Vacasa CEO on Delisting: ‘That’s Not Going to Happen’

You read it here first: Swiss travel investor Viadi Group has acquired British luxury villa rental marketplace, Edge Retreats. 

Based in London, venture-backed Edge Retreats was founded in 2013 and has a portfolio of 6,500 villas across over 50 countries. 

Founded in 2022 by Swiss real estate and travel investors Auret van Zyl and Oliver Corkhill, Viadi Group acquired majority stake in villa rentals company in the Carribbean, WhereToStay.com in January this year, and experiential tour operator, Explorations Company last year in 2022. 

“The big picture is that the dry up of investment capital for pre-profitability companies is real, and is creating opportunities for companies that have cash,” said Carl Shepherd, the co-founder of HomeAway and board member on Edge Retreats.

Swiss Investor Viadi Group Buys Luxury Villa Operator Edge Retreats

Will Vacasa get delisted because its share price has dipped below $1 for an extended period? “That’s not going to happen,” CEO Rob Greyber said at the Skift Short-Term Rental Summit in New York City last week. “I’m not concerned about that. There are different rules that exchanges have. That’s not something we are really focused on. We have plans to manage all those types of things.” In May, Vacasa shareholders approved a measure giving the board the option of executing a reverse stock split, which would presumably cure the problem. 

Meanwhile, when Sonder likewise received a delisting notice from Nasdaq, in late April, and the company noted that it had until October 18 to regain compliance, and could gain an additional 180 days to comply if it transitioned its shares to the Nasdaq Capital Market. 

In other Vacasa news, the board entered into new shareholder director designation agreements with major shareholders Silver Lake, Level Equity, Riverwood, and “EB”/Mossytree (associated with Vacasa founder Eric Breon). Like the agreement that expired June 6, the new agreement gives these parties the right to nominate board directors as long as they maintain certain stock ownership levels. Unlike the prior agreement, the new pact does not require these shareholders to vote for one another’s nominees.

Only on Skift: Executives speaking at the recent Skift Short-Term Rental Summit offered no shortage of predictions about the future of the industry, and here’s a noteworthy quote.

“We all know that part of the biggest problem with guest satisfaction is that the product is not optimized right. In many cases, we talk about vacation homes — they’re retrofitted second homes and those second homes were never really built to be a vacation rental,” said CEO of VTrips Steve Milo. 

The Future of Short-Term Rentals: Industry Leaders Look Ahead at Skift Summit

New This Morning:  Increasing hotel rates in the United States continue to contribute to the overall rise in the cost of living, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the pace of rate increases is slowing, it found. In May, there was an 1.8% increase in hotel rates compared to April, accounting for seasonal adjustments. Additionally, the government provided an update on the monthly changes in hotel rates: There was a 3% decrease in rates in April compared to March, while rates rose by 2.7% between February and March.

Pace of U.S. Hotel Rate Rises Moderated in May

New York City has decided to postpone the enforcement of a municipal law that requires host registration and could potentially severely restrict the number of people allowed to host rentals, according to a court filing on Friday. Airbnb, the short-term rental company, had filed a lawsuit against the city on June 1, arguing that the law essentially banned short-term rentals. The law requires hosts to be permanent occupants of the units being rented and mandates registration with the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) prior to listing rentals.

Airbnb ‘De Facto Ban’ Delayed by New York City

People Moves: Shiji, the chinese tech company that makes hospitality software, appointed Wietse Bijzeit as vice president global solutions architect to accelerate the growth of the Shiji Enterprise Platform.

New Money: Global Distribution System Amadeus has invested an undisclosed minority share in Caphenia, a German company specializing in aviation fuel. Caphenia focuses on producing synthesis gas, which is a key component of sustainable aviation fuel. This investment demonstrates that Amadeus sees a future in sustainable travel, whether the trip culminates in a stay at a hotel or a short-term rental.

Amadeus Takes Stake in SAF Innovator Caphenia

Chart of Day: This is a sneak peak into AirDNA‘s mid-year outlook releasing tomorrow. Total travel spending has increased by 15% compared to 2019, and the share of reservations for stays in short-term rentals (STRs) outside the United States has risen by 5% compared to 2019, rebounding from the decline during the global border closures in spring 2020. However, travel to the United States by foreign visitors is still struggling to recover due to the impact of a strong dollar, which has made it more costly for potential guests.

Around the World: The Italian city of Florence has become the latest in a string of European cities to limit short-term rentals in the city center. The policy is not retroactive, meaning that such short-term rentals that had been operating can remain on the market there. 

Elsewhere on Skift: United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby replaced Delta’s Ed Bastian as the highest-paid U.S. airline chief in 2022. Here’s how much the industry’s leading executives took home — as well as how their pay was calculated.

Highest Paid U.S. Airline CEOs in 2022

If Portland is to shake off the negative media perception, it will need its local residents more than ever to convince the public that it’s still a great tourist destination.

Portland’s Suburbanites Won’t Recommend City to Tourists

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