The project dashboard is a free tool that is only available to verified hoteliers to make adopting new technology easier by streamlining their research and simplifying their communication workflow.
TLDR
We analyzed 887 verified hotelier reviews, compared feature sets, pricing, and real-world case studies to break down where each platform delivers. The right choice depends on your property type and priorities:
Bay Lakes Information Systems shines .
Mews shines in ease of use and customer support — especially for independent properties (4.9/5) , with exclusive features like Revenue management module and Guest CRM.
Side-by-side ratings based on 887 verified hotelier reviews on HTR.
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| Starting Price | Contact sales | From $900/mo |
| Verified Reviews | 0 | 887 |
After analyzing 887 verified reviews, Bay Lakes Information Systems users most value its , while Mews users highlight ease of use, automation and integrations, customizability and flexibility. Click any theme to see what reviewers say.
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Ease of Use
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Automation and Integrations
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Customizability and Flexibility
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Onboarding and Support
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Billing and Invoicing
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Reporting and Analytics
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Multi-Property Management
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How each product ranks among Property Management Systems vendors for different property sizes, types, and regions — based on verified reviews from hoteliers in each segment.
By Hotel Size
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| Small (10-24 rooms) ▾ | — | #3 329 reviews |
| Mid-Size (25-74 rooms) ▾ | — | #1 397 reviews |
| Large (75-199 rooms) ▾ | — | #3 45 reviews |
| X-Large (200+ rooms) ▾ | — | #3 49 reviews |
By Property Type
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| Boutique ▾ | — | #1 483 reviews |
| Luxury ▾ | — | #5 220 reviews |
| Branded / Chain ▾ | — | #2 170 reviews |
| Extended Stay ▾ | — | #1 130 reviews |
By Region
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| North America ▾ | — | #8 106 reviews |
| Europe ▾ | — | #1 660 reviews |
| Asia Pacific ▾ | — | #10 17 reviews |
| Middle East ▾ | — | #28 8 reviews |
Choosing a property management system (PMS) can dramatically influence your hotel’s operations, guest satisfaction, and revenue. Both Bay Lakes Information Systems and Mews aim to streamline management; however, they serve very different markets and maturity levels. Bay Lakes, founded in 1984, offers a legacy product with limited recent reviews, whereas Mews has established itself as a modern cloud-native platform with over 750 recent reviews and a 93% likelihood to recommend.
Do you want a tried-and-true system with a limited modern footprint, or a flexible, highly-rated platform that’s continuously innovating? Your choice hinges on your hotel’s size, complexity, and readiness for digital transformation.
Bay Lakes has been in the industry for decades, emphasizing stability and familiarity for traditional properties, especially those managing smaller inventories or seeking simple solutions. Mews, on the other hand, is built for the modern hotel with a cloud-based system, boasting a high customer satisfaction score and a broad ecosystem of integrations.
While Bay Lakes touts its long history and integrated POS and tax filing features, its reviews reveal a lack of recent user feedback, raising questions about ongoing support and development. Mews, with nearly 760 recent reviews, consistently receives praise for ease of use, support, and feature breadth.
Are you prepared to prioritize a modern, scalable solution over a legacy system with limited recent validation?
If your hotel needs a scalable, feature-rich PMS that supports growth, automation, and advanced integrations, go with Mews. For boutique, independent, or tech-forward properties seeking a flexible, cloud-native platform, Mews’s extensive marketplace and modern interface make it the clear choice.
If, however, your hotel relies on a longstanding system and prefers a more traditional approach with minimal ongoing innovation, Bay Lakes may still meet your needs — though its limited recent reviews and low ratings suggest it may lack the updates modern hotels require.
For most hotels looking to future-proof and scale, Mews’s proven track record and recent reviews give it a decisive edge.
Mews’s user interface scores 4.7 out of 5, with reviewers describing it as intuitive, modern, and easy to learn, supported by onboarding ratings of 4.39 out of 5. Support is also rated 4.27, with reviews highlighting its responsiveness and helpfulness.
