Revolut enters travel booking sector with in-app service for UK holidaymakers
The challenger bank is capitalising on post-lockdown savings and desire to travel with a new in-app product that allows users to book holiday accommodation in the same place that they manage their finances.
Revolut users in the UK are now able to check their cashflow before booking holiday accommodation, all without logging out of the fintech’s app.
The new travel booking feature “Stays” only enables users to book accommodation for now, but Revolut said it plans to become the “go-to app for travel” and expand to enable flight booking, car hire and travel experiences further down the line.
Initially only available to sun-hungry UK users, Revolut plans to gradually roll out the feature in Europe and the US in the next few months.
Revolut is incentivising users to get on board with the in-app booking feature rather than go elsewhere by offering up to 10 per cent cashback on bookings made through the app – which it estimates 25 per cent of its customers will use at first.
“We’ve built Stays to make it easy for people to find and book their perfect break in their ideal destination, said Revolut head of savings Marsel Nikaj.
“Revolut is becoming the go-to app for travel,” he added.
The expansion into the travel booking sector comes just days after Revolut became the UK’s most valuable fintech company after its valuation surged to £24bn in a fresh funding round.
The British fintech favourite has secured $800m in new funding in a round led by Softbank’s Vision Fund and Tiger Global Management.
Revolut is now one of the most valuable fintechs ever launched in Europe and pushes its valuation slightly higher than high street bank Natwest.