NextGreatPlace Inc.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: COMPANY

INITIAL LIGHT BULB In 2002, Tom Filippini co-founded luxury vacation club Exclusive Resorts when he was 27. A decade later, he's launched another travel-oriented startup in NextGreatPlace.

In 2010, after leaving Exclusive Resorts and before taking his family on vacation to Belize, Filippini took a "solo reconnaissance" mission to make sure everything was as advertised. "What I found was really eye-opening," he says. "There were places that were being blatantly oversold. The trip could have been a disaster."

So, later in 2010 Filippini started NextGreatPlace with Erik Mitisek to help people sort through the information (and misinformation). The website beta started in 2011, and the website launched this May. Today the company has 15 employees.

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IN A NUTSHELL For $500 a year, members get access to its web-based vacation planning tools and a network of NextGreatPlace-approved destination partners, as well as personal "Placemakers" who "handle all of the planning details and do all of the heavy lifting," Filippini says. Acting as a wholesale distribution channel for partner properties, the company is taking "a market-by-market approach," starting with destinations that include Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, Anguilla in the Caribbean, and ski towns like Vail and Steamboat Springs, as well as guest ranches throughout the West.

Employees vet properties that are potential partners with a 300-point checklist covering everything from kitchenware to the view from the master bedroom. "We take a holistic approach," Filippini says. Beyond the PlaceMakers, the company will soon have staff "Localists," specializing in specific destinations, and "Vacationistas" who will blog on their experiences in various destinations.

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