A South Wales family facing a £9,000 loss on a cruise they could no longer take sold the booking through an online travel resale marketplace for £3,000, recovering money they had already written off. The platform making that possible is Transfer Travel, a site being compared to eBay and Vinted, where users buy and sell holiday bookings that original purchasers can no longer use.
The site has more than 162,000 users across more than 170 countries, with the United States, United Kingdom and Canada accounting for the most activity. Marketplace listings have risen 185 percent year on year, and more than £7 million worth of travel bookings has been listed on the platform so far this year.
Maisie Blewitt, head of commercial at Transfer Travel, said typical savings run between 40 and 70 percent, and that within the past month the average saving was around 62 percent. The average holiday listed across all categories is worth around £1,545. Some deals are far cheaper: Blewitt pointed to a Malta trip originally sold for £90 that a seller agreed to let go for £45, working out to just over £20 per person for two travellers.
The platform is free to join. Once a listing is purchased, the seller has 72 hours to complete the name change and transfer the relevant documents to the buyer, putting the trip in the buyer's name.
A cruise sold days before the deadline
The South Wales case illustrates how the site can rescue money from a bad situation. One member of a couple was advised not to travel following a heart-related health concern just six weeks before a cruise departing from Lisbon. Their insurance did not cover the condition, and the provider offered no refund, leaving the full cost at risk.
Their son, Owen Basset, 43, listed the cruise on Transfer Travel. He said he had considered Facebook Marketplace but was not comfortable with a private sale given the sums involved. A buyer, Jorge Pavia, secured the booking for £3,000 just days before the final transfer deadline.
Basset said that at that stage the family had already assumed the money was gone, so recovering anything felt like a real win. He described the process as quick and safe once the buyer was confirmed, with no worry that the deal would fall through.
First-class tickets on an Instagram impulse
Buyers can find bargains too. Kirsten Crocker, 38, a mother visiting the UK from the United States, came across Transfer Travel through an Instagram Reel posted by an influencer called Mrs Dow Jones. She was already planning a trip with her two children and was considering adding Scotland to the itinerary.
She found a listing for two return first-class rail tickets from London Euston to Glasgow Central, originally priced at £240. She submitted an offer of £150 and it was accepted immediately. She described the purchase as impulsive but said the timing felt perfect.
Transfer Travel also uses TikTok Live sessions to highlight top savings, exclusive discounts and new listings. The site runs a hot deals section; a recent example offered accommodation at the Alia Beachfront suite and spa in Rhodes for early September at 50 percent off, with two guests for five nights discounted to £563 from £1,128. A Google Flights integration on the platform lets buyers search for cheap flights to complement their purchase.
Limitations to keep in mind
The detail provided about each listing depends on the seller, which means buyers may receive less information than they would booking directly with a holiday company. The platform also currently has no functionality for children, so a family of two adults and two children would need to search for four adults.
Laura Carden-Lovell, described as a travel expert at Transfer Travel, said resale is becoming a discovery tool rather than just a fallback, with some travellers coming across an opportunity and building a trip around it rather than starting with a fixed plan.
