"But Evolve Charges 10%"

Disclaimer: First and foremost, we're not here to speak ill of our "competition". We've never used Evolve, and if they are in business I am sure they are the right solution for many. However, we have had more than a few clients come to us from Evolve and have expressed their various pain points. My goal here is to help share some facts to allow you to make an informed decision about what partner might be the best choice for you. So here we go!

What the big difference?

We all know it... "Evolve charges 10%"

They do, but what you get for that 10% is very different than what you get with us. The biggest difference is in-home management. Evolve does not have an in-home presence and requires their homeowners to seek out their own "boots on the ground" help that might range from cleaners to maintenance to landscapers and more. In exchange for this, they are able to charge an enticing management fee of 10% since they don't carry the overhead to pay for those individuals.

Other Considerations

• Paying for Maintenance - Keep in mind your boots-on-the-ground help is not going to help you for free, so you have to budget in their cost.
• Reliability of Maintenance/Cleaners - When things get busy at your house, they get busy at everyone's house! Most specifically in the summer, cleaners availability might be limited, and the same goes for any maintenance help. This might force you into a position where you accepted a booking and can't clean it (or restock it) in time for the next guest.
• Rental Registration - most of the communities in the Poconos require rental registration, which has to be obtained from the guests and submitted to the HOA. Some communities even require you to pay for a rental packet in person and then drop off the rental packet at the house (*ahem* Towamensing Trails *ahem*). This is something we take care of, with no charge to you, as a part of our services.
• Dedicated Point of Contact - From what we hear, it can be challenging to get a hold of the right person at Evolve. They do not have a dedicated point of contact, so you may speak to a few different teams, all of which may be slow to respond. We have one dedicated individuals (we call them your VRM, Vacation Rental Manager) that knows the in's/out's of your home and will be responsive with any questions/comments/concerns that you have!
• Flexibility - we've heard it numerous times that Evolve has complete control over the pricing and is quite inflexible when it comes to taking owner feedback. While we also own the pricing side of the business, we're committed to being good parters and happy to work collaboratively on what nightly rate works best! Same goes for pictures, listing generation, captions and more.
• Familiarity with the Poconos - their team sits out of Denver and works nation-wide. We focus solely on the Poconos! This helps us stay in touch with the local climate, understand if ordinances are changing, HOA are making amendments or even things like we have a snow storm coming on check-in day and need to work out logistics with our guests and snow plow contractors!
• Better Reviews means More Money - objectively, we have higher listing scores than Evolve. The below screenshots are taken from AirDNA, which is an analytics tool that aggregates information from Airbnb/VRBO. If you look below, you can see how our performance stacks up against Evolve in the various towns that we both operate.

(taken on Sept 13, 2022)

Better reviews increase your home's rank. When you rank higher, you get more bookings and are able to charge more. When you get more booking for more money, you make more money! While it might seem like you'll make more money with a lower management fee, the reality is the pie is just smaller, so you're making less and you're doing more of the work.

In Conclusion

It sounds cliche, but you get what you pay for. Evolve has a team that sits out of Denver that manages your listing to their specs. They provide no in-home help and sooner or later you will certainly need to be involved in the in-home happenings, whether that's paying for contractors to come our or needing to clean the home yourself. You also become a part of 'their' program, where they control pricing, descriptions, headlines and more.

In contrast, we're your full-service collaborative partners. We take a 360 degree approach to the management, taking care of all the in-person and digital responsibilities. We're also collaborative, and very much view this as a partnership where both parties need to work together to make sure we're achieving the shared goal.

Our full service approach allows us to get better reviews which in turn makes you more money! Better reviews means better rank and better rank means more bookings (and higher nightly rates).

Dig deep, ask questions! Don't simply be lured by their cut-rate management fee. After all, if it seems too good to be true, it often is.

Want to learn more? We're always here to help!

Email: Hello@PoconoRentMan.com

Text (calls by appointment): (570) 243-0243