Layoffs tips

What caused the widespread outages at many of Expedia Group properties this weekend? The company initially attributed them to “maintenance” but provided a different explanation Monday:

The CEO of property management company Vacasa wrote to employees today that there would be a “significant restructuring of the company” and layoffs because the vacation rental market is “in for another difficult year.”

TravelNet Solutions laid off around 15 employees Thursday, roughly 7.5% of its 200-member workforce, a decision the CEO said was about shifting resources toward engineering and its core property management business.

Few people know Vacasa like Kimberly White does. In 2009, she became Vacasa’s first employee after having been a housekeeper for founder Eric Breon. In 2023, Breon left the company, but as a major shareholder, was able to appoint her as a board member. 

Vacasa announced it will fire 320 employees, including members of local operations and central teams, and Chief Operating Officer John Banczak is leaving the company, as well.

Australia-headquartered Flight Centre announced Tuesday it is closing its U.S.-based wholesaler, Gogo Vacations.

Expedia Group announced late Monday that it began notifying 1,500 employees that they would be laid off “in light of the Company’s organizational and technological transformation.”

Short-term rental and hotel operator Sonder announced that it would lay off 106 corporate employees, or 17% of that workforce, as it moved to reduce overhead costs and deal with underperforming properties.

In December 2019, Ariane Gorin, president of Expedia Business Services, moderated a fireside chat with Chairman Barry Diller and Vice Chairman Peter Kern at an all-hands employee meeting. Expedia Group had just parted ways with its CEO and CFO, and Kern would soon be named CEO.

Czech Republic-based Kiwi, which has taken a confrontational approach toward many airlines over the years as it scraped their websites without permission, laid off 18% of its staff, according to a published report.

Mondee, the booking platform for travel agents, cut roughly 15 jobs from its marketing team late last year, including its chief marketing officer.  

Frontdesk, the Milwaukee-based property management company that fired its staff of more than 100 last week, filed for receivership, a bankruptcy alternative in Wisconsin, on January 5, according to a published report.

Wisconsin-based property manager Frontdesk laid off its entire staff of around 200 employees Tuesday, according to a published report, and appeared to have ceased operations.

Travel companies laid off more than 6,600 employees in 2023. The total comes from more than 20 travel companies that disclosed layoffs for various reasons.

Sojern, the digital marketing platform for travel companies, confirmed that about 20% of its staff were laid off last week. 

Navan, a travel and expense management startup, has laid off 5% of employees at the company, accounting for about 145 people.

Tripadvisor laid off around 125 employees, or 4% of its workforce, in the third quarter and the company said last week that additional job trims will take place before the end of the year.

Expedia Group laid off around 100 employees in a round of cuts that impacted its product and tech organization, Skift has learned.

Kayak and OpenTable, two Booking Holdings brands, laid off 80 employees, Skift has learned.

Florida-based VTrips, a vacation rental property management company, laid off around 75 employees, more than 9% of its full-time workforce, in late September, Skift has learned.

Hopper, the fast-growing online travel and fintech company, cut 30% of its full-time staff — around 250 employees — in a bid to get profitable, according to a published report.