14 Percent Workforce Reduction at Evolve

Evolve, a vacation rental property manager, has laid off 164 of its employees -- 14 percent.

Brian Egan, chief executive officer of Evolve, wrote in a memo sent to its employees: "We are operating in a market that has become increasingly dynamic and volatile. Specifically, marketwide supply growth has considerably outpaced demand growth, which has led to average daily rates, bookings, and revenue per property coming in below our expectations."

"This means we will be supporting fewer customers, and will generate less revenue than we planned heading into this year. As a result, we need to reduce the size of our team to align our organization and overall expense structure to this new market context."

Durable Capital Partners, a Denver-based firm, led the $100 million capital raising round announced by the company in February. Evolve has raised more than $235 million and manages over 30,000 vacation rentals. Evolve’s basic plan includes a 10 percent fee and excludes housekeeping and maintenance, but it does cover all aspects that drive rental income, as an entry point to marketing properties on major channels such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo. The services include taking professional photos, creating an online listing, providing advice on price-setting and handling guest interaction.

In August, Evolve, following the increase, signed a contract to add 24,000 houses to Hopper’s app. Eric Schueller was Evolve’s senior vice-president of revenue at the time. He said that his company wanted to increase bookings by Generation Z guests via the Hopper partnership and not simply shift bookings away from other distribution partners. He added that Hopper's customers are younger than Evolve core customers.

Source: skift.com