Bay Lakes, with a 0/5 ease-of-use score, offers an outdated interface that many find cumbersome, especially in multi-property scenarios. Its lack of recent updates and reviews further suggest a challenging learning curve.
Edge: Mews.
Mews boasts 59 unique features, including multi-lingual and multi-currency support, revenue management, guest CRM, online booking, group functionality, automated night audits, and a mobile app. Its integrations with over 336 partners and extensive marketplace set it apart for flexible, modern operations.
Bay Lakes offers only core property management, point of sale, and tax services, with no indication of additional features or integrations. Its limited functionality and lack of recent updates mean it falls short for hotels needing advanced tools.
Edge: Mews.
Mews’s support ratings (4.27/5) are based on over 750 recent reviews, with many users praising quick onboarding, responsive help, and proactive communication. Recent testimonials highlight satisfaction with their technical support and onboarding processes.
Bay Lakes has not received recent reviews, leaving its support quality unverified. The absence of recent customer feedback raises concerns about ongoing support quality and responsiveness.
Edge: Mews.
Mews enjoys a 4.62 out of 5 overall rating and a 9.12/5 NPS score, with recent reviews emphasizing ease of use, automation, and extensive integrations across a variety of hotel types—especially boutique, hostel, and city center hotels. Its 758 recent reviews reflect high satisfaction, even at the property level.
Bay Lakes has no recent reviews or ratings, making it impossible to assess current user sentiment. Its historical reputation does not match Mews’s current momentum and user satisfaction.
Edge: Mews.
Bay Lakes does not publish clear pricing details, typical of legacy systems that often involve custom quotes and possibly higher upfront costs. Mews’s transparent pricing starts at $900 per month, with no implementation fee or ongoing charges, making it predictable and straightforward for hotels.
Given Mews’s clear pricing model and proven value, it’s easier to budget and compare ROI than the opaque or unavailable pricing of Bay Lakes.
Not ideal if your property requires rapid scaling, advanced integrations, or modern guest engagement tools.
Not ideal if your hotel prefers a legacy system with minimal ongoing development or has limited budget for initial setup.
Mews is an all-encompassing, cloud-native PMS with recent high ratings, a broad feature set, and a growing global footprint. Its extensive integrations, ease of use, and proven support make it a go-to for hotels looking to innovate.
Bay Lakes, despite its long history, offers a narrow, unmodernized product with no recent reviews or ratings to support its current viability. For most hotels, especially those wanting agility and growth, Mews provides the clear advantage.
If your hotel values modern features, high user satisfaction, and scalability, choose Mews. If your property relies on legacy systems and doesn’t need frequent updates, Bay Lakes could suffice — but it’s a riskier, less future-proof option.
Property Management Systems pricing is rarely straightforward. Here is what we know from each vendor's public pricing data. Always request a custom quote for your property size.
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| Starting Price | — | From $900/mo |
According to HTR's product database, Bay Lakes Information Systems and Mews PMS share 0 features. Here are the key differences — features one has that the other lacks.
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| Booking Engine | ||
| Guest CRM | ||
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| Multi-currency | ||
| Multi-lingual | ||
| Revenue management module |
Showing top differences. 47 more features differ between these products.
We analyzed 8 verified case studies to compare what hotels actually achieve with each platform across four key business objectives.
No published case study for this goal yet.
"It was vital for us to find a hospitality cloud that would give us the freedom to innovate and move quickly with new technology – that’s one of the main reasons we chose Mews."
No published case study for this goal yet.
"Since moving to Mews, we can be so much more agile in how we operate, both in terms of how we engage with guests and testing out new integrations and tools through Mews Marketplace..."
No published case study for this goal yet.
"We want to provide the best hospitality for guests anywhere in the country, and Mews is definitely the right solution to help us achieve that goal."
What hoteliers love
Many reviews highlight the user-friendliness of Mews, citing its intuitive interface that simplifies tasks across various hotel operations. Users find... Many reviews highlight the user-friendliness of Mews, citing its intuitive interface that simplifies tasks across various hotel operations. Users find the platform easy to navigate, which aids in quicker team onboarding and daily use.
