Does anyone use EVOLVE?

Gino26
Level 2
Virginia Beach, VA

Does anyone use EVOLVE?

I get alot of e-mails from a company called EVOLVE,,, another vacation booking company that uses multiple booking companies            ( homeaway, airbnb, VRBO, etc) to list your property and to hopefully generate more reservations for the homeowner.  Has anyone actually done this ?  How did airbnb get involved with these people ?

54 Replies 54
Yvette65
Level 2
Old Saybrook, CT

Interesting. I called them this morning since I need to take a break after 19 years and keep three places going. A renter destroyed my cottage, not from any of the sites. The Guest was staying 6 months and went away for one month. They never bought oil. It was their responsibility. Three pipes on the second floor broke. Fireman and Oil company feel the flood could have been going on for three weeks. The Cottage is a 100 percent loss.  So today, needing a break since it is very traumatic to work so hard to build a business and have the police come to tell you to get to the address. The person who interviewed me about me wanting to perhaps work with them, his name was Craig; he was from Colorado.  I felt I would have been better off talking to a Bot. I asked tons of questions and told him about the loss and devastation to my business, and all he wanted to do was close the deal. I will be 71; I have 585 5-star reviews. I love what I do, but this past trauma and loss and other events have broken me. I have my website and ask if I could still book from my site and my return Guest. He said no! I then asked about payment, and he said Evolve holds my money for one month. This is my only income. Based on his energy and attitude, and not being about to book my own Guest and them holding my money. I would never go with their company.  No one can care for you property like you. Be very careful when looking for people to help you.Happy Booking.

Muslim4
Level 7
Almaty, Kazakhstan

I think I tried it earlier. It wasn't available in our country or there were some other restrictions. Perhaps there were any change since that time. Those aggregator services hypothetically save time, but I think they have a big disadvantage because of the different rules, standards, policies each rental services use. 

Chris21375
Level 1
St Paul, MN

I just started using them it’s been 1 month.  They have booked 6 bookings so far. Not all at the higher prices I was charging on just Airbnb, but way more bookings so far. I have had a good experience with the staff too so far so good. I’m so happy I’m not making beds all the time! I got pretty good at it but man it’s exhausting. 

Calvin181
Level 1
Everett, WA

We are staying at a home in Phoenix managed by Evolve and they are terrible.  We’ve had a few issues and the only reply we’ve gotten is a generic email.  The home was not cleaned well, dirt/used bed sheets with pubic hair and stains…just to name a few. Stay away

I don’t know whether to be flattered or flabbergasted. Evolve set my rental at $10,820/night!!! (Should be maybe 125/night). When I called customer service, they said it was “just a placeholder” but no one removed the placeholder. And oh yes, they have no idea how long it will take to fix the error. And then the solution was to block my unit off as owner-booked, or to “resign the listing.” Unbelievable!!! Apparently, you either have to take their atrocious incompetence, or leave it. BEWARE!!!!

Zheng49
Level 10
Toronto, Canada

I have never used Evolve's services before but I went to their website just now. 

 

The look and feel is similar to Airbnb and they also allow you to book properties there. The only problem is there aren't a lot of properties on the website. For example, when I searched for a 2 night stay in Toronto sometime in April, there is only 1 property lol.

 

Did a similar search in New York, and there are only 6 lol.


But anyways, I wouldn't let someone else manage my property since taking back control of the listing can be problematic. At most, you could add them as a cohost, but I feel like a cohost that does everything else except for cleaning would be redundant. The only valuable thing a cohost could do is basically just cleaning services. 

 

 

I just signed up one property with Evolve, and they listed it at $10,820/night!!! Believe me, it's not a mansion. And when I called to complain about it, they could only say it was "human error," that the price was a "placeholder," and they would ask their "revenue dept" to fix it. How long? No one knows. In the meantime, they were just going to block off my unit as "owner-booked." It's now a couple of hours later, and some sites are listing my unit at $12,000/night; others at the same $10,820/night. Only in the owner portal is it at a somewhat reasonable $161/night. By the way, when I said I would like some accountability and asked to speak to a manager, I was told that the manager would say no different. I asked them to take the listing offline while it is at that ridiculous price, and they said the only thing they could do was book it as "owner-booked" or get it delisted completely. So, basically, if you don't like incompetence, tough! They don't care. I would say beware of these people. Maybe it was just my rep. His name was Sam Collins. Vastly incompetent! And the rep I spoke to today who basically told me to suck it up was Sean. 

Jon5023
Level 1
Washington, United States

yes, I use it and we get 30-40% of our bookings off AirBnb because of their platform.  They also provide more help with up-front customer service and booking management.   their price algo sucks and they don't have any sort of seasonal capability, but beyond that it is good. 

Matthew294
Level 2
Long Beach, CA

we use it currently, they charge a 10% fee and if you decide to leave, you cant keep any of your reviews, they also seem to be dodgy on how much air BNB actually pays them, ive noticed a 12% difference in the price paid to me, and what airBNB was quoting for those days, so in all you may be paying up to 22% on your income, not to mention the 10% you have to pay to the state..

 

their main selling point is that they list your booking on all the sites, however almost all of our bookings come from airBNB so to me its not really that much of a feature..

 

they do some of the leg work for you, but is it worth 22% of every day you rent your location? I dont think so.

 

Id avoid them 

They seem to be a scam. I made a reservation and had to cancel. I canceled within the full refund period but never received my refund. I had to submit a dispute to my credit card company to receive a refund.