From Hectic Host to High-Growth Operator
Troy’s path from hectic host to high-growth operator is a masterclass in scaling the right way. When we first met him in 2021, he was managing 18 properties and doing most of the work himself: guest messages, maintenance, even the cleaning. That phase taught him every inch of the business, but it also made it clear: systems and team are everything.
The RPM Partnership
In March 2024, Elevated became our very first RPM client with 23 listings under management. Traverse City is one of the most seasonal markets in the country, so the strategy was built around the calendar: occupancy-focused pricing in the off-season, rate-focused pricing in peak months, and separate snow and no-snow minimum-stay rules for the properties near Crystal Mountain. Short-booking-window discounts filled gaps without giving away peak inventory, and suspiciously low Booking.com rates tied to stacked discounts were caught and corrected in the first season.
Year One: 73% Growth
In the twelve months after RPM onboarding, portfolio stay-date revenue grew from $830K to $1.4M, up 73% on the same calendar months year over year. Elevated was also adding listings throughout this period, so these are whole-portfolio numbers; the pricing system is what kept revenue compounding ahead of the unit count.
The Compounding Years
Growth that comes from a hot season fades. Elevated’s didn’t. Year two of RPM brought portfolio revenue to $2.6M, and the most recent twelve months (June 2025 through May 2026) reached $2.9M, three and a half times the pre-RPM baseline, every dollar of it actual stay-date revenue, not projection. Along the way the team scaled to 150 listings, brought housekeeping in-house, and launched a Guest Experience division. With pricing handled, Troy’s team has stayed focused on the two things that actually compound: quality and growth.
“Taking pricing off my plate let me focus on what actually grows the business: quality and guest experience. The results speak for themselves.”
- Troy Daily, CEO
