Neighbor departs Inspirato chief strategy officer role
US: Luxury travel subscription brand Inspirato has parted company with its chief strategy officer and former chief financial officer [CFO], Webster Neighbor.
Neighbor had served as chief strategy officer since March when he was given a new mandate to replace his CFO role, which was then taken up by former Twitter chief accounting officer Robert Kaiden.
In his role as chief strategy officer, Neighbor was tasked with reporting directly to the company’s CEO, Brent Handler, and taking responsibility for activities related to corporate strategy, debt and equity capital markets, investor relations, real estate capital formation and investment.
According to a Form 8-K submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC], Neighbor terminated his employment at Inspirato on 15 July, although the details of the filing were only made public this week.
It marks the latest step in a rocky year for Inspirato, having just struck a definitive agreement on a $25 million convertible note investment from Capital One Ventures earlier this month. According to a press release at the time, the capital was expected to provide “broad operating flexibility” to Inspirato as it continues to enhance the luxury travel experience it delivers for its members.
Just weeks prior to that news, Inspirato announced its second round of job cuts this year, having laid off around 50 team members [around six per cent of its team] last month, following a 12 per cent team reduction in January. Departments affected by the cuts included tech, business intelligence and human resources divisions, as Jeff Hartman, executive vice president of marketing at Inspirato, called the cuts a “right-sizing” of the business.
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, secured more than $100 million in net proceeds and reaching an initial valuation of approximately $1.1 billion in the process.
Since then, Inspirato’s share price on the Nasdaq has plummeted from a high of $3.60 at the start of March 2022 to a current figure of $0.040.
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.
