

Ask HN: Subscription based Vacation/Travel - firefoxNX11

First time asker here. I work&#x2F;slog throughout the year even during Summer and don&#x27;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?
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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?

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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?

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thejteam
So this is like layaway for vacations?

