Evolve Vacation Rental Management

[Lucy0]

Does anyone have any experience with this vacation renal management company? **

Apparently they will handle the bookings, TOT collection, and coordinate with my cleaning team for only a 10% cut of the nightly rate. It seems too good to be true!

**[Link removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Anthony232]

Guests can always say whatever they want about, however Evolve must approve you're response back. So they can actually call you a jerk or worse or how bad you were even if it is  not true and you can't do much. A new spa was on back order and mentioned on every site and one guests blew up even though Evolve had it noted for guests. The guys threw everything at us because he was up that he did not see that note and Evolve knew it was all lie but let him spew what he wanted to say and we looked bad. Then or response was changed so the guests would not look bad.       

[Ellen94]

I am still with Evolve for my New Hampshire property, and they have greatly improved my being utilized, though this winter has been slow. They are wonderful to work with. It is my understanding that they are working to have a way for home owners to review guests, regardless on which site the booking was generated, but they are not there yet. They have a 10% booking fee, and to me this is well worth it as I can not respond to requests for information when I am at my day job, and Evolve really take care of 99% of communications. Also, I did have 2 guests who caused some damage on my property and Evolve was very easy to deal with when working to recoup my losses.

[Holly404]

How do they handle cancellations?

[Gino26]

Hi Jess, I was just curious,, what did you ever decide ?  Stay with airbnb, and handle thiungs yourself or did you reach out to an Evolve rep ?

[Ellen94]

I am a real host and had a real question about this company. I had been contacted by them today and wanted to know if they are legit and if others had found them useful. I have two sites on Airbnb, with 4 or 5 years of participation. I had tried to call the customer service line to ask these questions but hung up after 10 minutes without speaking to anyone.

Ellen Broderick

Pittsfield MA and Campton NH

[Rachael26]

@Ellen94

My apologies - I did not look at the original post date May 2016 and therefore it was your genuine question that brought it back to life so to speak.

@Wendy-and-Frank0 is right - no upside to giving your property over to a company that may not care as much as you - and may even be a question as to whether Airbnb's protections would apply.

Ellen - the best way to contact Airbnb is by twitter (@airbnbhelp) they respond within a couple of hours max and should be able to answer your question - even if it to say whether they know of any company by that name.

Best Wishes.

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

Ten percent booking fee, additional 2.5% charge for payments to your account, and you surrender total control of who's in your house.

Not sure what the upside is.

[Jose258]

It is possible to know more about evolve vacation rental.  Those Airbnb approve this property management service?  I will like to have more and expand my renting oportunities.  

[Jesse59]

I WAS SUPPOSED TO TAKE MY WIFE AND KIDS TO ARIZONA we were planning a suprise visit for my wifes sister whom is ill, so rented a vacation home with a pool near her home from https://www.facebook.com/EvolveVRN/ this place is a nightmare, do not rent from them, i booked a home from them in arizona for this weekend I took the time to call them and spoke to phil twice and they assured me that the home was available for the weekend, so i booked the home and i recived a comformtion with the property address and property management name and # so I called the manager Jeremy and he was very polite and helpful and assured me that the home would be ready for my arrival time if not possibly earlier so my family wouldn't be left out in the heat waiting , so now i was set for the weekend, NOT SO, just an hour ago trish from customer service called me to tell me that the home was not available due to the owner JAN WHO WAS GOING TO HAVE FAMILY OVER, i asked how could that be if i already paid in full, she said she was going to call the owner and see what she could do and call me back,,, well no call back but i received this email,,

Hi Jesse,

I spoke with Jan, the homeowner of the property, and figured out the situation. I found that you did try to make a reservation originally for arriving on Friday September 1st, but we were not able to accommodate the last minute booking.

Jan is doing maintenance this weekend on the home, so she is not accepting any reservations. I am not sure if this was a misunderstanding or miscommunication this morning when we talked to her about it. The dates are now blocked off for this weekend.

We do have another property that does have this weekend available. I have called and left a voicemail for the homeowner to make sure that it is in fact available, so we do not find ourselves in this situation again.

https://evolvevacationrental.com/307342

If you would like to book this, please let me know, and I will continue to reach out to the homeowner to confirm he will have his property ready.

I have already refunded your money for this booking, and will be following up with an e-mail confirmation.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Trisha & the Evolve Customer Experience Team

*****This is my reservation,****

Hi jesse,

Your trip to Peoria is right around the corner! We wanted to take this opportunity to confirm your reservation details and provide check-in instructions for your stay.

