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US: Luxury travel subscription brand Inspirato has promoted Michael Arthur to the role of chief financial officer [CFO] and named three new members to its board of directors.
Arthur replaces current CFO Robert Kaiden, who will leave Inspirato on 8 November. The new CFO joined the company in February 2023 and served as senior vice president of finance, overseeing corporate finance, FP&A and treasury.
Payam Zamani, chairman and CEO of Inspirato, said: “We are immensely grateful to Robert for his leadership and contributions during a critical period for Inspirato. Robert’s financial stewardship helped us navigate a pivotal period and seize new opportunities.
“Looking forward, I’m excited to shape the next chapter of Inspirato with Michael stepping into the CFO role.
“We are also thrilled to welcome three new members to our board. Inspirato will benefit from their diversity of thought and experience as we aim to capitalise on the opportunities ahead of us,” he added.
Zamani, who is also founder and CEO of One Planet Group, joined Inspirato in August upon the closing of a $10 million equity financing round led by the private equity firm. He replaced outgoing CEO Eric Grosse, who had held the position for less than a year, and succeeds co-founder Brad Handler as chairman.
Outgoing CFO Robert Kaiden said: “I’m incredibly proud of what the team has accomplished during my time at Inspirato. Over the past two years, we have worked tirelessly to reshape the company’s finances and operations.
“With our improved financial position following One Planet Group’s $10 million investment, our streamlined capital structure, as well as my confidence in Inspirato’s future under the strategic direction of Payam, I’ve decided now is the perfect time to step away and transition to Michael as CFO. Michael has been pivotal to our success over the past two years and I’m fully confident he will continue to thrive in this new leadership role,” he added.
At the time of Zamani’s appointment, Inspirato revealed that it was seeking to cut costs of around $25 million on an annual basis, focusing specifically on cutting its workforce by 15 per cent and terminating underperforming leases. It would represent the luxury travel club’s third round of job cuts in a year and a half, having laid off 12 per cent of its staff in January 2023 in order to “streamline operations” and cut a further six per cent [50 team members] of its workforce six months later in July.
A month later, the luxury brand received $25 million in funding via a convertible note investment from Capital One Ventures – funding that was designed to provide “broad operating flexibility” to the struggling company.
In its most recent Q2 earnings call, Inspirato reported a 20 per cent year-over-year downturn in revenue to $67.4 million, while it now has 12,000 members and 12,700 active subscriptions, including 10,800 Inspirato Club subscriptions and 1,900 Inspirato Pass subscriptions.
In addition to Zamani taking over as the chairman of the board of directors in Q3, Inspirato appointed three new members to its board of directors, including current president David Kallery. The other two new members joining Inspirato’s board are Julie Wainwright, founder and former CEO of The RealReal, and May Samali, founder and CEO of Human Leadership Lab.
