Evolve

So let me get this straight… you have zero reviews for the house we thought of renting, ask a decent per night rate of $ 333 but turn around and say there’s a $ 383 cleaning fee!!! For what?! I inquire since the area I’m looking at renting has cleaning fees less than $ 90. Their response after stating we’ll stay somewhere else because of this fee? «Enjoy your trip.» Who came up with this business plan?

I rented a home through
and was sent to process the vacation through Evolve. After our deposit and before our trip our credit card had fraudulent activity and had to be shut off. I wanted to charge the rental to my credit card to get airmiles. I asked for an additional 3 – 5 days to pay our total on our new credit card or to bill our debit, refund it and pay when my credit card arrived. Kevin at Evolve was really helpful in helping with the process. When he was out during the holidays I got a call on Christmas Eve from a very pushy sales rep who informed me my reservation was cancelled for non-​payment. (I was really annoyed to say the least!) I paid the bill on my debit and had a pretty bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing after speaking with her. I emailed Kevin on Christmas Eve about what happened and when he was back he had taken steps to remedy the situation. He contacted the Owner who was wonderfully understanding and helped process the refund to our debit card so we could get our airmiles from the booking. Kevin went out of his way for us and I appreciated it on many levels! His communication was quick, to the point and the process was very easy.

If I could select NEGATIVE STARS I would… Evolve is useless. Do NOT rent with them. I rented a property last summer and it was a total mess. The house was dirty (plates in cabinets were not washed), ill-​equipped (no fans for summer, not enough lights in it so it was very dark, basic necessities were lacking in kitchen– olive oil, dish soap, ziplock bags etc.), had broken items in it (screen doors, screens on windows had holes, dressers, etc.). I was traveling with my children and it was so unbearably hot when we arrived that I had to buy fans for the unit and asked to get reimbursed… and they never responded my requests (of which I made many)… thus, the negative review. If they had responded and reimbursed me– I would have let it go. ALSO– I forgot to mention that there were exposed nails on the floor (where the carpet circa 1960 had come away from the linoleum)… and that was dangerous! This property was so neglected it should not have been for rent. AND I paid way too much for it.
Bottom line– don’t trust these people… don’t rent through them. Terrible property and no customer service.

Beware, their cancellation policy is the worst, refused to even try and work with me. I will never rent another home if Evolve is the Rental Agent.

This review is for the site itself plus the owner of the rental property that me and a friend tried to rent in Buena Vista for the weekend of Jan 22, 2016. This was a trip for a group of girls and unfortunately, 2 days after we rented the place and put a deposit, a family emergency came up and we needed to move our dates. Even though we were more than 30 days out from the actual rental date, the owner of the property refused to refund the deposit. Now, we did not know it was non-​refundable at the time of booking so that’s our fault, but we also thought we were booking through VRBO. We contacted the owner through VRBO and he redirected us to the Evolve site to do the booking. I’m pretty sure its because Evolve does not implement a 30 day refundable policy. There is unscrupulous practices going on with Evolve AND the property owners. Just 2 days into the agreement, more than 30 days out and there was no common courtesy for an emergency situation.
We rebooked our trip for another weekend at another beautiful location through VRBO. Never will I nor any of the friends I have book through Evolve again.

I stand by my review. I went back and forth with your team or employee or whatever minion you have in charge of responding. You can read the transcript on Airbnb Brian. I gave your employee a chance to waive the fee and he would not, if it takes some negative reviews to bring this issue to your attention than so be it. Take some criticism like a man and do better.
Airbnb is not a business that works the same as property management. Figure it out yourselves. I’m not here to train you. I am pointing out to your prospective clients to beware when dealing with your company because obviously no one on your staff has taken the time to figure out how the airbnb community works. So stop contacting me.
No I don’t want your fee waived now. No I am not going to book one of your properties. You are to late. Change your policies, spend some time and see how airbnb works, actually talk to some hosts and some guests. Maybe rent 10 airbnbs yourself and find out what it’s about why people do it.

