“We couldn’t keep scaling a contactless brand on systems that only worked Monday to Friday. With Mews, the tech finally feels as serious about our growth as we are.”
About Playpark Hotels
Playpark Hotels is a Lake Tahoe–based independent chain built around contactless modern hospitality. What began as one lodge has grown into a four‑property portfolio under Playpark Hospitality, LLC, all designed for self‑check‑in, mobile‑first experiences and lean on‑site staffing.
Guests enjoy 24/7 mobile concierge across the portfolio, while a central team runs operations behind the scenes. This digital‑first model demanded more than a basic PMS: Playpark needed a platform that can scale a tech-enabled guest experience with multi‑property setup. Their goal was to keep payments and reconciliation tight as volume grows and turn portfolio data into decisions they can act on every day.
A scalable backbone for future growth
Challenge
Running a fully contactless concept on Cloudbeds meant living with fragile infrastructure. An unreliable messaging stack failed on peak weekends; credit card processing fees kept climbing and a multi‑property feature was slow and not dependable – just as Playpark was acquiring and converting new hotels in Tahoe.
Solution
Playpark Hotels selected Mews as their portfolio’s operating system, rolling it out across their Lake Tahoe hotels as they expanded. Instead of relying on a multi‑property “add‑on,” they now have a platform built from the ground up for groups and chains, with consistent configuration, shared guest data and easier cross‑property controls. Under a tight 10‑day deadline to get Station House Inn live after a difficult contract experience with their previous provider, the team was paired with an onboarding manager, who worked with them day in and day out to hit go‑live on time.
Result
- Reliable, portfolio‑grade backbone that supports acquisitions, brand conversions and a fully contactless model
- Fast, high‑touch onboarding for new properties, even under aggressive timelines
- Stronger vendor partnership, replacing high‑stress outages and limited escalation paths with proactive guidance
Contactless guest journeys at scale
Challenge
Playpark’s brand promise is a “modern hospitality experience”, but that promise used to sit on top of a brittle stack. Messaging failures on peak weekends and manual workarounds made it hard to deliver a consistent, fully contactless arrival experience across both contactless properties with lean on‑site teams.
Solution
With Mews at the core, Playpark Hotels runs two fully contactless properties and two hybrid models. Mews Online Check‑in and Guest Portal let guests handle check‑in, key details and payments from their own devices, while the Mews + Flexkeeping + Akia tech stack orchestrates communication on the arrival side. Lynx Automation powers smart locks and contactless access across the portfolio, giving guests a seamless path from booking to door without stopping at a front desk. Behind the scenes, the team manages this as a repeatable playbook they can roll out to new properties without adding layers of front‑desk staffing or manual admin.
Result
- Flexkeeping allows lean, centralized operations that keep on‑property staffing light without sacrificing service
- Fully contactless arrivals at two of their Lake Tahoe hotels, aligned with modern guest expectations
- An optimized guest experience, reducing check-in times at their other two hotels
- Consistent, mobile‑first experience from property to property, even as the portfolio grows
“Guests just see a smooth, self‑service journey – they don’t see the dozen systems we replaced to make that experience actually scale.”
Simpler payments and night audit with Mews Payments
Challenge
Under Cloudbeds, Playpark Hotels faced 3.8+% credit card processing fees that only increased over time – a serious issue as payment volume grew. At the same time, reconciling payments across multiple properties and devices created manual workload and operational risk, especially for a lean team.
Solution
By adopting Mews Payments, Playpark embedded payments directly into their PMS. Transactions are fully tokenized, the handshake between Mews and Stripe is seamless, and the team can log in from any computer to keep operations moving. They also automated the night audit in Mews. At their HiMark Hotel in South Lake Tahoe, they were able to remove the night auditor role because the heavy lifting now runs in the background. Over time, that automation will further reduce manual overnight checks and free up staff for higher‑value work.
Result
- Simplified, secure reconciliation and reporting with embedded, tokenized payments
- Resilient payment operations that aren’t tied to specific machines or local hardware
- Less manual night audit work, paving the way for leaner overnight coverage across the portfolio
Standardized housekeeping with Flexkeeping
Challenge
As Playpark added properties, keeping cleaning standards and task management consistent across the portfolio became harder to manage with manual checklists and ad‑hoc communication.
