The "pay later" function now means 840,000 hotels around the world are available to be booked while having the bill suspended for five months.
Flights, holiday packages and activities will also be eligible to "buy now pay later".
Australian budget airline Jetstar became one of the first in the travel industry to offer "pay later" capabilities, when it started offering it in 2017. The Afterpay-provided service attracts a 1.5 per cent "payment fee", but otherwise there is no interest charged on repayments.
Travlr originated out of the site The Bali Bible, created by Simon and Lani te Hennepe, which specialised in travel to Indonesia. Travlr is a similar platform but with a wider range of destinations around the globe.
The Melbourne startup raised $5 million of funding in October 2017 and has been aiming for the millennial and Instagram demographic.
"The majority of TRAVLR and The Bali Bible’s audience are millennials who are active travellers that want to know new and exciting things to do in various locations,” Lani told Startupdaily last year.
"We have a highly engaged social media following and loyal database that are actively involved on the platform."
Make your money work with Yahoo Finance’s daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, news and tech news.
