Charity vacation auctions: sourcing and selling travel and holiday lots
In short
- Travel lots consistently perform well at charity vacation auctions, but only when they are sourced without a commission-hungry broker sitting between you and the donor.
- In-house sourcing keeps significantly more of the lot’s value with your charity than going through a third-party travel supplier.
- The way you describe a holiday lot matters more than the destination itself. Bidders buy the experience, not the retail brochure price.
- A donated villa or hotel stay needs the same catalogue discipline as any other lot: dates, inclusions, and how it is redeemed.
- Sequence travel lots deliberately. They tend to work best when a bidder can picture themselves using it immediately, not buried mid-catalogue.
Travel and holiday lots are some of the strongest performers at charity vacation auctions, because they sell an experience rather than an object. Getting the sourcing and the framing right is what decides whether that potential actually converts into bids.
Where should you source lots for charity vacation auctions?
Source travel lots directly from hotels, villa owners, tour operators, and generous individual donors, rather than through a commission-based lot-supply broker, so more of the lot’s value ends up with your cause rather than an intermediary.
I have consistently found that sourcing in-house, guided by someone who knows what a room will actually bid on, keeps significantly more funds with the charity than routing everything through a third-party lot supplier. A broker takes a cut somewhere in that chain. A direct relationship with a hotel or venue does not.
How do you ask a hotel or venue to donate a stay?
Ask directly, with a clear, specific proposal: dates or a date range, what exposure the venue receives in your catalogue and on the night, and confirmation of exactly what is included.
Most hospitality venues are used to these requests and will donate for genuine, verifiable exposure rather than a middleman’s introduction fee. A short, specific email, naming your cause, your event date, and what you will offer in return, gets further than a vague ask for “any support you can offer.”
Why sourcing without a broker matters so much for travel lots
Because travel lots tend to carry a higher retail value than most other auction items, so any commission taken by a third-party supplier removes a larger absolute amount from what reaches your cause compared with a smaller donated item.
This is where the maths genuinely adds up against using a broker. A commission on a £2,000 holiday lot costs your charity far more in real terms than the same percentage on a £200 hamper. Sourcing this category in-house is where the discipline pays off most.
How should you describe a travel lot to make it sell?
Describe the specific experience, not just the destination: what the guest actually does, sees, and feels, alongside the practical details of dates, inclusions, and any restrictions, rather than a generic “luxury holiday” description.
“A week in Portugal” is forgettable. “Seven nights at a beachfront villa with a private pool, sleeping six, available across next spring” gives a bidder something concrete to want. I have watched the same underlying donation sell for noticeably more once the description gave people a specific moment to picture themselves in, rather than a vague geography.
Should a travel lot have a reserve price?
Where a travel lot carries genuine retail value, a modest reserve can protect the donor’s generosity from being undersold, but it should be set conservatively and disclosed, since an over-cautious reserve on a big lot can suppress bidding rather than protect it.
I would rather set a fair, honest reserve and let the room’s competitive energy carry the price past it, than set one so high that it dampens the bidding before it starts. The goal is protecting the donor’s gift, not maximising the reserve itself.
Practical details every travel lot needs in the catalogue
A travel lot needs exact validity dates or a booking window, what is included and excluded (flights, meals, transfers), any blackout periods, and clear instructions for how the winner redeems it.
Vague redemption terms are one of the most common complaints after an auction closes. Sorting this out before the night, not after a winning bidder calls asking how to actually book their prize, protects both your charity’s reputation and the donor’s goodwill for next year.
Where should travel lots sit in your running order?
Travel lots tend to perform best positioned where the room’s energy is already building, rather than buried early or left until attention has faded, since they benefit from bidders feeling ready to commit to something aspirational.
I generally treat a strong holiday lot as one of the evening’s anchor moments, sequenced with the same care as any signature item, timed for when the room is warmed up but not yet fatigued. My live auction sequencing accounts for this specifically when I know a travel lot is in the catalogue.
Getting charity vacation auctions right
- Go directly to the source, not through a commission-based supplier, so more of the value stays with your cause.
- Ask specifically, naming your cause, your date, and the exposure the donor receives.
- Describe the experience, not just the destination.
- Set reserves conservatively, and disclose them.
- Nail down redemption details before the auction, not after.
If you want a fuller framework for sourcing any category of lot, not just travel, my guide on sourcing auction lots covers the same in-house principles, or see the best auction items for charity events for how travel lots compare against other strong performers.
Kevin Durham
Charity auctioneer & event host
Let’s talk
Bring this to your event
Book a free consultation with a charity auctioneer who has raised over £10 million.