Seamless Check-Ins, Smarter Operations: Stay Cal’s SmartAccess Story Across 4 Properties

• Operational Efficiency: By eliminating night audit roles dedicated to handing out keys, Stay Cal Hotels saves up to $60,000 per property, per year, while staff focus on higher-value guest interactions.
• Seamless Deployment: SmartAccess was rolled out across four properties in under a day, with zero guest disruption.
• Instant Digital Keys: Guests receive secure codes instantly by phone and email—faster and more reliable than RFID cards.
• Unified Dashboard: Staff now manage locks, gateways, and access across multiple properties from one centralized system, reducing complexity and errors.
• Guest Satisfaction: Travelers appreciate walking straight to their room on arrival—no lines, no apps, no waiting.

Stay Cal Hotels is a tech-forward organization and has adopted kiosks for streamlining front desk operations. With devicethread SmartAccess, Stay Cal Hotels has addressed the last mile challenge in the guest check-in process, enabling it to offer a truly frictionless access experience.

Properties already running on SmartAccess include:

• The Row Hotel, San Jose - 58 rooms: A modern, tech-forward hotel at the heart of the innovation hub, catering to business travelers and university visitors.
• The Catrina Hotel, San Mateo - 57 rooms: A vibrant hotel, with a Mexican flair. Strategically located between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, serving both conference attendees and airport traffic.
• Leland Hotel, Palo Alto - 30 rooms: A blend of modern design and classic California elegance, with curated details in every room and a focus on personalized service.
• Aristocrat Hotel, Half Moon Bay - 46 rooms: A coastal retreat blending modern elegance with serene guest rooms and stunning coastal views, offering both relaxation and refined comfort.

Across its portfolio, Stay Cal Hotels operates with a guest-first philosophy: pairing efficient, technology-driven operations with genuine hospitality.

Like most hotels, Stay Cal Hotels initially relied on traditional RFID and magnetic strip locks. But the flaws quickly became clear:

• Key Card Hassles: Cards frequently lost, stolen, demagnetized, or interfered with by RFID chips in wallets.
• Ongoing Costs: Constant re-purchasing of cards that guests failed to return.
• Guest Friction: Walk-ins and late-night arrivals often faced delays at the front desk.
• Staff Inefficiency: Multiple key creations per room, tedious programming steps, and nightly staffing just to hand out keys.

Stay Cal Hotels needed a scalable, reliable solution to eliminate outdated hardware barriers and enable true mobile check-in.

Stay Cal Hotels partnered with devicethread to modernize access across four properties, each with its own infrastructure needs. At some locations, devicethread installed new PIN pad locks from the ground up, while at others they integrated with existing hardware, layering SmartAccess technology on top.

Despite the varied setups, all properties now run on one unified dashboard. Staff can generate keys in seconds, monitor lock and hub status, and proactively manage operations across every Stay Cal Hotels location—without juggling multiple systems.

Within hours, devicethread configured gateways and locks at each property. Guests experienced zero disruption, while staff were programming keys with confidence from day one.

Unlike RFID systems that involve multiple devices and tedious steps, SmartAccess makes key generation simple: select room → set dates → generate code.

Keys are ready in 1-2 seconds. No extensive training was required; staff adoption was instant.

Guests now receive their room number and secure code by email and SMS before arrival. No apps, no lines, no waiting at the front desk—just direct access to their room within moments of arriving.

By removing the need for night staff solely to hand out physical keys, Stay Cal Hotels saves up to $60,000 per property, per year. Staff now focus on higher-value guest interactions, while SmartAccess ensures keys are delivered instantly and reliably every time.

With devicethread as a partner, Stay Cal Hotels is positioned at the forefront of SmartHospitality—where guest journeys are frictionless, staff operations are simplified, and access is never a barrier to experience.

Ready to create your own frictionless guest journey?

Learn more at www.devicethread.com or book a meeting to chat.