A Better Evolve.

Short-term rentals are “going mainstream” in the travel industry. More and more guests are choosing vacation rentals for lodging and more listings are available in more places online than ever before. As much as the industry has already changed, we think it’s only the beginning. 

These upgrades will help us make sure that you continue to stay ahead of the competition and that our guests always love their stays, regardless of changes in the industry. And both of those goals are connected, because happier guests equal more bookings, which makes for happier owners. 

Everything we improve for guests will benefit you, and everything we improve for you will help us do even more to make vacation rental easy for everyone.

Nope! Evolve will take care of everything related to these upgrades. We just want to make sure you’re in the loop.

It’s not new, but you and your local partners should continue to provide guests the same exceptional experience that you already are at your home(s). As a reminder, every Evolve home must meet our four core property standards for every guest stay: safe, clean, as-advertised, and ready for guests. It’s one of the reasons our properties are well-reviewed and rated, plus it’s the big driver behind our new Rest Easy Promise.

Millions more guests will be able to find you on Booking.com starting in January. Booking.com is the largest travel website in the world, and January is always one of our busiest months for bookings, so Evolve owners will be better positioned than ever to have a great year. Keep an eye out for an email letting you know when you’re officially listed on Booking.com.

Our expansion to 24/7 guest support should not affect you. In fact, you should already have a local Guest Contact for your property who works with guests when they need help during their stay. And most issues are addressed during the daytime, not at night.

We’re simply increasing our responsiveness in case a guest can’t reach anyone. It’s another way Evolve can positively impact a guest’s stay and fulfill our Rest Easy Promise. Look for this to begin in mid-December and remember: happier guests equal more bookings, which makes for happier owners.

The Rest Easy Promise is our reassurance to guests that Evolve properties will live up to their expectations. You already know what those expectations are -- they’re our four core property standards: safe, clean, as-advertised, and ready for guests. So our Rest Easy Promise tells guests that if they arrive to a property that doesn’t meet our standards, we’ll make it right. 

Examples of “making it right” might include a partial refund, hiring someone to plow an uncleared driveway, or even buying guests a meal so they can leave while the property is being cleaned. The point is, guests should be able to rest easy when they book with Evolve. If something is off, they should understand that it’s not going to stay that way for long. That’s how you build a great reputation, encourage positive reviews, and earn repeat guests who book again and again (which is everyone’s goal).

Of course, we’ll work to find a fair resolution for everyone involved. As the owner responsible for maintaining our core property standards, you may be accountable for the costs of that resolution. Our Rest Easy Promise should only positively affect owners who take pride in the experiences guests have at their home.

The new Evolve website is being completely reimagined at every level. We’re working with technology and design partners to create the kind of world-class booking experience that guests expect from a leading hospitality brand. 

We’ll be adding a guest service fee to transactions on our website, which has become standard industry practice. This fee will help to make your exclusive access to our website even more valuable by funding a significant increase in our direct marketing efforts, driving more guests to book your home.  

We think you’ll love the changes (and the increased bookings) and our site will continue to be the least expensive place for guests to book your property. Look for our new website to launch by the end of January.

We’re thrilled to announce that, over the next few months, we’re upgrading all of our owners to SmartRates, our proprietary dynamic pricing technology. After successful testing, we’re confident that everyone will benefit from the SmartRates pricing algorithm which uses billions of data points to optimize your nightly rates in real-time. 

Rest assured, our revenue management team will stay involved, monitoring your property for performance (keeping your minimum rate in mind). This blended approach of technology and human expertise will help you maximize income year-round. 

We’re also going to give guests every reason to book your property by optimizing our payment policies and booking rules. Here are some examples of adjustments we can make to help increase bookings:

• Adjust minimum stay requirements to fill in gaps on your calendar
• Adjust guest payment and cancellation policies to increase your listing’s conversion rate
  

Our experience managing 12,000+ properties has shown us that a little flexibility makes a big impact on rental income--and will help you stay competitive in a changing industry.

We’ve designed these upgrades to minimize additional costs to owners. In fact, we decided to eliminate the 3% credit card processing fee we previously charged so that our 10% management fee means just that--10% for all services provided by Evolve. 

However, the industry is constantly changing and so we have to ensure that we’ll always be able to promote your property on every website that offers significant traveler traffic. To accomplish this, we’ll adjust your advertised rates on websites like Booking.com, Airbnb and Vrbo so you’ll earn a similar amount regardless of where a guest books your home. We’ve highlighted what that means in the table below. 

Owners like you who have been with Evolve for a while will notice that our management fee will now be calculated on your total base rate and fees. This aligns you with the majority of our owners and may have a slight impact on your earnings. However, our upgrades are designed to increase bookings overall, which should increase your total yearly income.

Almost two years ago, Evolve moved our payment processing to Stripe and we adjusted some of our processes to create an easier and more secure transaction for both owners and guests. Here’s how it works for a majority of our owners:

When you receive a booking, the payout is released within 48 hours after the guest checks in, and you’ll see the funds in your bank account in 3-5 days.

Owners like you who have been with Evolve for a while have continued to be paid upfront but we’re now moving all owners to the same payment process described above. Websites like Vrbo, HomeAway and Airbnb have eliminated upfront payments and we’re unable to provide funds to owners prior to receiving payment from our marketing partners. We also believe this will help to minimize the effect modifications, cancellations, or other changes have on reporting.

You should avoid canceling confirmed bookings at all times. Once a guest has chosen your property, they’ve already started their vacation, in a sense. Canceling a confirmed booking for reasons other than natural disasters (or similar events out of your control) will anger guests, encourage negative reviews of your property, and can even hurt your rankings in search results. Remember, happier guests = happier owners. 

If you absolutely have to cancel a confirmed booking, you’ll be charged double the amount of our management fee or $250 dollars (whichever amount is greater). Fewer cancellations will help keep your listing high in search results, build guest confidence in our brand, and help reduce operating costs, which of course passes on to you.