Evolve Vacation RentalReviews 1,238

Park City, UT property. High demand for ski season. They set our rates on many days at $129. So we got terrible renters

We had a terrible experience with one of their rentals. We paid $8000 up front for a house in New Jersey for our son's brain surgery and we had to leave after one night and find another place to stay. The place was trashed and unsafe, but Evolve still expected us to pay for half of the cost. That was bad enough, but the fact that Evolve never posted our review (the rental only shows positive reviews) tells you everything you need to know about this company. They are completely shady! You cannot trust any of the reviews of their homes! BEWARE!

Place was not cleaned when arrived after driving 14 hours… reached out to a manager who said" ma'am you're on vacation stop being irate, it's a Sunday evening at least you didn't get a machine! ZERO STARS! This company is pure crap!

We rented a house in Palm Desert for the month of March and it was a HUGE disappointment.
The place was a dump and I am angry.
They would not heat the pool as they said it was too expensive BUT we rented because of the swimming pool.
False advertising and we paid $8,000,00 US and $11,000.00 Canadian. Shame on YOu!

My listing pics from Evolve included my neighbors' dock which was misleading and they would not change it. I received complaints from customers on this and Evolve wanted me to refund my part of the earnings. Customers would find complaints to try to get a refund on the cleaning fees to compensate for the multiple high fees Evolve would charge them and Evolve would side with the customer on the fabricated complaints. Evolve would charge a low nightly price on my property along with their multiple high fees from the customer.

We booked a rental through VRBO that was managed by Evolve. It looked like it would be the perfect getaway for us. We took off work, cleared our schedules, and drove all the way out to the rental in the next state over...only to find out that Evolve had canceled our booking right before we arrived due to a flooding issue. From the timeline I've gathered, they could have notified us before we'd left our home and driven hours to get there, but they waited for some reason. Evolve customer service's response was basically you're SOL. They didn't help us find a new place to rent for our vacation, they didn't help us find a hotel room in a nearby city, and they didn't offer a discount on our next booking. Nothing! We had to turn around and drive all they way back home. They said they would issue a full refund, but we've only received a partial refund and are fighting with them to get the cancelation insurance refunded since we didn't cancel the booking. So, our vacation was ruined and we're out gas/time/money to get there. And we might not even get our money back! I highly recommend everyone AVOID Evolve managed properties. I don't know what they do for the rental owners, but their customer service for renters has always been horrible and this time it went beyond. We definitely won't be renting an Evolve property in the future.

Came to Houston for the weekend. Booked 7 months in advance to find out the house was double booked and our group was out of luck. Evolve team was zero help relocating. Imagine last minute accommodations trying to stay near a festival you came to town for.

I was reticent in the beginning to list my home with them, but now I'm glad I did it. They are taking care of everything in the process!

Rented a home with no window coverings. Waking up with the sun wasn't my plan, owner offered a refund but it was 6:00 and too late to find an alternative. Evolve claims because there are no photos of blinds it is 'as advertised' then when I said I needed until the morning to find a place since there are same day cutoffs they responded at 10:00 saying offer is off the table it was 'as advertised'. Interacting with actual professionals or directly with owners is far superior.

Evolve is not for the home owner it is all set up for the renter so beware home owners. I have been with Evolve for a few years and in the beginning it was great, the renters were great, customer service was great. That is no longer the case, the past couple years have been a nightmare. You can not depend on the services they recommend. The cleaning service suggested in their network can not be trusted. I have had guests arrive to my house that was not cleaned from the previous guests. On one occasion the guests just trashed the entire house and had a dog. The cleaning people walked in walked out and said they no longer wished to provide service. Guest have also left reviews mentioning the cleanliness. I have dealt with many different people in customer service and they all the same, "we are very sorry to hear about your problem that very rarely ever happens" They do not support your rules you put in the listing, pets especially. Damage claim process is a nightmare. The now upgraded $5000.00 from $3000.00 per claim is a joke. Very short time to report any damage so if you are away from your property and can not get there in time your loss. Had an unhallowed dog a guest brought that caused massive damage. Chewed couch, bar, kitchen chairs and cupboards, When I filed a claim Evolved responded that it was normal wear and tear, even though I provided detailed chewed teeth marks. It was a fight to get to get a claim and still have damage. Background check is little or nothing. If referred to by another rental service no background check provided at all. I did a phone number search and found out a guest from Las Vegas was in the porn business. When I brought this to Evolves attention put me on notice for bringing up porn to them. However they allowed this person or persons to rent my home. Not to sure if my house is in the movies, not my genre. I have more but hopefully you get what I am saying. Evolves is all about the money, (the renter) not the home owner.

