Kristin Herman said that wearing a “buy now, paying” service to pay a last -minute trip to Miami felt like a lifeguard.
She said the approval was fast and that there were no initial costs – But she accidentally jumped a scheduled payment.
“A lost reminder became tariffs,” he told CNBC Travel.
Rane Teo, however, said he used a purchase now, pay later, or BNPL, plans to break the cost of a weekend stay for his family on the Indonesian island of Batam.
Your experience with dividing the cost into three monthly installments? “Easy and convenient,” he said.
Both Herman and Teo are part of the growing number of travelers who use BNPL services to pay flights, hotels and cruises in installments, in some cases without interest or late rates.
The BNPL Klarna company announced in September that the value of travel reserves processed 50% in the last year, while AFFIRM reported that its volume of trips and tickets increased by 38% year after year in the last quarter of 2024, which crosses $ 1 billion.
In 2025, almost one in five American travelers said they plan to use a BNPL service to pay their summer vacations, according to a March report from the Nerdwallet Personal Finance website.
BNPL services are also realized in China. In January, the Fligy online travel platform said that the BNPL trip purchases volume increased more than 20% between 2023 and 2024. The company, a Alibaba Group subsidiary, projected that the use will continue to grow in 2025, especially among young people.
“In particular, almost a quarter of consumers who opted for this model were born between 1995 and 1999, or referred to generation Z of generation Z, while the proportion of consumers born in 2000 or later has seen the fastest growth, which is approaching 20%,” according to a Fligy press release.
The ZS generation and millennials are also more likely to use BNPL plans to travel for live events, according to the Bread Financial Financial Services Company.
Around 60% of the buyers of general admission tickets for the Coachella Musical Festival of Thath chose to pay through the payment plan, which accumulated a $ 41 management rate, Billboard reported.
The tickets, which were $ 50 per day in 1999, start at $ 539 for a three -day pass in 2026.
Should you, or shouldn’t you?
BNPL can be a valuable tool for financial holidays “when the answer is used,” said Sunil Sachdev, chief of finance integrated in the Global Fintech FISVER company.
He said that the service has matured in recent years, and that BNPL loans have not resulted in generalized breaches, despite the first concerns.
Carrington Labs CEO, Jamie Twiss, agrees that BNPL can be an effective way to distribute travel costs. He said that the predetermined for BNPL travel purchases are lower than other purchases because more people are using the service as a new payment method, instead of a means to access funds.
“Or otherwise giving a higher percentage of people use BNL to travel, just although they already have enough money in their accounts to cover the cost,” he said.
But, like all debts, BNPL loans can be a slippery slope, according to the release of Nerdwallet, which cited a report from the January Finance Protection Office in January that determined that 63% of BNPL borrowers in 202 had more than one loan at the same time.
“Stacking” is just a problem with BNPL loans, said Andrew Lakenauth, founder of Thefinancialnewterter.com. Others include probles to reach the company’s customer service and reimburse loans after unexpected life events, such as jobs losses and vehicle breakdown.
Andrew Lakenauth said that more of his customers are using “buy now, pay later” for basic travel expenses, such as family and wedding visits. “They are no longer just luxury vacations.”
Kamil krzaczynski | AFP | Getty images
“I have worked with about 100 customers drowning in the BNPL travel debt, and it’s not beautiful,” he said. “These loans have zero flexibility: a payment is lost, and is affected with late rates and a credit score.”
However, not all BNPL companies operate in the same way. AFFIRM says it does not charge late and veterinarium rates, and rejects, potential clients.
AFFIRM investor pages indicate that the so -called “payment loans in 4” are not reported to credit agencies, however, the company announced that it began to inform all the payment time products to Experian on April 1, with Transunity to follow on May 1.
Priceus Caroll’s travel agent said it advises customers to use BNPL only if they have the funds for a trip. However, he said that BNPL is “excellent for when an agreement appears so that they can reserve the trip without having the full funds available.”
Disney’s holiday planner Jackie Steele said more travelers are using BNPL to pay Disney trips.
“I have had readers and customers who tell me what allowed them to do a last -minute travel job or waste something like staying in a luxury complex,” he said. “That said, I always warn people, especially younger adults or families with tight budgets, to look beyond the monthly breakdown.”
Last minute trips, in particular, can be problematic because the incentive to pay can leave the ends of the trip. Travelers can avoid this by doing BNPL plans before and paying in their entirety before a trip.
Benson Varghese, a managing partner of the law firm Varghese Summeersett based in Texas, said that a surprising number of its customers has encountered legal problems or financial tension because or BNPL purchases.
“Especially in the travel space,” he added. “Now we are including [guidance] In our financial education sessions in the company because it has become more common than credit card disputes. ”
Lokenaouth said he has a “controversial take” for those who consider using BNL for travel expenses.
“If you can’t pay for a holiday directly, you probably should not take it.”
CLARIFICATION: This article has been updated to clarify the changes in AFFIRM credit policy.