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Ask HN: Subscription based Vacation/Travel

2 points by firefoxNX11 ↗ HN
First time asker here. I work/slog throughout the year even during Summer and don't plan or take vacation. Sometimes its due to financial constraints, but most times its due to poor planning on my part. A thought came to mind about subscription based vacation site. You can deposit money throughout the year and then 2-3 times a year plan a vacation. Create a playlist of vacations. Googling around I found Masterpiecerentals which offered this model but since has been flipped over to luxury vacation rentals. Anyone know of such websites? Any comments on this business model?

6 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 22.9 ms ] thread
byoung2
Why not just deposit that money into a preferably interest-earning account that you control? At the end of a year, you will have the cash you need for a vacation, plus some extra from interest.
firefoxNX11
Sure. That works for some people. But some people lack "commitment" and make compromises when making decision like - Should i take vacation or finish project X on time? Should I take vacation or use that money for fixing something in the house?
thejteam
So this is like layaway for vacations?
dragonwriter
> A thought came to mind about subscription based vacation site. You can deposit money throughout the year and then 2-3 times a year plan a vacation. Create a playlist of vacations.

It sounds like a generally interesting model but it seems like it would be faced with being squeezed uncomfortably between simple direct vacation rentals and vacation ownership offerings (which are pretty diverse.)

Who is your market and why is this better for them?

johnmurch
One thing that comes to mind is timeshares. You have a monthly payment and get specific # of weeks to use. I have found that most of them you need to book way in advance and their websites are crap. Building a solution to solve that by using reminders and/or other systems (voting) might be useful. - My 2 cents.
firefoxNX11
I started thinking that way too. Great minds think alike! But Timeshares are so icky with their high pressure sales and bait-and-switch horror stories. Is there a way to make Timeshares cool again? Perhaps AirBnB, Homeaway do this to some extent?