Be aware, very aware. They ENFORCE the house rules like no other. EVEN if you talk to the owner and get permission to vary from the rules. The owner will go back on his/her word and say, "you agreed to the rules." You can't even have day guests over if it exceeds the capacity limit of the home. I thought this company was a good alternative to VRBO and AirBNB...nerp.

Owners of Short Term Rentals BEWARE. Evolve representatives are not professional and have hidden behind vague statements of "potential discrimination" and "we cannot require or ask guests to send their ID's prior to checking in, as many guests may feel uncomfortable in doing so, and we want to ensure they have the most positive experience they can" so Owners beware. Evolve will NOT enforce your house rules when it comes to: a) guest ID verification (but they will tell you that you can do it if you want); b) pet fees (unless you report it to Evolve after a guest checks out); c) number of guests allowed in your home; or parties or large gatherings just to name a few. You are definitely on your own and they imply you are getting a great deal from them because they only charge you 10% fee for bookings but what they don't tell you is that they charge another 10% "guest fee" to your guests for a total 20% management fee and FOR WHAT? And to top if off, Evolve charged me a $250.00 cancellation fee for a guest that failed to provide their photo ID to me prior to the check-in date. RUN. JUST RUN from this company. Find someone local with cleaning and maintenance workers that are reliable. You will thank me later.

Dear Evolve Team,

We reached out to Evolve primarily for the peace of mind that having a customer service focused interface would provide us as we moved our primary residence into a full time vacation rental. Having successfully operated a SuperHost rated AirBnB in Brooklyn previously, we are well aware of how consuming it can be to be "on the clock", and so the idea of having a team to interface with customers as a first line of support was the unique selling point.

Our customer service experience this last week with Evolve has been terrible. It featured:
Long wait times
Unresponsive requests to crucial changes about our listing
Unclear communication
And an incident where we were hung up on by customer service
This is not the level of service that we signed up for, and not what we wish to provide our guests. Furthermore, during the onboarding process with Amber Belmore, we asked specifically what happens if we are unhappy with the service after 6 months, specifically when it comes to who owns our listing. The information we received was inaccurate and given the incredible headaches of the past week, not a risk we feel comfortable with.

We understand that we have to pay the early termination fee and photo fee of $250 each. As for the existing bookings we will take care of communicating next steps directly with our clients, as we don't feel comfortable with Evolve communicating on our behalf any further.

Please await further instructions from us until we have prepared to take this on fully, as we both work full time and need a couple days to clean up this mess.

From owners looking to cancel bookings and cut all ties

This company does not worth trusting or listing with them! As a homeowner, I listed my house with them and it did not turn into anything good besides uncounted issues from day one. Any time when I needed customer support or had damages on the property from renters it would turn into a disaster. The company is one Big Joke calling itself a Management Company that NEVER has your back in any upcoming dispute over the payment or the damages. Evolve has a limited to None protection policy for Homeowners. They simply collect the highest management fee compared to other platforms and provide the least of protection. Evolve is a company you don't want to list with!

We booked through Booking.com and the property had dog hair all over it. We booked a week but stayed one night as my son has allergy-induced asthma so we had to check out early. He was unable to breathe and even had to stay at a hotel the first night, while I stayed with his siblings. We had to find a hotel for the remaining stay in Denver. We stayed 1 night of our 7 nights and got a $250 refund out of my $4k total stay. I disputed the remaining nights and the dispute was reversed as they provided a clause that the fees are non-refundable. This is a scam, they could care less about their properties and only strive to steal and retain money from families visiting with children (5 kids). This is a pathetic company, they even stated in the dispute that we accepted the $250 refund, how is that even possible? I will review EVERWHERE and dispute with AMEX again and again until it's solved. Booking.com will hear about Evolve and hopefully rip all their properties from the network to save future complaints. I hope the property owner, Yvana Chiha, catches on because she will end up leaving Evolve a review about how they screwed her investment up like many others have if these actions continue as they have with us.

