Property manager Vacasa, then the largest in the U.S., had a $4.5 billion valuation in 2021 before it went public. Casago acquired Vacasa for less than $100 million last year, and sold off the last bit of its acquisitions recently, turning many into franchises.
The moral of the story is that Vacasa couldn’t scale its business, and that centrally managing vacation homes from a corporate boardroom is doomed to fail. Vacasa’s homeowner churn and the terrible consumer reviews from that era prove that.
Casago is now giving the franchise business model for vacation rentals a whirl. Investors were probably smarter looking at short-term rental intermediaries like Airbnb than the property managers working in the trenches.
Skift Global Forum
In travel, the returns keep flowing to whoever sits closest to the customer. Who holds that position next is the open question.
At Skift Global Forum, September 22-24 in New York, the CEOs of Hilton, Booking Holdings, Expedia, and Accor take the stage to answer it.
CURACITY + SKIFT
Generative AI now filters hotels before travelers even reach a booking site. With 94% of hotels invisible to AI, early visibility is the new distribution.
EDITOR’S PICKS
Casago Sold Nearly All Vacasa’s Property Manager Acquisitions and Turned Many Into Franchises
July 13, 2026
It was quite a fall from grace for Vacasa, which as a private company in 2021 had a private valuation of $4.5 billion. Casago acquired it for less than $100 million, and now the last of Vacasa's remnants have been sold off.
Hopper Settles With the FTC Over Practices Expedia Called Out in 2023
July 10, 2026
Expedia ended its Hopper partnership in 2023 for 17 months over deceptive practices. Now the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, in another reputational hit, has reached largely the same verdict, with a $35 million price tag.
Scapia Wants to Own India’s Next Wave of Travelers — Through Their Credit Cards
July 9, 2026
Scapia won’t fight online travel agencies on price. Instead, this travel fintech is betting that everyday spending, loyalty rewards, and payments will determine where the next generation of travelers book trips.
China’s Tongcheng Travel Bids for Dida to Bring Ride-Sharing In-House
July 7, 2026
Chinese OTAs have long offered airport transfers and chauffeur services through third-party partnerships. If completed, Tongcheng's Dida acquisition would make it one of the first to own the ride-sharing marketplace itself, rather than plugging into someone else's.
SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK
On Monday's Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast, Brandreth Canaley and Michael Goldin break down three stories about who is building the next layer of travel distribution and what it means for STR operators.
The conversation opens with a Skift scoop: Booking Holdings is forming a formal B2B unit bringing together Booking.com, Agoda, and Priceline to take on Expedia, where B2B already grows at three times the rate of its consumer business. From there Brandy and Michael dig into what Airbnb's hire of OpenAI's first global VP of creative says about the company's bet that brand is its moat against AI flattening. They close with a Visa Economic Insights deep dive on the great wealth transfer — $8 trillion in inherited boomer wealth heading toward travel over the next 20 years, and what that means for who STR operators will be serving.
This episode is presented by StayFi & Bilt. StayFi helps short-term rental operators build direct guest relationships through branded wifi portals, email marketing, and guest data tools. Visit stayfi.com/goodmorninghospitality to learn more.
And for hotels with restaurants and restaurant owners, Bilt Hospitality is finally here. Go to joinbilt.com/gmh to learn more.
GET THE FULL EPISODE
SKIFT TRAVEL 200
How are public travel tech companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to know to understand the market. Paid subscribers get full access here.
