Afterpay expands into travel with lay-by holiday offering

Afterpay has partnered with LayAway Travel to launch interest-free, instalment-based holiday packages via a new travel booking site.

PLAY affords travellers the same freedoms as the retail and commercial platform, with one key difference: travellers pick, book and pay for their holiday over a series of interest-free instalments prior to their departure date.

It’s a venture that Afterpay believes will open the door for budget-savvy travellers that want to see the world debt-free.

“PLAY is different to Afterpay, as customers pay in full before they travel,” David Hancock, group head of Afterpay, said.

“…[T]he same Afterpay values that people know and trust still apply, like responsible spending, no interest, and regular, equal repayments,” Hancock said.

Currently operating as a trial by Afterpay, PLAY allows customers to pick and book a holiday package and pay for it in full in weekly or fortnightly instalments over a three- to 12-month period before they travel.

With PLAY, travellers can book five nights in Lord Howe Island, paying just over $60/week per person.

With PLAY, travellers can book five nights in Lord Howe Island, paying just over $60 a week per person. Travellers can also opt to pay for the trip upfront.

“Taking the Australian passion and hunger for travel into account, what we’ve endeavoured to do with PLAY is to create high-quality, well thought-out packages to provide experiences they may never have had before, but also manage payment in a way that is responsible,” Hancock said.

Operating the service is straightforward: take your pick from a selection of curated and user-reviewed experiences, pay for it in small instalments, and then ‘PLAY’. It’s the same philosophy of Afterpay, plus a curated selection of destinations and experiences operated by LayAway Travel.

The platform offers several note-worthy experiences such as trips to Mount Everest, the Great Wall of China and Australia’s Lord Howe Island. Other destinations on offer include Japan, Cambodia, Bali and the US.

Spend 11 nights trekking the Everest Base Camp Helitrek, which includes two nights in Nepal.

The platform also provides pre-trip insurance through Chubb Insurance Australia, covering unforeseen circumstances that could force customers not to travel, including accidental illness or sickness.

Travel to destinations that are issued with ‘do not travel’ warnings by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) are also covered by Chubb’s policy.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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