We were very disappointed with our stay. First of all, the rate we had to pay for this place was extraordinary, and understanding I can't list the rate I won't. But we did not get our dollar's worth. Here is a summary of some of the issues we came across:
1) The house is misrepresented in the pictures. It is run down, old, and in serious need of upgrades. Of the 6 pocket doors in the house, only 1 worked. Our infant child was staying in one of the rooms and when the door got stuck and wouldn't open, the host recommended that I leave the door to the backyard in the room open so I could retrieve her. Absolutely ridiculous.
2) On the first day we were there, the internet went out. Though the host can't control the internet, because he is located in Ohio, we had to wait the next day until the internet technician arrived (and then had to cancel plans we had that day to allow the technician to come)
3) The day we arrived, our 8 month old was crawling on the floor and luckily, my wife saw 4 pins that were left on the floor. Had we not seen this, she almost definitely would have had an injury. We immediately reported this to the host who blamed it on his cleaning company and short turnaround between stays.
4) When we arrived, one of the first things I checked because we were most excited about it was the pool. We have a pool at home so luckily I knew what to check (skimmer, chlorine, etc.). The host assured me that the pool had been cleaned and treated prior to our arrival ... it hadn't. The skimmer was completely full and the chlorine dispenser was empty. Thus we couldn't use the pool the first day and had continuous issues with the pool throughout our entire stay. To the point where the owner of the company treating the pool gave us his cell number directly. The heater was not active constantly and so we couldn't even enjoy the benefits of a "heated" pool until we raised such concern with the owner, that they changed the settings. Of our 2 weeks stay there, we had issues with the pool on 6 of the 14 days.
5) On one of the mornings, we found a cockroach in the kitchen. Fully alive and kicking. I flipped it on its back and sent the owner a picture. He assured me that this was a positive thing as most houses in Florida have cockroaches and this proved that his pest treatment plan was working. Absolutely nonsense. And then without telling us the next day, the pest control company showed up at the house unnannoucned to spray the entire property. Why would this be necessary if the plan was working so well? There was also a sign put up on the lawn indicating the poison so we couldn't use the grass to play with our daughter.
6) Later during our first week, the thermostat died. The owner asked us to wiggle it around which we did and it turned back on. Then overnight, the thermostat died again and the house began to heat up. It was so warm, we couldn't have our daughter inside. The owner did go out of his way to find someone to come in and replace the thermostat which we appreciated, however this killed another one of our days waiting for the person to come. When the worker arrived, he told us that the previous tenants had a big fight with the owner and caused damage over their argument, and broke the thermostat.
7) When we first arrived and noticed some of the above stated issues, we messaged Evolve right away. We didn't get a response from them till almost two days later. While the owner was very responsive and accomodating, Evolve was slow in responding.
The owner, Paul, was responsive to our issues and did accomodate us for a later check out which helped us immensely, but the concern here is when we are paying almost $10K to stay for 2 weeks, we should not be put out by issues which are all preventable nor have to manage them ourselves. The house is all very run down, it has been given a facelift with some paint and cheap furniture.