Could buyers reclaim money lost on unused flight and hotel room bookings? In our latest Q&A Galena Stavreva, CEO of SpareFare explains how this start-up resells reservations.
When were you launched?
November 2016.
How many people are working for the company?
Seven.
Sum up what your company/product does in one sentence
A secure secondary marketplace for travel reservations.
What problem does it solve?
Millions of people lose money on their unused travel bookings every year because they are not aware of any safe and hassle-free ways to resell their reservations. But now there is SpareFare.net, an online platform connecting people who have bought flights or hotel rooms but can no longer use them, with people seeking discounted travel options.
By transferring their booked non-refundable reservations to SpareFare buyers, sellers are able to partially or fully recover the money they paid for the trips, while buyers get a true discount of up to 50-60% by not paying the current price of the bookings. We offer fraud protection to both buyers and sellers and dramatically reduce the risk of transferring flights, hotel rooms and holidays to strangers by acting as an intermediary.
Why is it unique?
We act as intermediaries and ensure that the exchanges on the platform are secure.
What platforms is it available on/can integrate with?
The platform is available via our website and the product can be integrated into any GDS, online booking tool and/or travel agent dashboard.
Which companies are using it already?
We are still in the early days of our development and do not have any official partnerships with companies. But I have seen many individuals selling their business trips on SpareFare because of change of plans. Quite a few secretaries have also contacted us to check how they can lists their bosses' flights on the platform.
What do travel managers like about it?
From a business travel focus, it is very useful for companies to know that if their employees are not able to make a trip which is non-refundable, they can resell these reservations to other people and make significant savings. Listing and selling the flights takes very little time and is very easy to do. Our customer services team is also always available to help during the process. We can save them a lot of money, whether they are looking for cheap travel reservations or looking to resell the ones their colleagues are not able to use.
What are your growth plans?
The whole team is very ambitious and we are all working very hard to grow the business. We want to create a new type of shared economy in travel. In 10 years, we want everyone to be aware that they can resell their travel reservations to other people, and for SpareFare to be the go-to site for everyone looking for a cheap holiday, flight or a hotel room. We want to enable millions of people every year to travel cheaply and see more of our amazing world and to help everyone who is not able to travel recoup at least some of the money they spent on their trips.