EDITOR'S COMMENT
• Greetings from Las Vegas! I'll be here for the next couple of days at this year's VRMA International Conference and I'm excited to have the opportunity to connect with some of the most respected thought leaders in our industry. If you see me around, do approach me for a chat about opportunities to collaborate.
I'm particularly looking forward to speaking to Rob Greyber, the newly announced CEO at Vacasa, shortly after it was revealed that the company was laying off around three per cent of its workforce, affecting 280 employees across a range of departments. It is sadly the second round of redundancies in recent months at Vacasa, following the news in July that 25 jobs would be lost in its sales department [just prior to Mr Greyber's arrival] and it is unclear just how deep the latest cuts will still go.
It has been a turbulent year for the Portland-based firm since going public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company [SPAC] TPG Pace Solutions in December and achieving a $4.4 billion valuation.
Like other SPAC mergers this year, Vacasa's share price has plummeted and rebounded slightly from an $8.32 high to $3.28 [despite raising gross cash proceeds of $340 million in the merger] and the firm has also undergone a leadership shakeup with the appointments of a board observer, a new COO and a new CCO, on top of the departures of the current CRO and CPO. Greyber will have a big job on his hands to drive profitable growth, break even for the year and optimise the company's resources in the long term.
• Our next RockSTRz webinar [1 November, 4pm GMT] will take us in a slightly different direction as we explore "Timeshare, fractional ownership and membership clubs: making a comeback?". It is already shaping up to be an excellent, timely and popular session, as I'll be joined by Mike Kennedy [KOALA], Tim McLaughlin [RCI] and a some other yet-to-be confirmed speakers. Don't miss out on this no-cost webinar - sign up now at this link.
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