Secondhand travel: Buying, selling non-refundable trips at discount

HOUSTON - Someone's canceled vacation could be your destination on a dime.  Some travelers are saving money by buying secondhand trips.

How about a stay at the Wyndham Dubai Marina for 50% off? Or four nights in the Showboat in Atlantic City originally $776, now $582. Those are deals we found on Plans Change.

Benefits of secondhand traveling

What they're saying:

"Buyers can get great, fantastic deals on our website. Those who cannot use their non-refundable bookings are able to list them on our website," explained James Marula with Plans Change.

Plans Change is one of a handful of sites, including Spare Fare, Transfer Travel, and Roomer, that let people sell non-refundable trips they can no longer take.  Buyers can snap them up at a discount. Each site offers different travel options and discounts, and operates a little differently. 

"We require that sellers list for a minimum discount of 25%," said Marula. "Just today we had a resale deal that saved 87%."

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Marula tells us that on Plans Change, buyers pay no fees. Sellers pay about $10 to list their booking, then usually 10% to 15% of the sale price. 

Clint Henderson of The Points Guy points out there can be some ins and outs to buying secondhand trips. First, he says you want to check that you can transfer the airline or hotel booking into your name.

"We all try to change airline tickets, and it’s really hard. Similar to hotels and part of the reason for that is after 9/11, security became stricter," said Henderson.

Marula says Plans Changes, which only lists hotel bookings, works with the hotels to change the names on reservations.

"We found the hotels are receptive to making changes with the booking, because it increases their occupancy rates," he told us.

Marula says Plans Change also verifies bookings and serves as a intermediary for transactions.

"The funds are not released until 24 hours after the checkout date, so we can ensure we can have that communication with them. And again, trust building," said Marula.

How can I secondhand travel?

What you can do:

For those who’d rather book their trips firsthand, Henderson says there are lots of ways to find big savings as well, such as airline vacation packages.

"You book the hotel and flight together. You can save up to 40%, and it can even include activities and rental cars," said Henderson.

Or he suggests you can use Google Flights to find low fares.

"Just put your home airport into Google Flights, explore, and you’ll see a list of cheap places you can go all over the world," said Henderson.

He also says another option if you can’t take a non-refundable trip is to let the airline or hotel know ahead of time, because you may be able to get a credit that you can use later.