US: Luxury travel subscription brand Inspirato has announced its second round of job cuts this year, laying off around six per cent [50 team members] of its workforce.
In news first revealed by Skift, Jeff Hartman, executive vice president of marketing at Inspirato, said that the company was prioritising “right-sizing” its business. Departments believed to be affected by the cuts include tech, business intelligence and human resources divisions.
The subscription-based platform previously trimmed its team by 12 per cent with immediate effect in January. At the time, it was revealed that Inspirato would continue operating with a headcount of 800 employees, although that figure was still up by more than 300 staff members compared to December 2020.
In December, Inspirato reported a net loss of $7.3 million at its Q3 quarterly earnings call, at which point the company attributed the losses to rising operating expenses and slower than anticipated signups to Inspirato’s subscription-based service Pass, which is designed to offer subscribers more flexibility, added value and over one million trip options in more than 100 destinations worldwide, and debuted in 2019.
That was followed up by a net loss of $5.9 million in Q1 of this year, although it was a significant improvement on the $24 million loss recorded 12 months prior.
In February 2022, the private travel club closed its business combination with special purpose acquisition company [SPAC] Thayer Ventures Acquisition Corporation and began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
In the process, Inspirato secured more than $100 million in net proceeds from the transaction, and the combined company began trading with an initial valuation of approximately $1.1 billion. At the time, the firm said that it would focus its attention on enhancing its proprietary subscription technology, guest experience and personalisation, as well as expanding its portfolio of 425 homes under management and roster of 18,000+ members.
At the time of writing, Inspirato was trading at $0.057 on the Nasdaq, a sharp drop from the $3.60 figure high at the start of March 2022.
Inspirato manages a portfolio of hand-selected vacation options, included branded, controlled luxury vacation homes available exclusively to subscribers and guests, accommodations at five-star hotel and resort partners, and custom travel experiences. Monthly subscriptions to Inspirato’s properties currently hover around the $2,550 mark.