This review is for Evolve Vacation Rental Network. Last month I used what I thought was VRBO to rent a house in Berkeley, CA where I was going to attend a training for three days and was channeled through Evolve. I’d never seen this in other VRBO rentals and I will forever more be cautious. The initial rental was booked 7 days in advance.
Five days before my rental was to begin I was hospitalized. The only way to cancel once you use Evolve is to phone in. I tried to have a friend cancel, but as they were not the person who made the agreement, they were unable to do so. As soon as I was able (3 days and 8 hours before the rental was to happen) I called from the hospital to cancel. I was told that when you use Evolve, there are no refunds of any fees for any reason. They would cancel and allow someone else to rent the property, but all my fees (including cleaning) would be kept. No exceptions. For me this was over $ 700.
I find it hard to imagine that it is legal to charge cleaning fees or taxes on something you haven’t used, but that’s another issue.
Luckily for me I received an email from the owner the following day. She had no idea why I was cancelling, but felt it would be wrong to keep my money if I wouldn’t be staying there. She offered to call Evolve the next morning and ask that my money be refunded. She had no idea that I was in the hospital, but she wanted to be a good person. My money was refunded thanks to her kindness.
Why I would not use Evolve as a property manager: I manage several rentals through VRBO and would not use a company with such unfair practices because I want people using my properties who want to be there and who are happy to be renting. Those are the people who treat my properties gently. I’d rather deal with a cancelation, than have someone sub out my property because they felt stuck.
Why I will not use Evolve as a renter in the future: As a renter I will be much more careful in the future. I will avoid renting from any property that uses Evolve. I’d rather pay more, make a different choice, or do anything than be trapped by an agency that just doesn’t care.
Later I was contacted by the owner (Brian B) who apologized said this would be a training opportunity for his staff and made a $ 100 donation to charity as ammends. Very kind of him. Based on the reviews below this promise has been made in the past.

I just started using Evolve this year after seven years of self-​management. Their booking service has been great. It sure takes a lot off my plate not to have to respond to every call/​email. Of course, I still have to deal with maintenance and occasional detail questions. I believe my bottom line will be about the same at years end, but with a lot less hassle on my end.
Thanks Evolve

We rented a property from Evolve on a small island off Puerto Rico for our honeymoon. I found similar properties on multiple rental sites, but chose Evolve because their fees were lower and their web page promised top notch customer service. And Evolve actually delivered on the customer service! We had one night left on our stay and emailed Evolve around 10pm to see if we could extend our stay another night. I received a call from Evolve in less than 30 minutes and they were immediately able to extend our stay over the phone. The property was exactly as described, and we couldn’t have been happier with our rental.

We just returned from our trip to Kauai for the first time. We also had a great experience with Stephen at Evolve Vacation Rental. Stephen was extremely responsive and helpful. The place we stayed at was exactly as described and for future travels we would definitely be contacting Stephen.

I was really disappointed by their lack of customer service! I sent an email requesting information on a rental in Vegas-​was there baby gear and could I host a baby shower there? Got an automated response with the cost from Justin, but no answers to my two questions. I sent a second email asking the same questions. Got an email back from Nicole, who sent the cost again along with an answer on the baby gear. I replied to her email and asked again for an answer on the shower. Got no email response. I then called their phone number and left a message requesting assistance. The next day, after not receiving a call or an email, I called again and talked to Nicole and asked about the shower. She replied that they would have to contact the owner. When I started to ask how long that would take, she interrupted me and told me to wait on hold. A few moments later she returned and said it was okay. I then asked her to send me an email that confirmed that and was STILL TALKING to her when she interrupted me with «yes» and hung up on me! On the only positive note, she did send the follow up email. Based on my first and only experience with them, I will not be doing business with any rentals this company is involved in.

I had a great experience with Stephen from Evolve Vacation rental. I booked a house with a 4 day notice and then had to unexpectedly cancel it. Stephen went way out of his way to help me cancel it even though their terms and conditions made it clear that they didn’t have to cancel it. People like Stephen are the gold standard when it comes to customer service and more importantly that people actually care.
Thank you Stephen.

Recently we booked through Evolve for our vacation in South Lake Tahoe and the booking was a simple, straight forward and smooth affair. The cabin we rented was a nice place, as advertised and the owner was also a nice person to deal with.

i had to book a rental house very last minute and used homeaway. 2 properties i contacted were represented by evolve. i emailed them some questions and felt like i was only getting an «automated» response, very generic with no answers to my questions. not the best first impression. however, the rep that ended up helping me book one of the rentals was very responsive and answered all my questions in a timely manner.
my only other issue was, it was very important for me to have early check in as we were traveling with a toddler, but evolve informed me that early check in would have to be arranged with the local contact AFTER the property is booked. so basically, there’s no way to know whether or not the owner would allow early check in until we’re paid in full. that was very inconvenient. luckily the owner did allow us to check in early, but i think this is something evolve can improve on. they should be able to convey our requests to the owners and let us know the decision before we book. otherwise, we had a smooth transaction with them. property and pricing were as described. no major surprises.

While looking for a place to rent in Tahoe-​Donner for a friend’s wedding, we came upon a beauty of a place that was run by Evolve. The transaction was seamless and straight forward. I think the part that I appreciated the most was the reminder emails as we got closer to our trip. Would definitely work with again. Thanks for everything!

Perfect, start to finish. Excellent web experience, follow through from home owner and attention to detail. Communication was proactive and clear. Thanks for a great experience!

