On January 8, 2025, REI president and CEO Eric Artz announced that REI would end its Experiences business. The Experiences business has been around for 40 years, and includes adventure travel, day tours, and classes.
Headquartered near Seattle, Washington, REI is the United States’ largest consumer co-op with 24 million members, specializing in outdoor and camping gear.
Over 400 employees, 180 full-time employees and 248 part-time guides’ jobs were eliminated.
REI ends Experiences business after 40 years, with 26 paddling trip options cut
“Earlier this morning we shared with our Experiences team that after a thorough review and careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to exit the Experiences business altogether, effective this week,” Artz wrote in the January 8 email to staff. Artz went on to explain that the program was not profitable and the co-op plans to return focus to “sustainable, profitable growth.”
The Experiences business has been a part of REI for over 40 years, providing guided adventure travel trips in various disciplines, including paddling, day trips, and classes. Final trips will be running mid-January, with all trips departing on or after January 15 cancelled.
In total, 19 kayaking, two canoe and five rafting trips options were cut in 2025 as well as a number of other climbing, backpacking, and multi-discipline guided outdoor trips and Wilderness First Aid and Wilderness First Responder courses. While some of these trips were outfitted entirely by REI in-house, many of these trips were contracted through small, local outfitters.
In his email to employees, Artz assured the Experiences team that they have worked extremely hard and created “wonderful experiences for nearly one million people over those years” and that they had done nothing wrong. Artz explained the business decision, stating that in 2024, Experiences served 40,000 customers, making up less than 0.4 percent of all co-op customers. He also shared that Experiences cost significantly more to run than it was bringing in.
“When we look at the all-up costs of running this business, including costs like marketing and technology, we are losing millions of dollars every year and subsidizing Experiences with profits from other parts of the business,” Artz wrote.
Artz also stated that every full-time employee laid off will continue to receive regular salary through March 9, and active benefits through the end of March, while part-time employees will remain “benefits-eligible through January 2025 and will also be eligible for a severance payment.” Additionally, employees who split time between Experiences and Stores may have the option to continue employment.
2025 REI Experiences layoffs impact employees, outfitters, and customers
Plans are in motion to update customers and partners, Artz shared. Customers currently booked on trips will receive a “full refund of all costs paid to REI.” Travel partners with REI, including small, local outfitters across the U.S. will also be impacted, with Artz sharing that REI would “begin informing partners this week and will work with them to terminate our existing contracts.”
Additionally, many kayaking outfitters who had partnered with REI to provide gear and in many cases guide their vendor-model trips are also significantly impacted.
“I would guess that it’s an equal or greater number of people that are losing their jobs from the vendor network than there are actually REI employees,” shared Brian Goodremont, of San Juan Outfitters in Washington. San Juan Outfitters has partnered with REI for 16 years to lead sea kayaking trips throughout the San Juan Islands, as well as a number of multi-day backpacking and multisport trips throughout Washington State.
“Everything that REI advertised and delivered in Washington State was us,” explained Goodremont, adding that San Juan Outfitters itself will be experiencing layoffs as a result. “It will take a significant amount of time to rebuild our business to where it was because to work with a partner like REI you have to sacrifice a lot of your other business.”
“I would typically employ 40 seasonal guides and 10 full-time year-round staff with benefits, and my seasonal staff is going to decrease by almost two thirds… I will probably lose two to three full-time year round support staff,” Goodremont added.
The news comes not only as a hit for the Experiences team and travel partners, but for travelers who used and loved the program as well.
“My experience with REI guides over the years has been so positive. I’m really upset about REI dropping the experience division of their company. I spent so much money at REI leading up to each trip,” Amanda, who asked to be identified by first name only, shared with Paddling Mag.
According to a source who asked not to be named and who had a headquarters position within REI Experiences, about 300 of the people laid off were field staff and guides, while 130 had positions in headquarters.
“I’m sad but I’m not shocked,” shared the former REI Experiences headquarters employee. “This is an incredible loss for REI. It’s the heart and soul of REI; it’s the actual getting outside.”
The former REI Experiences staffer shared that on January 7 they received an email for all employees to join a Microsoft Teams meeting at 8:30 a.m. PST the following day from a headquarters device. During the meeting, everyone’s mics were automatically shut off.
“The Experiences vibe was so fun and everyone was really passionate, and family. I had never worked on a team that was so big into celebrating each other,” shared the former employee. “The Teams chats on meetings would be really really silly and fun… the fact that we were all muted, shut off, there was no chat, was somber. Everyone was off camera.”
Despite the loss of REI Experiences business, the former headquarters employee remained hopeful, stating “such a bright pool of talent is ripe for the taking for competitors”.
What comes next for REI?
“We continue to believe there is a role for REI in outdoor education and expertise,” Artz shared in the email. “However, we need to reexamine and rework how we deliver classes and education to ensure they’re relevant to our customers, aligned to our mission and financially viable. We are funding a small team to innovate and test in this area in 2025.”
“Our goal must always be the long-term financial health of the co-op, and while today’s decision is a difficult one, it is necessary.”
I wonder what the pay ratio is for the CEO vs. median salary for THIS guy is. Short sighted move as usual. If this is what it takes to get the best and the brightestI wonder what the pay ratio is for the CEO vs. median salary for THIS guy is. Short sighted move as USuAl. If this is what it takes to get the best and the brightest, we might do well to hire the merely competent and hard working?