Twelve years ago, Nelson Roberts purchased a second home in Glen Rose, Texas for his family. After nearly a decade of ownership, the property was getting used less often and Nelson was considering selling the home for financial reasons.
Before resolving to sell, Nelson decided market his home online as a vacation rental. Travelers started to inquire and book, but as a self-employed business owner, Nelson simply didn’t have enough time to manage a vacation rental.
Nelson searched online and offline for help, but every option he found was too expensive or required too much work. He knew he needed professional assistance, but giving up 40% of his nightly rate to a local property manager wasn't an option.
Nelson inquired about Evolve's services and was very interested in our team of Travel Advisors who respond immediately to inquiries and confirm bookings on daily basis.
“I needed someone to be professional, pleasant, and to know my property as well as I do. I also needed a partner I could trust with my reputation and rental income. That’s big. The solution turned out to be Evolve.”
Nelson signed up with Evolve in hopes of alleviating the burden of doing everything on his own. He continued managing the in-residence guest experience, while relying on Evolve to handle the time-consuming and often expensive role of marketing and booking the home.
“I can’t imagine taking the myriad of phone calls that Evolve handles for me every day. They field hundreds of calls a month asking questions like, ‘Do you have a crock-pot?’ or ‘Is the grill charcoal or gas?’ I only have to answer each question once and the information gets logged in Evolve's database.
The Evolve platform also allows me to track every transaction and payments are sent directly to my bank account. Is all of that worth the 10% booking fee? Absolutely!"
Evolve's Marketing Team familiarized themselves with the unique selling points of Nelson’s property and quickly crafted a professional listing.
Because Nelson had not been aggressively marketing his home, Evolve elected to ramp up his promotion plan to reach even more travelers. The home was listed—at no cost to Nelson—on some of the most popular vacation rental sites, including VRBO and HomeAway.
When the inquiries started rolling in, Evolve's Travel Advisors followed up on every lead, answered travelers’ questions about the property, and delivered confirmed bookings.
