How Coastal Ridge Scaled a Hospitality-Focused Management Model with EliseAI

Coastal Ridge Real Estate has established itself as a distinctive player in the multifamily industry over its 11-year history, building a reputation for hospitality-driven service and meticulous operational processes. The Ohio-based company operates with a "people-first" philosophy, recognizing that exceptional resident experiences depend on empowered, well-supported onsite teams.

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Unlike larger operators with extensive support infrastructure, Coastal Ridge runs lean to maximize NOI but strategically competes directly with major players through strategic technology partnerships and rigorous operational excellence. The company manages a growing portfolio across multiple markets, with a leadership team that has systematically built comprehensive processes and training programs from the ground up since 2016.

Coastal Ridge faced a “good” problem to have—the need to maintain their signature, human-touch hospitality standards while scaling their operations to keep up with rapid portfolio growth. Cait Carney, Executive Director of Sales & Learning, identified several key areas for improvement as the Coastal Ridge portfolio continued to grow.

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• Lead Management Bottlenecks: Despite well-established processes and dedicated teams, managing lead management quality & volume remained a demanding task—difficult to balance amid a long list of priorities for teams committed to delivering exceptional customer satisfaction.
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• 24/7 Expectation Gap: The "on-demand economy" created unrealistic expectations for instant responses, putting unsustainable pressure on onsite teams.
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• Staffing Constraints: As a lean operator competing against larger companies, Coastal Ridge couldn't simply throw more headcount at the problem. They needed force-multiplying technology to support their existing teams.
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• Technology Sprawl: Managing 15+ software platforms created operational complexity and training challenges for onsite teams.
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Recognizing that new AI and automation technology existed to help solve their problems, Cait and her team set out to look for a new vendor partner to help enhance their existing model. The only question was, which vendor would Coastal Ridge choose to work with? 

Coastal Ridge approached their AI vendor selection with the same analytical rigor they applied to all strategic decisions. Cait worked to build a comprehensive evaluation framework to compare AI vendors on an empirical, standard playing field. They started initial screening with 10 initial vendor conversations, narrowing to three serious contenders based on technology capabilities, team fit, and product innovation.
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From there, Cait and her team built a systematic scoring system across four key categories:
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• Leasing services automation capabilities
• Resident services functionality
• System integration and cost considerations
• Account management and partnership quality
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They subsequently ran a pilot between EliseAI and two other vendors, before ending the head-to-head once it became clear that EliseAI was lapping the field. EliseAI demonstrated the most sophisticated conversational AI quality and had the highest pace of feature releases and product improvements, giving Cait the confidence she needed to make EliseAI Coastal Ridge’s chosen AI partner.

EliseAI’s LeasingAI, ResidentAI, and VoiceAI products drove immediate conversion rate improvements for Coastal Ridge. After adopting EliseAI, Coastal Ridge saw their average lead-to-tour rate improve from 19% to 30% and realized 2% month-over-month occupancy rate increases, with one community going from 77% occupied at the beginning of the pilot in August 2024 to almost 92% full by March 2025. EliseAI’s products also significantly reduced bad debt at Coastal Ridge’s communities, slashing delinquency rates at one distressed asset from 55% to 38% in under a year.
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With AI and automation technology driving a 5x increase in total prospect outreach, Coastal Ridge’s teams have more time back to focus on high-value, high-touch activities that embody their hospitality-first culture. Now, instead of burning out answering messages around the clock, Coastal Ridge team members have time for in-person resident relationship building  and strategic community management initiatives.

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Coastal Ridge also views EliseAI as the cornerstone of a broader technology consolidation initiative. Rather than managing 15+ disparate software platforms, the company is strategically migrating functionality to EliseAI's expanding suite, incorporating new multi-touch attribution reporting and Lease Audits, into more of their day-to-day operational workflows. Coastal Ridge’s president envisions a world where 90% of all the team’s operations run through the EliseAI platform, and with innovative leaders like Cait Carney driving the initiative, there’s no doubt they’ll be there soon.