US: Portland-based vacation rental management platform Vacasa has appointed former Egencia president Rob Greyber as its new chief executive officer from 6 September.
The new CEO succeeds current incumbent Matt Roberts, who spoke on the ShortTermRentalz podcast last September, as part of a “succession planning process” that commenced earlier this year.
Greyber has 20 years of experience building and leading firms in the travel and technology industries and joins Vacasa after serving as president of corporate travel business Egencia between 2009 and 2020. During his tenure, he expanded the business from five to 65 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Nordics and Asia-Pacific, and helped Egencia achieve six-fold revenue growth.
A vast majority of Greyber’s tenure at Egencia was spent under former Expedia CEO [and current Uber CEO] Dara Khosrowshahi, who was a reference during the executive search process.
Jeff Parks, chairman of Vacasa’s board, and co-founder and managing partner, Riverwood Capital, said: “On behalf of the board, we are pleased to welcome Rob to Vacasa. Rob’s passion for the travel industry, coupled with his track record of driving sustainable, profitable growth, make him the ideal leader for Vacasa’s next chapter.
“We are grateful for Matt’s leadership through a critical time for the business and for helping the company meaningfully expand its scale and leadership position. His contributions have significantly improved the trajectory of the business,” he added.
Roberts joined Vacasa’s board in November 2018 and was appointed as interim CEO in February 2020, before stepping up to the full-time role in May 2020 to lead the company through the pandemic. Since then, he has overseen Vacasa’s strategic acquisition of TurnKey Vacation Rentals and took the company public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company TPG Pace Solutions in December.
Roberts said: “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished to date as I pass the reins to Rob as the company’s next CEO. Based on the strength of the business, our leadership team and our positive momentum, this is the right time to make this transition.
“I look forward to Vacasa’s continued success under Rob’s leadership,” he added.
Greyber said: “I am excited for the opportunity to lead the deeply talented Vacasa team. Having spent my career building companies that employ technology to create durable, compounding competitive advantages, it is clear to me that Vacasa is incredibly well positioned.
“As an innovative leader in a fast-growing category with real momentum and scale, and the technology to back it up, Vacasa is in an enviable position to drive profitable growth by delivering best-in-class products and services to homeowners and guests alike,” he added.
Joerg Adams, managing director of Silver Lake and chair of Vacasa’s nominating committee, which led the executive search process, said: “Guided by Rob and the management team, we believe Vacasa will continue to lead the vacation rental industry in technology innovation, quality of service and growth. Rob’s proven track-record of leading digital platforms combined with his deep product orientation in the travel technology space will accelerate this dynamic, thriving organisation.”
Greyber’s hiring comes hot on the heels of Vacasa’s Q2 2022 earnings report, which was the fifth consecutive quarter that the company met or exceeded guidance, as of 30 June.
Prior to that, however, the company had posted a series of consecutive quarterly losses – in part due to the pandemic but also fuelled by its plan to scale rapidly through acquisitions.
When Vacasa went public in December at a supposed valuation of $4.4 billion, shares in the company began trading at around $9.80 but that plummeted to as low as $2.42 in the ensuing months. While the company has somewhat rebounded since then, its stock price is currently trading at $4.91 per share and Vacasa confirmed that 25 jobs were being cut in its sales department last month as part of an ongoing effort to “optimise” its sales function.
Vacasa currently manages over 35,000 homes in more than 400 destinations in North America, Belize and Costa Rica.
