Today we’d like to introduce you to Faith Eby.
Hi Faith, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
From Instinct to Intention: Building a Business by Raising the Standard
I’ve known I wanted to be in business since I was a young child
At fourteen, I attended a Minnesota business camp at St. John’s University. While other kids were going to the lake during the summer, I was learning how businesses worked—how ideas turned into operations, and how ownership created independence. Meeting local MN business leaders at this camp inspired me to learn as much as I could to be like them. That experience didn’t just spark an interest; it gave me clarity. I knew early on that entrepreneurship would be part of my life.
That clarity carried me through seasons that required resilience. I became a young mother and navigated single parenthood while staying deeply focused on building something stable, intentional, and lasting. I’ve always been extremely business-minded, and during my twenties, I gravitated toward roles that sharpened that instinct—working in sales, hospitality, and business development for MN owned and operated companies like HOM Furniture, Sand Companies, and Midwest Electric. Shifting into Real Estate in my 30’s opened the door to a field I fell in love with.
Each chapter added a layer. Sales taught me communication, negotiation, and how to understand people’s needs. Hospitality taught me the importance of experience, consistency, and the details that make someone feel cared for. Real estate taught me how to evaluate assets, protect investments, and think long-term. At the time, these roles may have seemed separate—but they were quietly stacking into a foundation.
By the time I entered my thirties, those experiences converged.
In 2021, I started my first short-term rental, a small lake cabin in Minnesota’s Brainerd Lakes area. It wasn’t glamorous—but it was intentional. I approached that first property with the same mindset I’d developed over years: elevate the experience, create professional systems, and treat the guests with respect.
That first cabin revealed something important. As I worked within the short-term rental space, I began to see a broken industry standard. There were plenty of short term rentals out there (Airbnb’s) but while people were paying premiums for these properties, they weren’t always happy. Guest experiences varied wildly, even within the same brand, and owners were often left without clarity, consistency, or confidence in how their properties were being managed.
I saw an opportunity—not to do more, but to do better.
Instead of focusing on volume, I focused on experience consistency. Instead of vague oversight that had become common with STR management companies, I built systems rooted in accountability. Belforte Stays was born from that mindset: a luxury short-term rental design and management company built to raise standards, rather than blend into the noise. Thus our mission statement became “Belforte, Curated Stays, Elevated Experiences”.
Growth followed naturally.
What started with one lake cabin expanded across Minnesota—from a multi-generation family resort in Emily, MN, to luxury waterfront homes on Lake Minnetonka. From there, Belforte Stays grew beyond state lines, managing properties across the United States and into the Caribbean.
But the growth was never just geographic. It was structural.
Every new property followed the same core philosophy: intentional design, elevated guest experience, and transparent owner partnership. The goal was simple but rare—no matter where a guest stayed, the experience should feel thoughtful and reliable. No matter where an owner lived, they should feel informed, confident, and supported.
Today, Belforte Stays reflects everything I learned along the way. Sales, hospitality, and real estate didn’t just influence my business—they became it. Combined with lived experience as a mother raising two children that often came to work with mom, saw how business was done and what it takes to be an entrepreneur, those lessons shaped a company built on professionalism, calm leadership, and a long-term vision of genuine care for the experiences our guests and clients alike.
What drives me now is the same instinct that showed up at fourteen: when something feels broken, don’t accept it as “just the way it is.” Build it better. I never set out to build the biggest company in the space. I set out to build one I could stand behind.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not. Being a self taught entrepreneur had so many challenges. Learning accounting, hiring the right people, and most notably building the right steps in place during growth phases. Things like changing softwares, and creating systems that are repeatable WITHOUT losing the personal touch… If you have ever stayed in a big box managed Airbnb you can tell… the personal service is not there. It was so important not to lose that as we grew. When I started my first short term rental, I’d leave a handwritten note card welcoming them and thanking them for choosing our property for their vacation. I still do that although I’ve had to figure out how to take touches like that and make it scalable… which isn’t always easy.
As you know, we’re big fans of Belforte Stays LLC . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We offer full service short term rental offerings. This includes being your real estate agent/advisor to locate the right property, giving profit potential reports on a perspective property, then once a home is purchased, we are professional STR designers, picking the right look, furniture, decor, and amenities that makes your STR successful. This can be everything from the right towels that work well for a rental to an amazing “experience” designed backyard or pool area that makes guests choose your home over others. Then once it’s all setup and ready to go, we take care of the marketing, listing optimization, management, and most importantly the 5 star guest communications that sets us apart. Potential clients can be new to the STR world and take care of it all, or they can be currently running a STR and have us just step in and take over the operations so they can focus their time on other parts of their life.
We don’t hire based upon degrees and resumes but instead believe in employing strong intelligent women from all walks of life, unique cultural backgrounds, and personalities that back our founders mission of high service standards and unwavering ethics.
What were you like growing up?
My mother always says “when Faith was little she always wanted to know how everything worked, she take things apart just to put them back together. She would read everything she could get her hands on in hope of understanding the world better”. She was so inquisitive, always smiling and her disposition was consistently outgoing, positive, and determined. Challenges never stopped her, when someone else would have seen a challenge as insurmountable Faith truly believed she could do anything. When her mother would say “where there is a will there’s a way” and then would say “… and Faith always has the will, thus she always finds a way”.
I was homeschooled growing up in rural western MN, in a unique environment that allowed us to explore, learn from growing our own foods, hunting game, and endless learning and education that wasn’t typically structured. Due to this I have and always will be an independent thinker. I appreciate the strength my childhood gave me and now at 38 years old, my life is full of amazing people, successful endeavors, travel, and always building my next steps in life for myself and my two children who are now 20 and 16.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.belfortestays.com
- Instagram: @belfortestays @faith.eby.realtor
- Facebook: Belforte Stays
- Other: https://www.faithinrealestate.com
