Otter Hospitality and Mews: streamlined operations, stronger margins
A Monterey-based owner-operator group shows how the next generation of hoteliers is using technology to simplify operations, protect margins and scale with confidence.
Otter Hospitality customer story
11
properties managed under one PMS
21
days to go live at Bay Breeze Inn
Revenue growth with lower operating costs
About Otter Hospitality
Otter Hospitality is a Monterey-based hotel group operating 11 independently branded properties across California. As an AAHOA-aligned, family-owned business, they represent a new generation of owner-operators: operationally hands-on and focused on modernizing long-standing hotel operations without losing control of the business.
As their portfolio grew, legacy systems and manual workflows became a bottleneck. Otter Hospitality needed technology that could scale across properties, reduce operational friction and give owners clear visibility, without forcing a one-size-fits-all model or inflating costs.
“The reason we switched is simple. Mews gives us flexibility, automation and the freedom to build the tech stack that actually works for us.”
A centralized PMS that scales with a growing portfolio
Challenge
Managing multiple properties on legacy systems created errors, inconsistencies and unnecessary manual work as the portfolio grew.
Solution
Otter Hospitality rolled out Mews PMS across its portfolio using a group master agreement, ensuring consistent pricing and terms as new properties came online. With one core system in place, teams could standardize operations while still allowing flexibility at the property level – critical for a diverse, independently branded group. Plus, employee access is consistent and closely monitored with centralized management of user roles and permissions.
Result
- 11 properties operating on one PMS
- Consistent operations without sacrificing independence
Onboarding that gets faster with every property
Challenge
Rapid expansion required a rollout model that wouldn’t slow operations or overload teams.
Solution
Otter implemented a phased onboarding approach using Mews, combining standard online deployment with premium onboarding and system audits for select properties. Each go-live built internal knowledge and created a repeatable model that reduced friction, making the next rollout faster and more efficient. Bay Breeze Inn launched in just 21 days, setting a benchmark for future properties.
Result
- Faster onboarding with each new property
- Repeatable process for future acquisitions
“Mews gave us a repeatable rollout model. We can deploy the same core PMS configuration while still supporting property-level differences in rates, products and operations.”
Automation that cuts daily work and costly mistakes
Challenge
Manual billing and product add-ons, such as parking fees, required constant oversight and often resulted in errors.
Solution
Using Mews product rules, Otter automated recurring charges based on booking source, rate plan and stay conditions. Parking fees and add-ons are now applied automatically at the right moment in the guest journey, removing the need for manual intervention at the front desk. These rules reduced human error, improved billing consistency and made training new staff significantly easier across properties.
Result
- Fewer manual tasks for front desk teams
- Reduced billing errors and guest disputes
- More consistent pricing and add-on handling
“Mews product rules removed a lot of manual work. Once it’s set up, it just runs.”
Financial visibility without spreadsheet gymnastics
Challenge
Group-level financial reporting was slow, fragmented and heavily dependent on manual reconciliation.
Solution
Mews ledgers centralize financial tracking across all properties, introducing consistent accounting logic at the group level. Transactions now flow into structured ledgers that make reporting clearer and faster, without relying on exported spreadsheets or manual cleanup. This gave ownership better visibility into performance while reducing the time spent reconciling numbers across multiple hotels.
Result
- Centralized financial oversight across properties
- Faster reconciliation and reporting
- Clearer owner-level visibility
“With Mews ledgers, we finally have clarity across the whole group instead of piecing things together.”
A tech stack built to test, learn and adapt
Challenge
Rigid systems limited the ability to experiment with revenue tools, guest messaging and distribution strategies.
Solution
Mews Open API allowed Otter to connect its preferred tools for revenue management, guest communication (Akia) and channel management. Rather than locking into a single vendor long term, the group adopted a test-and-learn approach – trying new solutions, measuring outcomes and scaling only what delivered value. This flexibility helped control costs while keeping the tech stack future-ready.
Result
- Freedom to test new tools without switching PMS
- Faster innovation without long-term lock-in
- Technology that adapts as the business evolves
“Mews gives us access to integrations so we can test new tools and see what actually works before committing.”
Looking ahead
Otter Hospitality plans to continue expanding its portfolio using Mews as a standardized foundation. With automation, open integrations and group-level visibility in place, the team is focused on scaling efficiently while protecting margins.
As active AAHOA members, Otter Hospitality continues showing how modern systems can support multi-generational hotel businesses without overcomplicating operations. They're also doing a test run of Atomize RMS, an AI-powered revenue management system that tracks market signals and optimizes pricing strategies in real time.
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Make it remarkable.
Ready to take the first step towards a more efficient, flexible, guest-centric approach to hospitality?