NextGreatPlace attacks vacation deprivation with corporate benefits program

Americans notoriously don’t take enough vacation. So one vacation-membership network, NextGreatPlace, is working with employers to tip the work-play balancing act in a leisurely direction.

The Denver-based vacation club has teamed with several area businesses, including T3Media, to give employees company-sponsored memberships in NextGreatPlace, which normally cost $500 per year, so they can get access to the network’s vacation deals and travel planners.

Employees still have to pay for their own vacations, but they get membership in the club for a year with access to the special rates and PlaceMakers, i.e. “personal vacation assistants.”

Photo courtesy of NextGreatPlace

Of course, for NextGreatPlace this Work Vacation Balance program gets them into new companies and in front of employees, and the companies get a nice perk in their recruitment initiatives.

NextGreatPlace also claims that its employee benefit program for corporations is a productivity tool, not only because it would deliver happier employees, but because “the average employee spends over 40 hours per year planning vacations while at work.”

NextGreatPlace currently offers vetted stays at resorts and vacation properties, primarily in the U.S. and the Caribbean.

A travel startup, NextGreatPlace secured $3.5 million in funding this year in a Series A round led by Trinity Ventures.