5WhyAh cash and travel, two things we always want, but almost never simultaneously exist for us. While we always do our best to manage our money to meet our travel ambitions, it’s hard to skimp on things like insurance, flights and expensive nights out.
This often means we never even consider the little upgrades or costs associated that could be well worth the investment. So we sat down with a co-founder of Holipay, Jake Baker, to chat all things travel and money. Holipay is a new product made for those of you infected with that big-time travel bug, and essentially let you pay all your travel costs back over a period of 12 weekly instalments (think Afterpay for all your travel needs). You can travel now, pay later – essentially.
Read on to find out how you can make that next trip more exciting, cheaper and less-stressful.
Should We Use Travel Agents?
Everyone seems to be booking online these days and travel agents must be finding it hard to compete with the internet and all the online options that people have these days. I’ve used them in the past and some have awesome recos for places to go and see, where do you see the role of travel agents in years to come? People seem to think they’re more expensive too. Thoughts?
Jake: The first misconception about travel agents is that they are more expensive. They have awesome access to exclusive items and can put together an amazing package for you that will save plenty of $$$. One of my best mates recently went into a travel agent to book a holiday to New Zealand and the package they put together for him was $800 cheaper than what he could do himself online.
It was going to be $2500 upfront but luckily he Holipay’d it so it only cost him a little over $200 a week. Travel agents also have usually been everywhere themselves, so they’re in the know. People I’ve spoken to who have booked with travel agents always find themselves in these random restaurants and hidden areas with locals. You don’t get that knowledge or enhanced experience when you book by yourself online.
Spread Your Cash Out
Here’s the thing, we bloody hate big expenses. I mean let’s be real, everyone always wants to spend a bit extra for that enhanced experience. Whether it be more leg room on a flight, a room upgrade or car hire to get around easier. When’s the last time you had a holiday that included all that? I know it’s been a while for me, but to make sure I can enjoy these nice little extras, it’s good idea to just spread out the booking expenses so I have some cash left for when I actually leave.
Jake: A lot of the time travellers rule out tours and some of the more premium accommodation and flights because we can’t afford what seems like a big price – for example, $300 for an accommodation upgrade seems like a lot when you have to pay up front. That’s what we’ve tried to make possible with Holipay, spreading that cost out over time. For example, if you spread that upgrade cost out over 12 weeks, that’s only $25 or so dollars p/week and now you’re in the penthouse for your weekend away.
Last Minute Ain’t Always Bad
Often keeping things late means bigger fees, and inflated prices. But sometimes when it comes to flights, special events and experiences, you have companies and organisers trying to sell in mass at the last minute. You’ll get flash sales to fill a flight, last minute ticket deals to sell out an event etc etc. So it’s not always a bad option to wait ’til the very last minute.
Jake: This is spot on. Like we spoke about, there are so many options available at the last minute – from accommodation, to flights, events, experiences, tours, the list goes on! Not only can you save a bit of cash here, but you can also do more fun stuff. A must-have feature for Holipay was always going to be the ability to leave whenever you want. See a sweet last minute deal? We want to help you snap it up and pay for it later.
Don’t Forget To Enjoy It
Sometimes it’s easy to pick every possible cheap option, or even avoid going so we don’t break the bank. But the last thing you want is to miss out, or have a dodgy experience that ruins those wanderlust vibes. So make sure you spend on things that are worth spending on – enjoy your trip and have enough fun experiences and times planned so you do – it doesn’t mean you always need to spend big either.
Jake: We all have had that mate (hopefully it’s not you!) who has had that awful travel experience, and what started as a very budget trip turned out be very expensive for whatever reason. So be bold and treat yourself where you can, those few extra dollars for the extra experience will leave you with a lot of worthwhile memories.
Planning your next adventure? Well with Holipay you can split any travel-related payment under $3k into 12 smaller payments and pay them over time with no interest (yaaaasssss!) Travel now, pay later.
