Vacasa, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCSA) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Rob Greyber : It’s hard for me to say the business has been operating on a strategy of building technology and a platform to help operate this business more and more effectively, and more and more scalably for a long time. When I joined the team I saw an opportunity to try to align that work much more tightly with the business needs, with the teams on the ground and really to do that as well as increase the pace of delivery. So oftentimes you can see very large projects that can shift kind of all at once. And we’ve adopted a mindset that is much more focused on delivering something every week, every other week and then constantly iterating on it to try to make it better, to try to make it more efficient. So I think aligning the work that we’re doing better with our teams, the teams actually on the ground with the needs of our of our owners and our guests has probably been the biggest driver of that change.

Bernie McTernan : Got it. Thank you.

Operator: Next question comes from the line of Nick Jones with JMP Securities. Your line is open.

Nick Jones: Thanks for taking the questions. I guess, as you kind of lay out a preference to preserving profitability versus maybe trying to drive growth? Could you maybe kind of help us understand how much more wood to chop there is and kind of cutting costs given the wide range of outcomes that I guess could happen 2024?

Bruce Schuman : Yes. I can just start on that. I mean I would say we’re not going to again give any kind of a guide on 2024. What I will tell you is Rob and I are watching the environment very carefully. We’re going to see, how kind of the bookings environment shapes up, how our summer peak season looks. We are very committed and it is a top priority for us. We will prioritize adjusted EBITDA profitability, even if that’s it at the expense of top line just as a top priority for online.

Nick Jones: Got it. And maybe a follow-up on a prior question. If there’s growth in your markets that suggests there’s kind of incremental downward pressure on pricing. Is that kind of a fundamental problem with churn can you come back that is supplies growing so that ostensibly is pricing folks out and making it harder to maybe pay the fees for that? A fair way to kind of understand the situation some of the markets ,where you kind of need supply to stabilize.

Rob Greyber: So, I’m not sure I follow all the questions that — jump in if you want to go back to a bit. But generally speaking, we are — as we’ve shared when we think about churn we think about it as broken down into the key components of what we can deliver better. And that’s been around managing the communication dynamic with our owners better. And that’s not, about sending more e-mails it’s about ensuring we’re delivering an experience where they understand what’s going on with their home. We’re able to resolve questions that they have, respond to issues. And those are all of the areas where we’ve made investments that make us more efficient. And we’re seeing that show up in our NPS figures week after week and month after month. But we haven’t seen it yet kind of turn that corner in the in the overall dynamic on churn.

Nick Jones: Got it. Thank you.

Operator: Our last question comes from the line of Justin Patterson with KeyBanc. Your line is open.

Q – Unidentified Analyst: Great thank you. This is Sergio [ph] on for Justin. Curious on the four key priorities that you highlighted in the investor letter for 2023 anything you would call out as performing better than expectations or looking ahead to 2024, you’re excited there but you can continue the momentum going?

Rob Greyber: Yes. Look, I think I’ll start and certainly invite Bruce to jump in here as well. When I think about our four priorities, I mean really it’s hard to pick between. And I think we’ve made a lot of progress. But I think the improving our execution in local markets and in our customer support functions, is something that I think our team is very proud of — it really is a it’s a company-wide effort to orient ourselves towards our owners, toward our guests, towards at the moment when a guest shows up and opens the door and starts their experience in our home and it can be easy to get distracted by all of the other things that have to go on and running a business. But I think where we have put more of our focus, into that local market that that moment of truth, if you will for our guests and for our owners, that’s where that’s where I think we’ve seen some really great progress and some great traction in — and that also makes us more efficient as a company.

And that’s a really good dynamic cost to us to have now and to take forward into 2024. When I look forward to the coming year and our priorities here, I think it’s going to be that focus on optimizing our service offerings and where we allocate our resources. And that’s not just about being more efficient as a company, it really is about continuing that thread of being a better partner to our owners, a better host to our guests because that ultimately is what’s going to drive a better experience for our owners. But we think that’s the key in the long run to lowering churn and increasing retention and also making us more efficient as it comes.

Q – Unidentified Analyst: Great. And if I could ask a second, maybe a follow-up on the product pipeline, any I mean just generally how are you feeling about the product pipeline? It sounds like we should expect the same level of velocity of product releases as we’ve seen in recent quarters. So, is that right and no I think it’s more of a combination of all these products building on top of each other that are leading to these efficiencies and better outcomes for both homeowners and consumers. But I’m curious, if there’s any one or two products you would highlight that you guys are really excited about?