Portland vacation rental company Vacasa (Nasdaq: VCSA) is cutting 17% of its workforce to bring costs in line with its 2023 profitability strategy, according to regulatory filings.
The company is cutting roughly 1,300 positions across its local operations in communities where it has properties as well as its corporate teams. About 33 roles in the Portland region are being cut. The company will have 207 employees in the Portland region. This move will cost the company roughly $5 million in severance payments and employee benefits.
The cuts are expected to be completed in the second quarter.
Affected employees were notified today and CEO Rob Greyber sent an email to the company outlining the move.
“I am deeply mindful of the impact of this decision and made it with careful consideration. I am grateful to the colleagues impacted by today’s announcement — who have already been notified — and to their many contributions to building Vacasa into the company we are today. We will be offering them severance, continuing health care benefits for current enrollees, and providing access to career placement services,” he wrote in the email.
Greyber joined Vacasa last fall and quickly started making changes. There have been changes in executive leadership, its board membership and elimination of 280 roles in October.
“When I joined Vacasa in September, some opportunities for improvement were immediately clear. As a result, we made rapid changes in how we organize, how we work, and where we put our focus, investment, and resources,” Greyber told employees. “Now, having taken more time through our annual planning process, it is clear to me that Vacasa has more work to do. As part of this, we need to reduce our costs and continue to focus on becoming a profitable company.”
The company went public via a SPAC merger in December 2021 and its stock has sunk from its debut at $10.99. It closed Tuesday at $1.67. Shares were up 3% in after-hours trading.
Greyber and the board have been focused on making the company profitable on an adjusted basis this fiscal year. In regulatory filings announcing the layoffs the company reiterated its fourth quarter guidance that was issued in November.
The company expects fourth quarter 2022 revenue between $195 million and $215 million.
Homeowners sign up with Vacasa to market and book their rental properties as well as manage them with maintenance, guest services and cleaning. That is accomplished with proprietary technology developed by the company to maximize rental rates and operations.
All home management roles are employees of Vacasa and not contractors. The company has more than 35,000 homes in its portfolio across 400 destinations in North America, including Belize and Costa Rica. Its homes can be found on other platforms as well including Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo.
Prior to these two rounds of cuts the company had 8,000 global employees.
This story has been updated to correct the number of Portland layoffs.