To ensure that your trip goes smoothly, please review this entire email and let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Here’s a link to your Rental Agreement, which lays out all the terms of your reservation. If any issues happen to arise during your stay, please refer to this article on What to Do If You Encounter an Issue During Your Trip. We recommend you review both documents before you set out!

Your Contact Info

Name: jesse* Email: l* Phone: (323) XXX-XXXX
Important Note: If you have questions about the check-in process or encounter any issues during your stay, please reach out to the Guest Contact listed below.

Home Address: - *

Guest Contact: - Jeremy *
- Please contact Jeremy with any questions or concerns you may have before or during your stay.

Check-In Instructions: - Check-in after 3:00 pm
- Before your trip, you should receive an email from Jeremy Doneff, the Guest Contact, containing�further check-in instructions.
- If you do not hear from Jeremy within 48�hours of your arrival, please reach out to him directly at*
- Either Jeremy or a representative will meet you at the property upon your arrival to exchange the keys.

Check-Out Instructions: - Check-out before 10:00 am
- Please coordinate your departure time with Jeremey Doneff, the Guest Contact, and follow any specific check-out procedures you receive from him.

If you have any other questions about your trip, please don't hesitate to contact us directly.

You can also access your check-in instructions (and share them with your travel mates) through your Evolve account. Click here to log in or create an account.

Safe Travels, 
The Evolve Team

Trip Details
Property Details:

Listing ID: 309796 Bedrooms: 3.0 Bathrooms: 2.0
Booking Details:

Reservation #: 7007987 Adults: 2.0 Children: 3.0 Check-in: 09/02/2017 Check-out: 09/04/2017

I have never spoke to the owner JAN and now the email states that jan is doing MAINTENANCE WORK, BUT WHEN TRISH CALLED ME SHE SAID THEY WHERE HAVING FAMILY OVER FOR THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND.. SO NOW MY FAMILY AND I HAVE NO PLACE TO STAY AND I WONT GET MY REFUND TILL NEXT WEEK AFTER THE HOLIDAY.... THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THIS YEAR THAT THEY DONE THIS TO ME AND MY FAMILY... PLEASE SHARE THIS IS JUST NOT RIGHT.

UPDATE ..i received this email today from JEREMY THE PROPERTY MANAGER .Hi Jesse,

I just talked to you today and received notification that you are cancelling your 
reservation. Is that correct? I just wanted to make sure before I document it. Thank 
you.

Regards,

Jeremy *
GVR Property Services
NOW THEY BLOCKED ME AND DELETED MY POST ON THERE PAGE

****

*[Personal information hidden for safety reasons–in line with the Community Center Guidelines - to use the Direct Messaging function here in the Community Center, hover over the post profile photo and click 'Send Message']

[Gisele27]

I used evolve for two weeks, at the cost (loss) of $700. They didn't match what was implemented in my other sites (Airbnb, as they said they would), as far as extra guests fees, they lowered the price right off the bat, and gave 20% off to close bookings. I wasn't told who and what my next booking entailed. And when I told them that I did have an extra guest fee I was pretty much called a liar (had to send invoices from other rentals). Basically your property becomes a product without a face. I dropped them after that loss, the guilt trip and too much time spent on the phone to rectify what they had to do and didn't do.

[Mikki0]

Lucy, did you ever get an aswer to your question about Evolve? 

[Paul368]

Thank you guys for your answers. I just finally had to fire Turnkey Vacation Rentals after months of terrible service. It sounds like Evolve uses the same (awful) business model. It's a shame, becuase my Nashville home is a great vacation rental, but there's no one I can trust to run it decently. I'm going to just put it on the long-term rental market under the management of a local realtor. 

The issue is that there's no one to trust to do resets to standard, hold guests accountable for their behavior, and actually supervise upkeep and maintanance like it matters. 

Best luck to you all!

[Craig181]

I would think you could put certain standards in the contract, such as minimum per night stay price, additional fees, etc.  I know i my case, I can get about twice as much per year on airbnb rentals than long term.  I also often get month long rentals.  

I would think in your market you might also want to visit some corporate sites and see about working with them.  Nashville has a lot of long term executive stays taht would pay you well.  Just a thought.

[Atul15]

Hi Craig,

Can your provide some info on the corporate sites that you are refering to, and if there are any that you have has sucess with.

Thanks

[Ritta0]

I manage my listing myself and once you get the hang of it, it really doesn't take that much time. I live many hours away from my rental and the key is to have a decent cleaning service who will do extras for a fee. Are you near any colleges? I am in the process of a start-up focusing on short-term rentals in college towns. Our company has much lower fees than anyone else and you get to work with me! We do not do full management but we are a listing and short-term rental company. Connect with me on LinkedIn for more information.

Ritta Cunningham