UPDATED October, 2021: I am still getting amazing deals from Next Vacay, and I appreciate that they even include flights from nearby cities in their email alerts.
One of my favorite travel hacks that I have found is Next Vacay.
I booked an amazing flight deal to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam from Chicago for a mere $530 round-trip over a holiday weekend (!), Labor Day, on United Airlines. It was my lovely vacation at the end of August through the first week of September.
Anne took an epic trip through Ireland and Portugal this past Fall, and booked her round-trip tickets for her and her husband from Chicago to Dublin for only $375 a person on American Airlines through British Airways. (That’s unheard of cheap for ORD-Dublin!)
Both of those flight deals were found and booked thanks to Next Vacay’s email alerts.
Read on to learn more about this fantastic travel service.
What is Next Vacay?
Next Vacay is a membership program that is “a personalized deal alert system for busy professionals who want to take charge of their travel dreams using extraordinarily low fares.”
Their bio on Instagram says it all: “#VacationGoals at unbelievable prices ✈️Our members get flight deals to Paris for $309, Brazil for $403 & Australia for $580”.
“Every single deal is reviewed and assembled by hand by us. We know you have bosses and family to talk to before booking. This is why we do not send last-minute deals . . . The deals we send include links to real ticket itineraries for desirable weekends like Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.”
Next Vacay is the passion project of husband and wife team, Naveen and Shaylee, who love to travel. Naveen was a software developer who created an algorithm to automatically search numerous airfare sites to find the best deals without wasting their time. Of course, they were booking such amazing flight deals, such as round-trip flights to India from Atlanta for $300 per person in economy, that their friends and family wanted in on the action as well.
They realized their flight deal searches service could be a valuable tool for everyone, and Next Vacay was born.
They note on their website “We’ve been testing this system for the last 6 months, and the results have been amazing. We’re now ready to share this system with you and show you how it works.”
Next Vacay service is good for whom?
Avid travelers like me who want a break from spending hours and hours (or days) searching for the best deal for their next trip.
Busy professionals wanting to travel in the coming year, but with limited time to look for flights or learn travel hacking and playing the points game, but who still want to book great deals.
Anyone flexible on destination who is looking to travel more frequently with a few months notice.
Everyone who likes booking flights for less, and is looking for affordable travel opportunities.
I”m so thankful for this product, because Anne and I have both gotten amazing flight deals thanks to their email alerts, and we will continue to use their great service.
How Does Next Vacay Work?
It's a very easy service to navigate and use.
First, you go their website homepage here and choose your nearest airport (and this can be changed in your account whenever needed). They currently offer home airports in Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States.
Then, you enter your email and fill out their “Become a Member” form with payment information for their $25 yearly fee. However, your first month is a free trial!
After that, just sit back and wait for the incredible deals to be sent to the email you provided. There’s literally nothing else you need to do.
All emails show up from “next vacay” and include the price for the round-trip flights in the alert as well as the dates the deal is available with a link to the search in Google flights.
For example, today I received an email from Next Vacay with the subject “next vacay - Chicago to Paris $475ish - Early Jan to Early May”, and I've included pictures of their emails to my Gmail account below.
To book a deal from their email alerts, you simply need to:
Click on the link included in your email from Next Vacay.
Pick travel dates offering the deal via Google Flights where you are directed.
Then, book the flight(s) yourself directly through the airlines website using the link provided on the Google flights page.
Enjoy your trip!
What About Cost & Refund Policy?
I think the membership cost is well worth the value of their travel deal alerts service.
Their $25 Annual Membership fee includes unlimited deals emailed throughout the year.
In the last month alone, I have received over 30 deal alerts emailed to me.
They also offer a six-month money-back guarantee, no questions asked. Plus, everyone gets a free one-month trial.
Finally, you will be emailed a reminder before your card is charged for your next year’s membership so you can cancel or choose to continue without hassle.
BONUS PROMOTION: When you sign up via Hippie In Heels review here, you will receive a free upgrade to be sent business class deals for your first three months!
What Types of Deals Can You Expect with Next Vacay?