Evolve would not let me reverse a booking my friends and I made when we called them within HOURS of making the booking even though the reservations was for more than a month away. They simply relied on their «legal obligations» and had absolutely no sense of what real customer service would look like. I spoke with both Natalie and Nicole. Both were equally unhelpful. One placed the blame on VRBO. The other put the blame and all the responsibility on the owner. No refunds. No reversals. No no no. I understand that I «booked» it although I actually intended to check for availability, which is usually what happens first on VRBO. I understand that they technically listed it as a kitchenette (which to me meant a small kitchen) but according to them my understanding is «wrong» according to the wikipedia definition and so the fact that it has no stove, oven, or adequate refrigerator is technically in the language of the post, in their opinion. But to take my $ 200 and literally hours later when we learned about the actual kitchen to refuse to refund in the same day? With no grace period? Well, that just seems a little harsh from a business /​customer relations perspective. I will never book through them again. And I will never use them as an owner. As an owner, I’d rather have renters staying in my rentals who are getting what they need and are happy with the amenities, not disappointed and annoyed that they can’t cook meals because they didn’t understand the wikipedia definition of a «kitchenette» when it is located in a HOUSE. (I mean, is it crazy of me to expect a small house to have a stove and a real-​size refrigerator in its small kitchen? What kind of house has a hot plate only?) I would not want renters who are staying simply because they are stuck staying there because they can’t get their deposit back, even when they realized their mistake on the same day they booked when they realized the place wasn’t exactly what they needed. Very shoddy, in my opinion.
UPDATE: The owner agreed to refund me after I wrote an email that I asked be sent to the owner, but the owner apparently «banned» me from booking that same property in the future. Then a co-​founder contacted me acknowledging they had made some mistakes on their end and indicated that they would review their no-​refunds-​ever policy. Awaiting changes to policy…

Ok Evolve I would of loved to give you 5 stars but we had a problem. First we were back and forth with your company about parking. My parking was included in my reservation and then you sent an email stating otherwise. Which confused us. So we sent an email to clarify. Thought we sorted everything out. Then got another email that confused us again. Decided that the email thing clearly wasn’t working so I placed a phone call. Finally someone admitted that they weren’t sure about the parking situation (even though I paid for it already) and to call the hotel where the condo is located. Then it gets worse… I call the hotel and they don’t even have my reservation in their system. And I’m supposed to check in that same day!!! I start to panic, but stay cool and collected. I call evolve. They say they will call the hotel to sort it all out. 2 hours go by and no call back from evolve. Mind you once again that it’s the day of my reservation and I booked about a month prior. So I call evolve again. Person I spoke to says they can’t get in contact with the hotel??? and asked that I call the owner and provided me with his number. So I call the owner. Had to call twice and wait an hour before I get a call back. In the middle of all of this I am packing and buying groceries for the trip that I was getting ready to leave to within the hour and I still wasn’t even in the hotels reservation list. So obviously I’m freaking out. Thankfully the owner called back. He was super great. He Called the hotel and sorted everything out. Clarified the parking issue. Basically he did everything evolve couldn’t do. Which is weird cause I booked the room through evolve. What if that owner would of never answered my phone call? Then what would have happened? I don’t know and I’m glad I didn’t find out. I’m giving 3 stars because truly the staff at evolve, although not very helpful, were very polite. They just need to be more organized. And I am also giving 3 stars because the condo was as described, but I guess the owner is the one that really should get credit for that. I would book through evolve again because mistakes happen and this could of been just one bad experience, but I recommend double checking their work, call the owners or hotel and make sure they crossed their t’s and dotted their i’s.

I will never do business with these people again.
After speaking with one of their nice travel agents on the phone to ask some things about a property, I made a reservation. It was pending confirmation, and about half an hour later the confirmation arrived.
3 hours later, after already making plans and other reservations, I got a call from them saying the had to cancel my reservation because the owner told them they’re doing fixes on the roof, and couldn’t accommodate me.
If you’re sending confirmation details for a reservation, you better be damn sure it’s going to happen. If you have any doubts, find out the details. It’s your job, after all. Almost your only job.

Tried to change dates for rental near Parris Island, SC for sons boot camp graduation. Son got sick in boot camp, graduation pushed back a week. From the beginning was told, can’t help, non transferable. I realize they are a middle man company, but they could have attempted to call management company and try to resolve. I didn’t want a refund, wanted an option for possible change in dates, if that could not be accommodated, could they find a rental that could accommodate those dates. Lost $ 376 deposit and still have to find place for sons boot camp graduation.
Update– received call from Brian Becker, at Evolve seems much more willing to accommodate changes, very helpful! Working with Evolve to get a rental for dates needed!