Reviews frequently praise Mews for its automation of routine tasks like check-in, billing, and invoicing, reducing manual workload and minimizing erro... Reviews frequently praise Mews for its automation of routine tasks like check-in, billing, and invoicing, reducing manual workload and minimizing errors. Users appreciate the extensive integration options with other tools, which streamline overall operations and enhance efficiency.
Mews allows customization to fit diverse business needs, from rate structures to integration setups. Users appreciate this flexibility, although they... Mews allows customization to fit diverse business needs, from rate structures to integration setups. Users appreciate this flexibility, although they note room for improvement in adapting complex booking conditions and enhancing user-friendly navigation for settings.
Where hoteliers push back
Users point out that while Mews offers efficient billing processes, there are complexities and areas needing improvement, such as handling group billi... Users point out that while Mews offers efficient billing processes, there are complexities and areas needing improvement, such as handling group billings, splits, and providing more customizable invoice formats. This can affect the ease of financial operations within the system.
While Mews provides solid reporting and analytics functionalities, several reviews mention the need for more customizable and flexible reporting featu... While Mews provides solid reporting and analytics functionalities, several reviews mention the need for more customizable and flexible reporting features. Users express the desire for more granular data insights, particularly in reservations and revenue analysis.
Unique capabilities
Where the ratings diverge most
It depends on your requirements. Bay Lakes Information Systems and Mews PMS share many core Property Management Systems features, but each has unique capabilities. Bay Lakes Information Systems offers 0 verified integration partners, while Mews PMS offers 335. Review the feature comparison above to see where they differ before switching.
Small hotels should prioritize ease of use and fast onboarding. Mews PMS leads in ease of use at 4.7/5 vs 0.0/5. Look for transparent pricing and a trial or demo option. Filter reviews on each product page by property size to hear from hotels like yours.
Bay Lakes Information Systems: No. Mews PMS: No. Neither product currently offers a free tier. Most Property Management Systems vendors offer demos or trials — request one from each to evaluate before committing.
The HT Score is a composite ranking that considers 4 criteria groups and over a dozen variables to help hoteliers objectively compare hotel technology products. Bay Lakes Information Systems has an HT Score of 0 and Mews has 100. Here is how the score is calculated.
| Criteria Group | Weight | What It Measures |
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| Customer Ratings & Reviews |
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How highly do users recommend this product? Ratings Score, Review Volume, Share of Voice, Review Depth, Review Recency, Success Stories ▾ The most heavily weighted factor. Analyzes average satisfaction ratings (likelihood to recommend, ease of use, support, ROI), total review count relative to category peers, review recency (at least 20 reviews in the trailing 6 months), and share of voice across unique hotel clients to detect selection bias. |
| Partner Ecosystem |
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How highly do tech partners recommend this company? Partner Recommendations, Integration Quantity, Integration Quality ▾ Evaluates partner recommendations as expert votes of confidence, the number of verified integrations, and ecosystem quality — the average HT Scores of integration partners. Products with higher-quality integration ecosystems are more likely to deliver a connected tech stack. |
| Customer Centricity |
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How customer-centric is this organization? Certified Support, Review Consistency, Profile Completeness ▾ Assesses whether the company has earned HTR Customer Support Certification, maintains consistent review collection over time (an indicator of feedback-driven culture), and keeps product profiles complete with capabilities, screenshots, pricing, and features. |
| Reach, Staying Power & Resources |
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How extensive is this company's reach and resourcing? Geographic Reach, Staying Power, Company Resources, Trending Score ▾ Measures global presence (countries and regions served), years in business as a stability proxy, team headcount as a resource proxy, and a trending score based on trailing-twelve-month buyer inquiries, reviews, partner recommendations, and press activity. |
Customer ratings and reviews are by far the most important factor in the HT Score algorithm. HTR does not accept payment for higher rankings. All reviews are verified — only hotel industry practitioners with confirmed affiliations can submit ratings. View full HT Score methodology →
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