Travel has declined dramatically during the past year, but buy now, pay later firm Uplift contends there's a vigorous recovery on the horizon, adding Air Canada to its client roster.
Uplift, which focuses on the travel businesses such as airlines, cruise lines, resorts and travel agencies, is basing its bullish take on what it says are strong bookings for summer and fall 2021. In the deal with
“The demand for travel will explode in 2021. In fact, we are seeing huge demand now for summer and fall 2021 travel," said Brian Barth, co-founder and CEO of Uplift, adding the company expects to generate about a billion dollars in advance bookings as vaccines deploy. "Normally, that demand wouldn’t come until February. People want to travel and with vaccines on the way, they see the light at the end of the tunnel. Coupled with airlines and cruise lines offering the flexibility to easily change dates, consumers are even booking travel two years out.”
By specializing in travel, Uplift has focused on integrating with large enterprise legacy systems at travel companies, believing that is a differentiator in the crowded point of sale credit market. The company relies on word-of-mouth referrals among clients that would otherwise be rivals but do not compete on payment experience.
Its clients include United, American Airlines, Southwest, Lufthansa, AeroMexico, Alaska Airlines, Allegiant, Frontier Airlines, Air Canada, Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruise, Apple Vacations, Universal Orlando Resort and others.
“Airline companies, for example, have complicated legacy systems that require a deep integration to enable certain functions such as settlement," said Barth. "They can’t use a Shopify plug-in to enable BNPL loans like an e-commerce merchant is able to do when selling clothes.”
Uplift has a flexible platform that can charge consumers every two weeks or monthly, based on the client. It also uses its partners' loyalty programs to help underwrite thin file customers that normally would be turned down by banks. It uses machine learning to help partners identify and market to prospective travelers based on past travel, and focuses on repeat business for its individual clients rather than marketing the breadth of its network.
Barth noted it has been a tough year for the travel industry, but that Uplift has been investing to build market share and existing base in anticipation of a recovery. The deal with Air Canada is a recent example.
Additional specialization in travel comes from a March 2019 partnership with
The price points are different in the travel category. Most of Uplift's customers are families or couples planning major trips in advance or dream travel and not necessarily inexpensive solo travelers. Uplift has solved the basic consumer conundrum for those who are planning to travel a year out by converting an expensive trip into low cost monthly installments.
“There are a surprising number of trips that cost a lot of money, such as $20,000,” said Barth. “The problem has been that travel providers either want all the money upfront or at least 50% and all of it paid for before the trip happens. That can mean $10,000 up front which most consumers can’t afford, that’s where we come in. By offering a monthly installment plan, we can make that trip happen and it doesn’t have to be all paid for by time of travel, which is what a lot of people need.”
Barth is a serial entrepreneur with deep roots in the travel industry. He launched SideStep in the early 2000s as a “traveler’s search engine” which was later acquired by Kayak, a unit of Priceline.com. Barth later founded another e-commerce focused travel business that was acquired by Travelzoo before launching Uplift where he is now CEO.
Uplift has raised more than $470 million over five rounds of fundraising since 2014 according to
The overall BNPL market is expanding quickly.
