Why We Built TruStay with a Sliding Fee — The Honest Version

Every company has a founding story. Ours is simpler than most: we built TruStay because we thought the standard property management model was broken, and we wanted to build something that wasn't.

Here's what we mean by that.

The Standard Model Has a Quiet Problem

A property management company that charges a flat 20% earns the same fee whether your property earns $5,000 this month or $8,000. The manager's income is relatively insulated from your outcome.

That's not a character flaw — it's a structural one. When there's no financial consequence for a miss, it's harder to build an organization that's genuinely oriented around performance. You end up with managers who are excellent at getting new clients and good enough at keeping them — not excellent at running properties.

We've talked to too many STR owners who felt like a number in someone's portfolio. Owners who couldn't get straight answers about why their revenue was down. Owners who were given inflated projections to win their business and spent the first year chasing a number that was never realistic.

The Model We Built Instead

TruStay's fee is 20% at base. It drops to 17% when we miss the revenue goal we've set together with an owner. It goes to 23% when we beat it.

This isn't a gimmick. It's the structure that makes everything else work.

It forces us to set real goals — because we're accountable to them.

It forces us to communicate when things aren't working — because hiding a miss costs us money too.

It forces us to be honest about projections — because we're the ones absorbing the difference if we overpromised.

Why Most Managers Don't Do This

Honest answer: because it's uncomfortable. A sliding fee means taking a pay cut in a bad month. Most management companies aren't structured to absorb that — financially or organizationally.

We are, because we designed around it from the start. Our revenue goals are specific. Our reporting is transparent. And our contracts say what happens when we miss.

Where We Operate

We currently manage short-term rentals in Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and Texas — with active expansion underway into new markets. We're not the biggest company. We're not trying to be. We're trying to be the most accountable one.

If that sounds like what you've been looking for, a free TruQuote is a good place to start. No pitch — just an honest look at what your property can earn and what we'd be held to.