Peer-to-peer holiday transfer company launches new website
A London and San Francisco-based company that enables customers to re-sell unwanted holidays to third parties has launched a new website.
TransferTravel.com, which is based on the same principle as the peer-to-peer ticket re-seller StubHub, estimates that 80% of all travel is eligible for transfer, but says consumers are generally unaware they can re-sell non-refundable flights, hotel rooms and packages.
CEO Simon Powell, who set up the company in 2016 after his own relationship break-up forced him to try to recover some of the cost of a non-refundable holiday in Dubai, claims people waste $40 billion worldwide every year on unused travel.
He is aiming to secure more than a million users for transfertravel.com by the end of this year. He currently has 100,000.
‘We’re bringing to market a simple solution to a problem most people don’t know is solve-able,” he said. “It is not fair that companies choose to hide the fact that 80% of travel is transferable and of course it’s the consumer that loses out by not knowing this. We want to educate the consumer and provide a fix for this.”
Transfertravel.com works on a no-sale no fee basis and charges 15% commission was a transaction has been completed. In the past two years it has arranged just 250 transfers.
While Powell claims the vast majority of travel is eligible for transfer, some companies including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic prohibit resale.
However, the new Package Travel Directive states that holiday companies (but not airlines) must allow name changes.
With TransferTravel, seller is responsible for paying for name changes on the holiday, flight or hotel booking, for which most companies charge. For example, TUI charges £50 for each name change while easyJet charges between £20 and £52 per person.
An app will be launched shortly.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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