Solution
The team uses Flexkeeping, a Mews company, to standardize housekeeping and task workflows across properties. Tasks are created automatically from Mews reservation data, giving the team checklist‑driven routines, clear ownership and real‑time visibility into room status. They’re also actively refining their internal teamwork flows and are excited for future in‑app team chat to bring frontline communication into the same operational hub.
Result
- Consistent, checklist‑driven housekeeping across all properties
- Real‑time visibility into room readiness and tasks, supporting lean teams
- Stronger foundation for cross‑department communication, with room to grow into richer in‑app chat
“Flexkeeping turns our cleaning standards into live workflows. Everyone sees the same list, the same status and the same priorities, no matter which property they’re in.”
Forecasting and rate strategy with Atomize
Challenge
In a crowded Tahoe market with many competitors, Playpark needed more than a day‑to‑day view of demand. Legacy tools made it hard to see beyond today and tomorrow, leaving the team without the forward‑looking context they needed to fine‑tune rate strategy and build confidence in more automated decision‑making.
Solution
With Atomize, a Mews company, embedded in Mews, Playpark Hotels added a modern revenue management system on top of their portfolio backbone. Forecasting has already become a valuable input into their strategy, even as both sides are still learning from a full year of data. Atomize surfaces competitor pricing from OTAs and demand signals that feed into their daily reviews. The team isn’t on full autopilot yet, but they’re steadily moving toward a more forward‑looking, data‑driven rate approach, supported by Mews Group and Forecasting tools.
Result
- Clearer view of demand patterns, beyond just today and tomorrow’s pick‑up
- Smarter pricing conversations, grounded in real‑time competitor and portfolio data
- A path toward more automation, as both Play Park and Atomize learn from a full year of performance
“Atomize gives us the ‘why’ behind the numbers we’re looking at. It’s turning gut‑feel pricing into a conversation we can actually defend.”
Portfolio visibility with Mews reporting and Power BI
Challenge
As Playpark Hotels grew, the biggest operational gap wasn’t just data collection, it was turning that data into daily, portfolio‑level decisions. Their previous multi‑property feature was slow and unreliable, and leadership had to work hard just to understand what was happening across all hotels in a single view.
Solution
Mews’ built‑in reports and Power BI integration transformed how Play Park sees their business. As the CEO, Mitchell is “in the reports all the time,” effortlessly toggling between properties to see performance by hotel, by day. Mews provides a clean, multi‑property view, while Power BI pulls that data into portfolio dashboards that track channel mix, pickup and performance trends. Instead of wrestling exports and spreadsheets, the team can focus on acting on the insights: adjusting pricing, reallocating spend and pressure‑testing their channel strategy.
Result
- Instant portfolio visibility, with the ability to toggle between hotels and see what’s happening every day
- Faster, more confident decisions on pricing, channel mix and staffing, driven by shared dashboards
- Less time spent on manual reporting, freeing leadership to focus on strategy and onboarding new properties
“Mews kills it on data. I can flip through the whole portfolio in a couple of clicks and actually spend my time deciding what to do next.”
Looking ahead
For Playpark Hotels, Mews is more than the system behind today’s operations. A reliable multi‑property PMS, embedded payments and a contactless guest journey give them the confidence to keep adding properties without losing the indie personality that defines their brand. Atomize and Power BI bring the data and forecasting muscle they need to compete in a crowded market, while open APIs make it easy to plug in new tools as their tech stack evolves.
With Mews, Playpark can finally see the full handshake to calculate lifetime value, something that wasn’t possible with Cloudbeds. That foundation will power the next wave of innovation – from loyalty and segmentation to more personalized, digital‑first guest experiences.
“With Mews Open API, it’s incredibly easy to plug in new tools. We securely share API keys with vendors and the connections are seamless,” concludes Mitchell.
Integration spotlight
Lynx Automation
Lynx Automation powers contactless access for Playpark Hotels. Integrated with Mews’ guest journey tools, Lynx lets guests go straight to their rooms via digital keys, while staff set and manage access rules centrally. The result: a truly contactless arrival experience that scales across properties without adding front‑desk friction.
