Key Takeaways

  • Former Vacasa executives are launching First Chair Destinations
  • The new vacation rental management brand is debuting with roughly 3,500 properties in ski and coastal markets
  • First Chair Destinations is focusing in areas where vacation rental demand

A group of former Vacasa executives are launching a new vacation rental management brand with roughly 3,500 properties in ski and coastal markets.

First Chair Destinations is led by CEO Rishi Nigam, a former Wyndham Worldwide executive, and President and COO Bob Milne, who previously served as senior vice president of operations at Vacasa, according to PhocusWire.

The company’s leadership team includes several former Vacasa and Casago executives, and the portfolio was reportedly carved out of Casago’s 2025 acquisition of Vacasa.

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Focusing on ski and coastal destinations with ‘unique needs’

First Chair’s portfolio includes homes in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Vermont, Idaho, California, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Ex-Vacasa executives launch 3,500-property ski brand
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The company, which is being backed by Dallas-based private equity firm Paceline Equity Partners, is focused on ski and coastal destinations, where there are distinct operational short-term rental needs.

“Skiers have unique needs, the homes have unique needs. Operating in those markets is different than operating in a beach market or a lake market or an urban market,” he said.

Nigam told PhocusWire the company is taking a different approach than Vacasa’s more centralized operating model.

“We are not a technology company the way that Vacasa was trying to be a technology company,” Nigam said, adding that owning relationships with guests and homeowners is important to the business. “We’re really focused on cultivating what’s excellent about each of these towns, but there’s a backbone of consistency and experience and trust, frankly, that we have to cultivate with the traveler,” he continued.

The company will still use platforms including Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and Expedia for distribution.

It will also use Streamline and Breezeway to support reservations, housekeeping and maintenance.

“The local teams under the prior ownership weren’t empowered to do very much,” Nigam told the outlet.