“No other website monitors every single airport for deals . . . We’ve found a way to get amazing deals for members in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Billings, MT so even folks in smaller cities are taken care of. . . I can send deals from Atlanta to Tulsa or from Cleveland to Baltimore but the reality is… that doesn’t make most people excited. That’s why I send deals like to Atlanta to India for $718, NYC to Iceland for <$500 and so on.”
The flights they find are incredible.
My airport of choice is Chicago, and these are some of the deals I’ve received via email over the last few months:
Chicago to Manila, Philippines - $575ish - Mid January to Mid May 2018
Chicago to Cancun, Mexico - $175ish - Mid January to Early September
Chicago to Berlin, Germany - $350ish - Early November to Early February
Chicago to Miami - nonstop for $50ish - Late October to Early December
Chicago to Lima, Peru - $425ish - Late October to Early March
Chicago to Boston - $100 - Late October to Early February
Chicago to Nairobi, Kenya - $575ish - Mid November to Early December & Early January to Early May
I could go on listing examples because their deals are sick (that means awesome).
As I mentioned earlier, I booked a Labor Day round-trip flight to Ho Chi Minh City from Chicago on United for only $530 thanks to Next Vacay.
Anne, another friend and I all booked nonstop round-trip flights from $110-$160 to San Francisco from Chicago for my birthday in February thanks to a Next Vacay email alert. We had never seen nonstop flights that cheap to San Francisco before, and had a wonderful trip.
I also just recently took a trip to Israel (Chicago to Tel Aviv round-trip) for only $550 thanks to a Next Vacay alert.
As I mentioned, I received a flight alert for $600 round-trip fights from Chicago to Tel Aviv. I have already been to Tel Aviv and purchased that flight, but as I wanted to go to nearby Jordan the Tel Aviv alert prompted me to check flights to Amman. I found Jordan was also on sale, so I was able to book a flight deal into Amman and out of Aqaba, Jordan for only $476 for early October 2017 thanks to the Next Vacay alert regarding the same area.
In Anne’s case, she was planning a trip to Portugal but was open to adding on another country for her vacation. The round-trip flight deal from Next Vacay from Chicago to Dublin at $375 per person was too good to pass up. That flight deal allowed her and her husband to travel to both Dublin and Portugal for less than the cost of a round-trip flight to Portugal alone from Chicago (and she was able to book a great deal for their round-trip from Dublin to Lisbon as well as intra-European flights are much cheaper than transatlantic flights).
So, Next Vacay flight alerts can also help you find deals to cities/countries you want to visit when you receive an alert for a nearby destination.
Overall, Next Vacay's offered some of the best flight deals I’ve ever seen with virtually no effort required on my part but signing up for the membership service.
The Future of Next Vacay
I think the product is already amazing, and have booked multiple incredible flight deals as mentioned thanks to Next Vacay. However, they are looking to improve their service based on their customers' needs and wants.
Naveen explains they plan to launch a service tailored to finding the best flight deals to the destination of the customer’s choice in the future:
One of the most requested features is to allow our members to pick just one top spot in the world they want to go to next. We’ll then text members when that deal is on sale so you can take immediate action. For example, if you live in Columbus, Ohio and it’s been your dream to go to Bali, you’ll tell us to watch out for Bali deals for you. We’ll then tell you that we found a $371 deal from SF to Bali and your flight from Columbus to SF is $400 making the total cost to go to Bali $771 from Columbus which is still at least a $1000 per person savings.
They also plan to expand the home airports they offer to other areas, such as Asia, in the future.
Conclusion: Highly Recommend Taking Advantage of a Next Vacay Membership
If you want to travel in the future, I highly recommend taking advantage of Next Vacay’s service, so you can start getting their phenomenal flight deals.
The yearly membership is affordable at only $25, and the membership cost is more than paid for by the savings provided from their flight deals for your future trips.
Happy traveling, and enjoy the journey!
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Have you used Next Vacay, or do you plan to? What is your favorite travel hack for flight deals? Leave us a comment below.
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