Vacay Layaway — Pay Now, Enjoy Later Payment Options Spread to Vacations

Hear the word “layaway” and you’ll probably envision presents under the Christmas tree. But instead, imagine yourself at the beach under a palm tree, as travel agencies and airlines have begun promoting vacation layaway plans. FOXBusiness

FOX Business in their personal finance section recently brought up the spreading trend in paying for the family vacation, layaway.  My family has always used a form of layaway for our vacations but it was simply called savings. I must admit, often times something would “come up” and the vacation money would end up going for something else.  Looks like the layaway method keep the vacation money, vacation money.

Looks like the layaway method keep the vacation money, vacation money.

Gate1 Travel touts that they are revolutionizing how Americans pay for vacation by offering their “Vacation Layaway” program.  According to the Gate 1 Travel website  future vacationers can put down as little as $100 for land packages or $200 for cruises up to a year in advance. Then, pay as much or as little as you want until the final payment due date (usually 45 days before land departures and 120 days before cruising).

The Gate1 Travel site goes on to mention that in order to participate in the Vacation Layaway program, all travelers need to do is make an initial deposit to reserve their vacation, and then make payments towards their trip as they see fit.

“One of the great things about buying your vacation on layaway is that you can lock in prices and the date you want to travel now and then make your payments toward your dream trip.” — Marty Seslow, VP of Marketing for Gate1 Travel

Now we are all familiar with the idea of layaway and used to seeing it offered at major department stores, especially during the holiday season, to make buying all of those gifts a little easier.  Well, Sears who is no stranger to the layaway process is getting into the vacation layaway business by offering layaway options at “Sears Vacations“.

Sears Vacations offers layaway programs on over 3000 cruises and more than 5000 land based vacations with vacation packages starting at $49 month.  Sears also reminds their customers that they can pay for individual airfare and hotel bookings with their Sears credit card, allowing them make payments over time (and interest don’t forget).

The “layaway” way is becoming so popular, and admittedly a smart way to move product, that even British Airways has jumped on the bandwagon.  British Airways offers different vacation packages that are eligible for their layaway program.  British Airways layaway operates in a similar fashion to the others in that you make an initial deposit and subsequent payments, with the trip being paid off a set amount of days prior to departure.

Besides the obvious advantage of making it easier to go on the vacation of your dreams, using the vacation layaway program is a great way to be assured of a seat on a tour that you want to go on without having to make the entire payment in advance or racking up charges on a credit card and then incurring additional interest payments.

Are you thinking of taking that family vacation but find it difficult to save up the money to go?  Look into the “vacation layaway” programs offered by many of the big players in the vacation business.