The resolution is to refund the remaining nights and if this won't happen without legal action then I will contact my council and take it to the next step. I'm sure many others I find online would like to join in on a case regarding Evolve and its inability to perform to standards expected by the hospitality industry.

In my opinion, one of the most difficult parts of taking care of short term/vacation rental properties is dealing with the trend of guests trying to scam owners out of getting free stays or refunds by making up stories about pretend break-ins or bringing in " bug infestations" or photo shopping house pictures to make it look like the house is in much worse shape than the great shape that it's really in or a whole myriad of horror stories that you hear about.

I could write a novel about the beautiful blessing that Evolve has been in helping us with our short term rental houses. Since this is just a review, I'm trying to make it short and sweet. Evolve has been the most amazing example of how to be a benevolent host. They are patient and kind with both the owners and the guests.

When my house got vandalized last week, by a guest claiming to be a pastor (?), I was pretty shaken up, and I felt like screaming at the guest (I didn't… Evolve has modeled for me how to be kind/professional with all customers) but Evolve just masterfully handled the situation by being empathetic and supportive to me and at the same time some how empathetic to the guest who I perceived to be completely insane?. It really was a sight to behold! That this management company could be so kind in such difficult situations! They are like a soft blanket buffer between the owner and guest that makes it much easier to let go of toxic emotions! Big shout out to Eric at Evolve for walking me through undoing the crazymaking situation! He talked me though what to possibly expect when I went back into the house for the first time, he assured me that they would do everything they could on their end to support us and our listing and he helped me calmly send in the info that the evolve insurance needed to reimburse us for damages, extra cleaning, etc. It was a big relief to have them there! They are clearly experienced in deftly handling difficult situations with flair! Thanks again, Eric!

I also very much appreciate that they've kept our homes just about fully booked with mostly great guests! We own 12 rental houses and the short term rentals that Evolve has been helping us with have been grossing at least two to four times what they were grossing as long term rentals. We are gradually turning more of the long term rentals into short term.

I could go on and on about how their app keeps our financial accounting nicely organized/up to date, and how there is always a live person there to help with any kind of owner support. This is a wonderful company! 10/10 I highly recommend!

Over $400 in fees for a 2 night stay double cost of a very average vacation rental. Poor communication and place had problems. Avoid.

If I could provide 0 stars I would. Evolve has completely hurt our short-term rental business to the point where we had to sell our property and get out of it altogether. The two largest incidents were that they miscalculated over $700 in missed taxes they never charged the customers, then as we talked to them about correcting the issue they told us we were essentially out of the money ourselves. The last straw was finally when we had a guest not cancel, not notify us at all that they weren't going to be staying over our peak season (Christmas week) totaling nearly $600 for a few days. We then got a chargeback despite Evolve's rental agreement stating no refunds with no notice and then they pulled the money back out of our accounts. DO NOT ever work with Evolve. Vacasa is a much better alternative.

We had a terrible experience with Evolve vacation rentals. Their after sales support is abysmal. It takes forever for them to address any issues and the support staff have no empathy. They were pushy and unhelpful, even when we told them we were canceling the contract, they didn't even try to find out what went wrong. We frequently experienced issues with our Airbnb listings going offline. It was only when we brought it to their attention that they attempted to fix the problem, but it always took them 2-3 days to do so, resulting in lost revenue for us. Additionally, they mishandled the photos of our listings by swapping them, which could have been perceived as misrepresentation and bait-and-switch tactics by the guests. We highly recommend looking into other options, such as Hostaway or Lodgify. They offer all the same features at a fraction of the cost.

Would never recommend. We stayed at an Evolve rental in Banner Elk NC on Jan 5-8 for a family ski trip. The house was dirty (hot tub had soap scum and a ring of dirt all the way around, inside the stove was dirty and the front glass had water marks all the way down, the master shower and toilet were nasty, The shower curtain was damp and moldy. We found patio furniture in our bedroom. The fireplaces didn't work and the hot water didn't last long enough to cover the jets in the tub.) the list goes on. However we contacted VRBO and the property manager with no response from vrbo and the manager said she would contact the owner. We still have had no response to our issues. We will never use the company again and for sure will never recommend anyone use them. The heat upstairs was 92° and downstairs was 88°. It took all night to get it to cool down. All the manager offered to fix the issue was late checkout. It was a total
Waste of money to pay for amenities that were dirty and broken. Even worse that neither company has responded to our issues.