Luxury Travel Auction Marketplaces
Hello community!
Its come to my attention that many in the travel community don't know about an amazing resource for great deals on luxury travel and experiences. I'm talking about online Luxury Travel Auction Marketplaces.
I'm starting this thread to start this conversation, see who has experiences with these (besides me), and see if we can create a masterlist of these types of platforms.
If you haven't heard of CharityBuzz, its the standard and has been around for years. They used to have great deals but their community now is over 2 million so I have found that the savings aren't so great. Just too many people. Also, I won a villa stay in the Spring and didn't know there was a 20% surcharge after I won, which is not clearly advertised.
I'm starting this list and sharing my experience. Feel free to contribute what your thoughts are on any of these and please add to it. This summer, a friend of mine told me about UniteCharity and it is European and looks like they have some great deals.
Some others I have seen and used.- Bidding for Good (Good for smaller and local auctions. Sometimes they will have great deals on luxury hotels. Right now Marriott is running an auction for an LA Benefit and many many Marriott hotels can be had at great deals)
- TheAuctionCurators (Recently launched and focused only on luxury hotels and experiences through membership. I signed up for a free trial and there are about 150 luxury hotel auctions in their member's portal. Its kind of amazing what they have on there)
- Charitystars (Great resource for sports experiences. Sometimes you can find real gold....my partner and I won a Tour de France experience which no one bid on and rode in cars with the Aussie team through Paris in 2023. Bucket list stuff!! and not a lot of competition.
- Unitedcharity (this is a European site and sometimes has great deals in Europe, particularly Austria and Germany. Lots of small European ski resorts. I haven't bid on anything but looks pretty easy to use. Just remember to change the language to English since its a German site)
- Luxurytraveldiary (Not for charity but there are always some good auctions. Its a small platform but worth bookmarking. I have won several things in the past, including a stay in Martha's Vineyard and St. Regis Mallorca for like 70% off)
- Charitybuzz (Too big, in my opinion, to get a good deal) but it goes on the list. Be aware of the 20% buyer's surcharge.
- BlackPlatinumGold (not for charity but they have some cool ongoing auctions on a regular basis and all luxury hotels. I won one auction in 2023 and it was easy to use. They mostly deal with smaller independent luxury hotels)
Any others that folks might know about?