When Rachel Carlson first laid eyes on the lodge that would become Black Bear Lodge, it was not even on the market. Located in South Lake Tahoe, she and her husband had been searching, partly for a wedding venue and partly for a dream project. Years later, when the lodge finally came up for sale, Rachel knew instantly it was more than just a venue.
They said “I do” to the business and the lodge, focusing on destination wedding business before pivoting to something even more meaningful: hosting leisure travelers. Over the past eight years, what started as a nine-room retreat grew by acquiring a neighboring property into a 31-room boutique haven. That leap changed everything. They hired a team, scaled operations, and began thinking beyond manual spreadsheets and gut instincts.
Like many boutique hoteliers, Rachel took on pricing herself using Cloudbeds, their PMS. It was a step up from their old system, allowing rule-based rate changes such as holiday lifts or weekend boosts.
“We’d set it and forget it,” Rachel remembers. “If it was a slow weekend, we’d go in and manually drop the price, hoping for bookings.”
Hopes were not revenue. On busy weekends, they hesitated to push rates higher. Fear of overpricing met with a lack of bandwidth to track demand trends, and opportunities slipped away.
By the time Rachel discovered TakeUp, Black Bear Lodge had already taken one big leap forward by moving from typing in individual room rates to using Cloudbeds’ rule-based pricing. But that still left them stuck between worlds. They could make small adjustments, like increasing rates by a percentage on weekends, but the real revenue opportunities were slipping by.
“For us, it wasn’t really about saving time. We were definitely losing out on revenue,” Rachel explained. “We’d set it and forget it, and whatever came through the booking engine came through. We had very few levers to pull.”
On slow weekends, they might drop rates manually and hope for an impact. On high-demand weekends, they worried about pushing rates too far, so they left money on the table. And with a small team, there was no capacity to bring in dedicated revenue expertise.
“We don’t have the personnel to sit in the office crunching numbers or watching market signals. That knowledge just isn’t something we could have in-house,” Rachel said. “Everyone in boutique hospitality got into this to create experiences, not to do revenue management. None of us want to spend our days behind a computer.”
TakeUp became the natural next step. It wasn’t just about automating rate updates, it was about replacing guesswork with data-driven confidence. The system captured demand when bookings slowed and pushed rates higher when demand surged. Rachel described it as unlocking “all of the revenue upside” they simply could not reach on their own.
TakeUp’s integration with Cloudbeds required minimal effort, just a few clicks and an emailed link. From there, weekly check-ins with a revenue strategist helped Rachel understand the dashboard, the logic, and the levers she could pull.
“You can choose your own adventure, whether that is hands-on or hands-off,” Rachel said. “You can override rates or let the system run, however it suits you.”
“I didn’t realize there was so much growth on the high end. I thought we were already near maximum. TakeUp showed me there is room to go further without losing bookings.”
Rachel Carlson, Owner of The Black Bear Lodge
The real magic unfolded in two places. Black Bear Lodge captured demand during slow periods and raised rates during high-demand windows.
Rachel recalls their most sought-after two-bedroom cabin, once capped at $650 a night. With TakeUp, that same cabin has hit $750. “I didn’t even know we could charge that,” she says.
That timing was perfect. Rotating rate increases that targeted upcoming events, weddings, or concert dates meant revenue unlocked automatically with no guesswork.
Weekly “TakeUp Boost” reports made it clear. The system was paying for itself and then some.
If there is one lesson Rachel emphasizes, it is this:
“I didn’t realize there was so much growth on the high end. I thought we were already near maximum. TakeUp showed me there is room to go further without losing bookings.”
Having the weekly report also feels like validation. “Here’s how much extra we made and how much more we can make.”
Rachel does not hesitate when asked for advice.
“Do it. It is easy to integrate, you get a clear ROI, and you can choose how involved you want to be. Boutique properties rarely have bandwidth for revenue managers, but TakeUp gives you one without the cost.”
As Rachel looks ahead, she sees technology and AI as liberators, not disruptors. The future she imagines for Black Bear Lodge is about deepening guest experiences, not wrestling with rate sheets.
“AI should not get between you and your guests. TakeUp manages revenue so we can focus on what we love, welcoming people to Tahoe.”
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