Jun 30, 2012 9:12 AM
Anyone familiar with Evolve?
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I am curious if anyone's had an experience (good or bad) with http://evolvevacationrental.com/
Considering lots of owners would love for an entity to fully book their rental and manage their reservations, this Evolve network, if as good as advertised seems like it could be ideal at free setup and only 10% comission.
I just spoke with a couple of their representatives and they seem to be in-tuned with what we're asking for.
Curious for anyone's experience...
I am an Evolve customer who is new to the game this yr., and didn't think 35% was reasonable being I live a half mile away, and can do the property mgmt. part. Where I need the help is in the front end (website/marketing visibility, dedicated 18 hr./day call center for prospective renter inquiries / ultimate bookings; nice website for owner mgmt. tools, insurance and legal contract already taken care of, and credit/debit processing. Yes, Evolve did all of that for 10%, and even though I went fully live just over a month ago, I already have 10 bookings continuously through mid-August. Service, knowledge and responsiveness are all 2 thumbs up!
Craig
San Diego, CA
As a new Evolve member I will tell you this: Evolve is a Top Quality listing rental service for your properties.
They have change my whole financal position. How?
I was being sent on a business trip for 3 months which made me burdened about my condo. What to do? I didn't want my condo empty.
A friend told me about Evolve and how they helped her during her absentee and how much she liked them. She told me it would be
profitable for me and they would help me. You will make money while your away!
Boy, am I thankful I called them. Evolve did all the work for me. They assured me I would have the best high quality guest and they took care of everything for me, ! I didn't know how or what I was doing in renting a vacation home.
I am so so very THANKFUL FOR EVOLVE. My burden was gone. It is fun and Profitable... I really like this.
Evolve will give you The Best customer support dovetailed with The Best customer service above and beyond the call of service.
They are ethusiastic, clear in their communication and care about your property renting successfully. They are a 10 !
*It is win-win with Evolve. They want you to be successful... If you make money, they make money.
*They do direct deposit-in real time- in the account you set up.
*You will have the best of photos and listings with other sites. They do all this for you.
*Secure *Legal *Insured
*I am amazed with their Friendly ~ Happy ~ Easy contact for support. It is never too much trouble for Evolve representatives to help you.
*They really care ! Really.
*If I called them for anything, they were quick to take the call or return the call.
*They are confident and super reasonable with their low fees.
*You receive real time email statments of Good News your property rent information, complete with your guest information and deposits.
It is so amazing.
*Their site is easy to manuever around.
*You are in complete controll of your profile and how you want your listing to appear.
*There is no limit to your photos you want on your site.
Evlolve gave me so many tips and suggestions on pricing, ideas to bring success and assured me my property would rent. And It Did! and Quick!
Do Use Evolve Vacation Rental as your first choice for your properties, you will be gald you did. I Know I Am.
I highly recommend EVOLVE and their staff.
EVOLVE IS THE BEST YOU WILL FIND.
I Just love them.
Message was edited by: summer
After reading this, I feel as if I've been through an intensive time share presentation. It sounds like a scripted advertisement.
Thats a shame, cause these are my feeling and experience with Evolve and this is the way I express myself.
What I'm curious about is their model. Of the bulk of services that have arisen over the past few years, I think this is the first one that just everything for the owner. It seems like there are owners who want involvement (those who use listing pages, built their own website...etc) and those who want to be totally hands-off: the latter of which Evolve seems to be going after.
If anyone else has been a client of theirs, I'm very curious to hear the experience.
There are companies that offer full property management services, including booking and upkeep and maintenance of properties. Those are the ones that charge around 35%. Then there are those, like Evolve, that are basically just booking agents.
We have been with Evolve for a little over a month now, and while we do like their service, we've had quite a few bumps along the way.
Pros of using Evolve:
- Your rental(s) get listed on all of the major VR sites like VRBO, Homeaway, Flipkey, Tripadvisor, etc at no cost to you, which is a BIG savings.
- You don't have to deal with the headaches of follow-ups, chasing leads, responding in a timely manner. As I work 50+ hours a week and take care of my wife while at home, this takes a big burden off of me.
- They're there 24 hours a day to answer questions about your rental to prospective renters.
Cons of using Evolve (from personal experience):
- Changes to your listings are slow. Have had to remind them several times to make the changes across the many VR websites.
- No control over who rents your VR. We used to do basic background checks of prospective renters, but they don't do anything like that.
- Took several weeks to get our listings up on the major VR sites after we joined them. Evolve attributed it to an issue with VRBO.
- They use a lot of 3rd party services (like VacationRentPayment), so if you have a problem, you have to contact the 3rd party directly to get it resolved. This has become a major thorn with us lately because we are trying to get payment information changed, but haven't been able to reach anyone at VRP all week. Evolve hasn't been much help other than giving us a phone number which leads to nothing but voicemail boxes. And, as of right now, we have rental money sitting in limbo because we can't get the issue resolved which doesn't help when you have bills to pay.
I am still up in the air as far as wondering whether Evolve is worth it or not. As far as the savings goes for listing your rental on all of the sites, it's definitely worth it. But, their customer service needs some work it seems, and they need more reliable 3rd party vendors.
