Articles tagged “spacs”

It is certainly an attractive time for private equity firms to invest in travel companies under pressure, but picking winners is never a slam dunk.

Will Vacasa and Sonder have the wherewithal as public companies to build their own brands independent of relying on Google and Airbnb, and will their business model challenges be surmountable? There's a ton of potential and so much work ahead for each of the companies.

So far this year, a dozen travel companies went public or made plans to do so. A couple of them may shine. But the odds are stacked against this year's IPOs, on average, over the long term. Find out why.

HotelPlanner found itself a niche in leisure-oriented hotel bookings for groups. It is bent on disrupting the call center model in travel, but will have to prove that its gig-economy customer services agents can develop travel expertise.

It's clear that Oyo will try to go public in some fashion. But will investors buy the story — and the shares?

Vacasa has reached a remarkable milestone with its plan to go public, having parlayed the booming interest in vacation rentals during the pandemic. Yet the full-service property management sector is crowded, and going public is only the start of the journey.

HomeToGo's move to go public is a validation of the booming vacation rental sector. It's also a rare accomplishment for a German-based startup. Europe had been playing a catchup game with Silicon Valley, but no longer.

Sonder's financial results underscored how the momentum in the U.S. domestic travel rebound has continued to intensify. But if you want a glimpse of what investors really think of this startup's business, you'll have to wait until it starts trading publicly later this year.

Critics have been saying for years that Oyo needed to get its house in order and to tamp down on its reckless growth plans. Whether that actually happens or not will become clear over the next year or two.