Nearly a year has passed since we last delved into the troubles at Vacasa, Hawaii’s largest vacation rental company, which had a that point announced massive layoffs and suffered an 88% plunge in stock value.
The intervening months haven’t brought much calm; the company continues to face significant challenges amid the broader troubles in Hawaii’s vacation rental market. In Hawaii, as of today, their website reflects a total number of Hawaii properties as 879. That is down another 25% since we last reported on their inventory last year.
Recent developments at Vacasa, including 13% further layoffs.
Vacasa’s ongoing crisis appears to be escalating with CEO Rob Greyber’s announcement of further layoffs and a “significant restructuring.” The details of the changes were just revealed when Vacasa announced its latest financials. The company said it expects booking weakness is likely to persist through 2024. They said they hope to become profitable in the future. Another 13% of the workforce, will again be shed, it was just announced.
For the first quarter of 2024, gross bookings, were down 18%.
The financial picture at Vacasa remains grim. Vacasa’s last financials reflected three consecutive quarters with declining reservations. Year-over-year, gross booking value and revenue were down 19%, with the year’s total bookings also down 10% to $2.3 billion. It is not surprising that Vacasa reported a reduction in the total number of properties it manages.
Impact on the Hawaii vacation rental customers and Vacasa stakeholders.
The implications of Vacasa’s struggles are profound for Hawaii homeowners and vacation renters. Homeowners, on one hand, continue to be uncertain regarding property management and the profitability of their properties under Vacasa’s guidance. Renters continue to contend with inconsistent service quality. Public reviews easily found by searching for “Vacasa” yield much negative user feedback that highlights numerous concerning issues that further erode Vacasa brand trust.
Vacasa shares once traded at $200.
As of today, however, shares closed at just $6.51. In contrast, Airbnb shares, which have also traded as high as $200, are at $148 today. Airbnb continues to outperform, primarily because of its diverse and decentralized business model. The challenges facing Vacasa have also provided an opening for other local Hawaii vacation rental management companies to enhance their services and capture more market share by focusing on customer satisfaction and local service.
Vacasa says it will pivot towards more local rather than national teams.
Greyber said “We have the opportunity to completely transform Vacasa.” Such a shift will be a blend of national reach together with local Hawaii expertise. If successful, this may better leverage their scale while improving service quality and responsiveness here in Hawaii.
The company’s future will significantly impact Hawaii vacation rentals going forward. They will navigate their problems with the Hawaii vacation rental management companies watching.
We invite our readers to share their thoughts and experiences: How do you view the future of vacation rentals in Hawaii? What have your experiences been with Vacasa?
These homestays in Hawaii can be problematic because of cleaning problems and cleaning fees..and they are plan expensive…Hotels as well…. Hawaii is declining and popularity because the price of staying there is just too high…
This is not my first time reading about this, and education for tourists is important. Also wonder what kind of mortality rates are in other diving resorts world-wide. Is there any research? Long flights would also apply.