From chaos to 34%+ revenue and 35% RevPar growth
Chris Miller runs Stay Coastal Hospitality, a thriving STR business in Florida
Operates in 7 Florida cities
Portfolio growing rapidly with 30+ new properties this year
34% YoY revenue growth & 35.5% RevPAR increase
Hours saved: Countless, thanks to automation
Overview
Before
- Manual booking process
- No centralized inbox
- Unstructured payment system
- Time-consuming cleaning coordination
After
- Centralized Inbox ensures easy communications
- Automated triggers and templates simplify messaging and bookings
- Robust training materials
- Top-notch tech stack
Impact
- 34% YoY revenue growth
- 35.5% RevPAR increase
- Rapid portfolio growth (30 new properties in Q1)
"The [Hostfully] platform is easy enough to use that we won't need to look elsewhere for the growth of our business, because the tools and integrations are so robust. I feel Hostfully evolves as the industry evolves."
Chris Miller, Stay Coastal Hospitality
Before
Several years ago, Chris Miller, a Florida-based bank branch manager working 55 hours per week, began his short-term rental (STR) journey as a side gig. But as Stay Coastal Hospitality’s portfolio grew, so did Chris’s headaches.
Without a centralized system, Chris was stuck manually handling bookings, payments, guest messaging, and cleaning coordination. Every reservation meant logging into Airbnb or Vrbo separately, sending pricing details via text, and manually arranging turnovers. Payments were scattered across Venmo, Zelle, and spreadsheets.
“We didn’t have a unified inbox. I didn’t even have Stripe at the time,” Chris recalls. “I didn’t have a cleaning process, so every time we had a booking, I’d have to text cleaning and pay them the second they finished,”
As Chris juggled managing properties, a full-time job, and a young family, burnout loomed. “I was starting to miss payments. I was doing my own maintenance, had a 2-year-old at the time, and was trying to balance everything and stay married.” Growth felt impossible without sacrificing even more time. Chris needed a solution.
After
In 2023, Chris switched to Hostfully, transforming his business with automation. He cites features that have made the biggest difference:
- Channel Manager & Unified Inbox: All bookings and guest messages live in one place, eliminating constant platform switching and manually managing reservations.
- Triggers & Templates: Automatic messaging for booking confirmations, check-in details, and follow-ups.
- Integrated Cleaning & Payment Systems: Bookings instantly sync with automated cleaning schedules and payments.
The impact? 34% year-over-year revenue growth and 35.5% RevPAR increase—even before factoring in his seven new properties. Operations are now seamless, allowing Chris to scale effortlessly.
With his business running efficiently, Chris now has time for what matters most—expansion and family. He’s scaling his management services, onboarding 30+ new properties this year, and coaching his kids’ sports teams.
“The whole reason I went into this business was I wanted to buy back time,” he explains. With automation, centralized operations, and seamless integrations, his business is now poised for continued expansion while maintaining work-life balance. “Putting kids to bed every night is a commitment now. I don’t have to prioritize work over family.”
Bonus
Why Chris sticks with Hostfully
Chris has been approached by other property management platforms but remains loyal to Hostfully for four key reasons:
Best Value: Comprehensive tools without excessive costs. As Chris explains it. “Hostfuly has the best value out of any management software.”
Seamless Integrations: Chris currently uses ten integration tools through Hostfully’s marketplace, making everything from turnovers to accounting, a breeze.
Exceptional Support: Hostfully’s customer support “goes the extra step. I think that resonates with the culture at Hostfully, putting their priorities as our priorities.”
Amazing Resources: From bookmarked Hostfully Help articles to Hostfully University videos, Hostfully’s vast training and troubleshooting materials allow Chris to onboard and train virtual assistants without sacrificing his time.
His advice to fellow STR managers? “Don’t overthink the decision of whether or not to get started with Hostfully. Each management software is going to have a learning curve of some sort, but getting started is the priority..” After all, “If you can reduce your workload once you get things running, then the amount of time you saved is the amount of time you can afford to scale.”
