Vacasa revenue up 81% in ’21, expects profitability in ‘23

Vacasa is reporting record revenue and gross booking value and raising its outlook for 2022 in its first financial report since going public in December.

The vacation rental management platform generated $1.9 billion of gross booking value in 2021, up 105% year-over-year, and revenue of $889 million – up 81% compared to 2020 and more than $130 million ahead of the full-year target set in July 2021.

In Q4 2021, the company’s revenue came in at $192 million, 76% higher than Q4 2020, and gross booking value was $379 million, a 96% year-over-year increase.

Vacasa’s adjusted EBITDA for the full year was negative $29 million, but the company says it expects to reach profitability by the full year 2023.

“We made incredible progress in 2021, scaling our business and extending our position as North America’s leading vacation rental management platform,” says Matt Roberts, Vacasa CEO.

“There is strong momentum across all aspects of our business, and we remain focused on leveraging technology to streamline our operations and provide an exceptional experience to homeowners and guests.”

Vacasa finished 2021 with its portfolio of properties up 60% compared to the end of 2020, currently with about 37,000 homes across more than 400 destinations in North America, Belize and Costa Rica.

In February Vacasa announced it would equip all of its homes with smart-home technology, including keyless locks, customized Wi-Fi routers and noise-monitoring systems.

In a call with analysts to discuss the results, Vacasa CFO Jamie Cohen says sales and marketing expenses were $66 million, up $49 million year-over-year, attributing the increase primarily to the company’s “brand advertising campaign, scaled homeowner direct marketing, and higher sales force headcount.”

Says Cohen, “We expect adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of negative $25 million to negative $20 million for the first quarter and negative $21 million to negative $14 million for the full year. On the expense side, we expect to continue to invest in sales and marketing and technology and development. I would note that we don't plan on running another large-scale brand advertising campaign in the first quarter of 2022, and as a result, expect sales and marketing expenses to decline sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2021.”