For decades, travel operators have been unable to run a profitable resale experience for their non-refundable customers, even though other bookable-services have been allowing resale with great success in the past years (sport events, concerts, etc.).
French startup Fairlyne emerged a couple of years ago to effectively remove the technological, functional, and economic barriers to resale in the travel world. Using its Resale-as-a-Service platform, white label product, travel brands and operators can now add resale to their distribution maximising customer satisfaction by giving them more flexibility whilst generating additional profitability by providing a second opportunity for non-refundable tickets.
Fairlyne announced today it has raised €2.7 million in a seed round as it looks to disrupt travel distribution by turning non-refundable tickets into resalable fares. Speedinvest led the round with participation from Evolem, Kima Ventures and FJ Lab as well as several angel investors.
Fairlyne was founded in 2021 in Paris by Gilles de Richemond, Michael d’Eboli, and Morgan Guérin to build the world’s first Resale-as-a-Service platform for the travel industry.
Gilles de Richemond, Co-Founder and CEO of Fairlyne, explained: “With my Co-founders Michael and Morgan we started thinking about new approaches to distribution while working together at Accor. We realized that travel customers were willing to resell their bookings and meanwhile, no-shows represent a lucrative opportunity for travel operators – if they could offer customers who couldn’t make it the chance to resell in advance. So, we built a platform, which can be integrated into any operators’ consumer-facing channels providing customers with a seamless resale experience. The incremental revenue from no-shows can be significant.”
Michael d’Eboli, Fairlyne co-founder and CPTO, said: “Almost every sector from clothing to cars to jewellery has formalised ways for brands to facilitate customers reselling their products. The main reason that travel hasn’t been part of this trend, and why travel operators are missing out, is that the technology hasn’t been there for something which can be complicated. Fairlyne is the turnkey solution that addresses this gap and opens incremental revenue streams for our travel partners.”
The funds will be used to further develop the platform, expedite the deployment of Fairylne with enterprise clients across the travel industry, and to expand to new markets, including the US.
Jeroen Arts, Partner at Speedinvest said: “Fairlyne is revolutionizing the travel industry by delivering a 10x improvement in customer experience, empowering travelers to effortlessly resell their non-flex tickets. With their innovative solution, they are providing unparalleled value to both travel operators and customers, creating a win-win situation for all. We are thrilled to support the exceptional team at Fairlyne, led by Gilles, Michael, and Morgan. We believe they are poised to seize the enormous opportunity presented by the re-awakened global travel market.”
In 2022, Fairlyne partnered with OUIGO, the French low-cost train operator under SNCF ownership. OUIGO introduced the service as OUIGOSWAP, allowing over 100% of their 25 million of passengers per year to resell their non-flexible bookings directly through OUIGO’s website and app. This initiative has proven highly successful, generating significant incremental EBIT for the operator.
In June 2023, Fairlyne ranked 1st out of 300 startups in the Royal Air Maroc (RAM) Open Innovation challenge. In the coming months, RAM will implement Fairlyne Resale-as-a-Service platform to allow their non-refundable customers to release their booking on RAM’s direct channels and avoid losing 100% of their money in case of no-shows.
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- Source: https://www.eu-startups.com/2023/07/paris-based-fairlyne-bags-e2-7-million-to-turn-non-refundable-tickets-into-resalable-fares/
