Short-term rental startup WanderJaunt has shut down and reportedly laid off as many of 200 people, forcing users with canceled reservations to scramble for refunds and new accommodations.
The San Francisco company permanently ceased operations on June 30, according to post on WanderJaunt's FAQ page that was published only two days earlier.
"We are heartbroken to announce that due to the current economic circumstances in our country which have presented unique challenges to our business, WanderJaunt had to make the impossible decision to permanently close its doors on June 30th 2022. We will be ceasing operations and winding down the business beginning Tuesday, June 28th 2022," the website says.
The company managed short-term rentals for homeowners including operation, maintenance, interior design and listings both on its own website and third-party websites such as Airbnb, Vrbo, HomeAway and Booking.com.
It was founded by CEO Michael Chen, COO Andrés Green and CTO Barrett Glasauer in 2016 and had raised $57 million at a $105 million valuation through a Series B that was announced in July 2021, according to PitchBook.
Investors included Founders Fund, Decacorn Capital, Tribe Capital, Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, The House Fund, Doordash founder Tony Xu and Forward Health founder Adrian Aoun.
The company managed properties in eight metro areas, including Phoenix, Austin, San Diego, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Charlotte and Tampa, according to the news site Short Term Rentalz, which first reported the closure and layoffs.
It's unclear exactly how many employees will be impacted by the layoffs, and an email sent a to WanderJaunt's general inbox was returned as undeliverable. Chen also did not respond to a request for comment.
The company had 66 employees at the beginning of the year, according to PitchBook, and Short Term Rentalz reported that the company laid off 85 people.
However, an employee identified on LinkedIn as a general manager for the company's San Diego market wrote that 200 people were impacted.
"Today feels awkward.. I woke up back home In Las Vegas and jobless. Only three days ago I found out Wanderjaunt was stopping business as of yesterday. It was a total shock…," the manager wrote on LinkedIn. "Please be kind to the 200 employees who blindly lost their jobs!"
There are also a string of LinkedIn posts from over the past several months from people excitedly announcing that they had just been hired by WanderJaunt, including a regional vice president in Florida, an interior designer in Arizona and an operations manager in Charlotte.
And the company still has nine active job listings that appear on LinkedIn for roles including software engineers, recruiters, UX designers, operations, accounts payable and housekeeping.
Customers took to Twitter to air complaints about the lack of notice that their reservations were being cancelled.
"@vrbo Wanderjaunt has ceased operations and forced us to leave our VRBO rental with only 24 hours notice. We have spent over 5 hours on with @vrbo customer care, talking to over 20 agents. We are out on the street and can’t get through to the rebooking team. Help!" one user tweeted.
"my niece and her friends are stranded in San Diego. Told to leave with 2 days notice. They booked through Air BnB, paid in full through August and are being locked out with no refund or remedy," another user tweeted on June 30.
WanderJaunt's Twitter account appears to have been deactivated.
