Evolve drives success with flexible cancellation policies

Vacation rental hospitality company Evolve manages more than 29,000 properties globally and has been a growing partner with Vrbo for over 12 years.  
 

The past few years have brought a shift in vacation rental booking trends, and guests are demanding more flexibility when booking travel. Offering flexible cancellation policies has become an important way to boost bookings and drive revenue. Like many vacation rental owners and managers, the Evolve team identified that offering more restrictive policies may not have met their guests’ needs or made it simple for them to cancel or adjust when travel plans changed.  
 

Jay Whiteley, Evolve’s senior director of distribution partnerships and performance, wanted to address guests’ need for flexibility while minimizing the risk of increased cancellations. Knowing that many travelers were searching for rentals using the “free cancellations” filter on Vrbo, he wanted to make sure Evolve properties weren’t filtered out of consideration.

While exploring possible optimization solutions with Vrbo’s account management team, Evolve determined they could see tangible benefits from offering more accommodating policies. In fact, over 75% of travelers say they’re more likely to book a vacation rental property with a flexible cancellation policy.³ And nearly half of consumers say they would never book non-refundable lodging domestically.⁴

Jay and his team of industry and revenue professionals decided to test shifting from their standard 30% non-refundable deposit at booking toward cancellation policies that offered a free cancellation period and were more accommodating to guest plans changing, to help Evolve remain competitive and provide the best guest experience possible.   

Evolve’s first step was to A/B test a more flexible vacation rental cancellation policy on a small group of listings to give their team the data they needed to make the best decision. It was important to test the overall impact of any new cancellation policies, rather than switch their entire portfolio at the same time.
 

An A/B test was set up across multiple markets, offering the new policy alongside their existing, more restrictive policy. They looked at several factors, including the rebooking rate, to understand how often, once a booking was canceled, they were able to rebook those same dates at the same or higher rates.

Jay and his team hoped the test would show increases in bookings and revenue, along with greater search results, visibility, and a positive impact on their ability to deliver a world-class customer experience. 

Within the first two weeks, the team saw significant improvements in the performance of these properties. The more flexible policy helped Evolve increase bookings by 26% and revenue by 53% per listing, fill more availability, and extend their booking lead times and length of stay.⁵
 

With further analysis, Evolve was also excited to see the cancellation rate under the new policy remain nearly the same as properties with less flexible options. Cancellations remained stable and comparable to the prior year.⁶  
 

Finally, they were able to improve guest experience by reducing friction in the booking journey. The flexible policy gave travelers the benefit of a more attractive offering with lower risk. Jay’s team felt the new policy demonstrated trust, giving guests more confidence to book.
 

This successful test has led Evolve to offer an accommodating cancellation policy across their entire portfolio, helping guests find the flexibility and peace of mind they’re looking for. 
 

Could more flexible cancellation policies help you to delight guests while improving your business performance? Consider adjusting your policies today as part of your growth strategy.