Hi bryan.gilchrist,
Thank you for the candid feedback. I am sorry to hear that you've had some issues with your listings and the merchant account set-up. I will personally look into resolving these for you. Please don't ever hesitate to contact me directly if you need assistance with anything. I can be reached at adam @ evolvevacationrental dot com.
Adam Sherry, Co-Founder/Chief Customer Officer, Evolve Vacation Rental Network
I am biased because of all the rental experiences I had, Evolve is the first and only rental company that has been efficient and cost effective, and yes, they are very hands on or not, the choice is up to the member.You can use all your personal photos you want, write your own profile, list your own ammenities, list your own requirements of guest, the number of guest you accommodate, what you permit i.e. smoking, children, crowds, parties etc.You list your own bookings, block out your 'owner occupied' days, which is great. Plus they are so cost effective,.The payment plan they do for you.I am so glad I went with Evolve, I'm telling you, the hands on option is there for those who want it.If you don't, the help is there, and everyone needs help getting started.I hope this helps.
I am extremely happy with Evolve. They advertise on 4 sites and and their services are well worth the 10%. After seven months of advertising in various venues and no bookings, my sister suggested I try Evolve after she read an article in the Denver Post. I have had several bookings over the summer and have found Evolve invaluable. They are always friendly and willing to help. Special thanks to Alex V.
pvh,
I see you are also part of the "evolve group". I noticed you have over 200 properties listed on vrbo all across the nation but you have NONE of these properties listed on evolve. YES, I TOOK THE TIME TO CHECK. Why would you come across as an owner with one property and in fact you have NO PROPERTIES on evolve but claim you have been using them all summer?
It doesn't come across very well when people come on these boards with untrue statements about themselves and their properties. I see you also joined this community just to leave this message.
Thanks for your comments Sophie. I had the same impression after reading most of the posts here, including wondering how Evolve_Adam learned of this forum? The only legitimate post appears to be from Bryan. I guess we never know who is trolling the forums we participate in. "If it sounds too good to be true..."
The 200 properties you see are listed by Evolve, PVH doesn't own them, and they are on Evolve. If you look at the bottom of any listing on VRBO, Homewaway, etc. for Evolve, they all say "Contact the Manager: Evolve Vacation Rental Network".
My property is on Evolve at http://evolvevacationrental.com/united-states/florida/tampa-bay-area/new-port-richey/house-ski-inski-out-471. Our house is also listed on VRBO, Homeaway, Flipkey and Trip Advisor, all through Evolve as well.
Evolve's search option is a little clunky as I had a hard time finding my house on there, but properties aren't really meant to be searched there. Evolve's site is more for homeowners/landlords.
After getting things cleared up with Vacation Rent Payment, everything has been smooth sailing since. As PVH mentioned, we weren't able to get our house rented prior to hooking up with Evolve, but have rented it three times since, and that's only since June.
I believe the 10% is well worth it. And Carter at Evolve has been VERY helpful and patient with us as we've had to make a lot of changes along the way.
I am familiar with Evolve and love their customer service, their professional set up, the ease to work my account as well as their assistance when and I need such.
They are a good company, do use Evolve as your Vacation Rental Service.
They are a 5 Star service and very personable. They are there for you.
Carol Hartman. member
All, after starting this discussion thread in June (and in the process of putting together a database of recommended resources for owners) I decided to do some due diligence and research Evolve a little more. I spoke with some of their clients, I did a test run of the service, and I also spoke with one of the founders of the company Brian. In the end, I believe it's a solid service. They basically do everything for the owner (and take a 10% fee of each booking) and from the looks of it, they generate great bookings.
While I'm here, I'd encourage other members to be less critical/suspicious of forum threads. If you don't agree with something or if you think it sounds fake, go and investigate for yourself like Sophie. (However in Sophie's case, she didn't realize that "the 200 properties" are not PVH's properties but Evolve properties and that's what Evolve offers as a service -- doing all the listing/management activity for an owner in their own name). The Community isn't a journalistic publication: it's a forum where people should be able to express themselves freely. And it's up to you the individual to synthesize from it what you wish.
- M
I am a property manager and just signed up half my properties with Evolve. I'm going to compare how many bookings I get on my own vs Evolve. What I do like is that all my properties will be listed on these sites instead of just a couple and paying the large yearly fee on each listing. The 10% is coming out of our 35% managing fee. I'll keep you posted!
I have also had a really hard time reaching someone at Vacation Rent Payment.... Just an FYI...
We work very closely with Evolve Vacation Rental Network as a partner and ground support services provider in Summit County, CO. I have personally visited the Evolve offices in Denver many times and work closely with Brian and Adam and their entire staff on a regular basis and can assure you Evolve is the real deal.
Brian and Adam have extensive backgrounds in the resort / vacation home industry, extremely successful track records and have assembled a team of young, talented individuals with a genuine passion for the vacation rental industry that any business owner would be envious of.
I would strongly encourage any owner who is not interested in handling the advertising and booking process of their vacation rental to work with Evolve. At 10% commission with no start up costs or long term commitments its a NO BRAINER!
Mike Cushing
President
Book by Owner - Vacation Rental Solutions
www.bookbyowner.com
After looking at this company, I believe that they could really compete well in this industry. I noticed that they also post your listings in VRBO, HA, Flipkey, etc for free!
This got my mind to wondering!
Doug
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