A new venture backed by boys who founded Afterpay, the company snapped up by a US giant for $39 billion recently, is expected to revolutionise how we buy holidays.
Play Travel allows users to purchase a holiday for up to $12,000 and pay for it weekly with a minimum payment of just $10.
Like Afterpay, the offer is for interest-free payments, no booking fees, no credit checks or forms and easy, automatic payments.
If you make your payments, you’ll pay nothing for the layby service. But, according to Play Travel, you will be charged a $7 fee if you miss a payment.
You can make advance payments which will recalculate your remaining payments, or you can change the day that your payment is scheduled to leave your bank account.
Afterpay turned the way people pay for fashion and other goods on its head, creating a new industry and threatening the hold of credit cards and loans on family finances. It is now becoming a global empire.
Play Travel is a partnership between Afterpay and LayAway Travel and uses its Planpay platform offering Afterpay, Planpay and direct debit.
It was founded in 2019 after Andrew Paykel had a vision to make travel accessible to more Australians. He figured that payment plans were the best way to increase accessibility. Afterpay Ventures believed in the vision of wanting to help more Australians realise their dreams to travel and invested in the project.
The major difference between Afterpay and Planpay is that with Afterpay you have four fortnightly payments and can spend up to $3,000.
The maximum limit for holidays is $12,000 and you can pay weekly as long as the holiday is booked at least two months in advance.
Play Travel commissioned a survey of 2,000 respondents in April 2020, which revealed that 74% would prefer to pay for their holidays on a payment plan, rather than on credit or debit card.
Just under half of the respondents (40%) said that they struggled with their finances before they went on their holiday.
The Play Travel site has a full suite of holidays – anything from a Byron Bay yoga retreat for $3,114 for two and a flight to Antarctica for two at $3,960 to a Gold Coast apartment for just $439 for two.
Gerhard Beukes Acting CEO of Planpay and Play Travel says that Play Travel is an online travel agency supported by Afterpay’s Touch Ventures.
He says: “It will help people create memorable holidays without financial stress through offering a range of payment solutions including Afterpay, Planpay and direct debit.
“Planpay allows people to lay-by their holiday and pay it off in small, stress-free instalments before they depart. This means smaller payments over a longer period of time and no debt jet lag when they return.”
