Insights & Inspiration

As part of the line up of industry luminaries sharing their insights with us at Unfold this year is Stuart W. Greif, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy, Innovation & Operating Officer at Forbes Travel Guide. Formerly, he was Microsoft’s Senior Executive for Hospitality and Travel, and led J.D. Power’s Global Hospitality and Travel group. Greif also worked for a unicorn startup Amperity, backed by early investors in Facebook, LinkedIn and Amazon. Now that you’ve met the maestro, let’s ask him some challenging questions. Why do you love the hospitality industry? Back when I launched my career, I was living in hotels five to six days per week for months on end and spent a lot of time with the hotel staff. It’s something that always resonated with me on a profound level – in terms of having empathy and experiencing kindness in a hotel and within a travel context of new experiences and people. That's what I find

UNFOLD: Ahead of Mews Unfold 2023, our CEO, Matt Welle and Founder, Richard Valtr, explore the latest challenges and changes to hospitality. What is the new standard in hospitality? What would you like to see challenged and why? Matt: Today, there is such a huge opportunity for hoteliers to truly explore and rethink the way they want to appeal to a diverse and eclectic guest. In the past, many hotels have opened without a real sense or thought about what it’s niche can be, and not really thinking beyond a bed in a room.The modern-day guest is expectant of so much more.A great example of this is the ‘business’ traveler. Traditionally, the choice for the business traveler was all about one thing, the location! But, increasingly business travel isn’t tied to a specific location, but moreover a great place to work and experience a new place.I often find myself in hotels thinking: I don't wa

Mews’ Richard Valtr talks about new definitions of success in digital transformation in this year’s Hopsitality Yearbook:Hospitality industry insiders must think holistically about their properties and favilities, redefine metrics of success and create a new standard of excellence. Instead of treating their businesses as simply rooms, Valtr suggests operators should think creatively about generating new and ancillary revenue streams, such as memberships to restaurants, services, parking spaces, and fitness areas. Incentivizing guests to stay on-site is key to capturing their full spend, offering grab-and-go meals, co-working spaces, networking events, gym access, and memberships.Read the full article here The insights showcased in this year’s yearbook are derived from 55+ contributing authors, including notable indust

Check out the new features that were delivered in February:IMPROVEMENT:Icon design updates for easier reading and clearer navigation.Recently we previewed some upcoming changes to icons that make Mews easier to navigate and understand. These new icons are now live. - read more. Secure and clean data with new company profile IATA validation.Stay in control of

Unless you've been living under a rock (hey, we love eco stays), you’ll have heard about Mews Unfold. Every year, our flagship hospitality tech event attracts the best of the best: future shifters, hotel tech disruptors and fearless innovators. People who look at mediocrity and say: no thanks. And since you're reading this, we know you belong to this group of trailblazers too. On April 4th, Mews Unfold returns to Amsterdam with a literal bang: our venue is the iconic Muziekgebouw, one of the most modern concert halls in the world. At this point, you may be feeling that troublesome twinge of FOMO. Beware: Fear of Mewsing Out is real. You don't want to be stuck at your desk while the world's leading innovators unfold great ideas and reshape the future of hospitality. “What sets Unfold apart is that it combines visionary thinking with tangible steps to better hospitality,” said Richard Valtr, Mews Founder and Unfold aficionado. “You can go from a big picture keynot

Check out the new features that were delivered in January:ANNOUNCEMENT:Age-based product pricing now available for all properties!Good news! We’ve completed our gradual roll out of age-based product pricing - read more. IMPROVEMENT:A flexible, seamless payment experience that guests will love.Guests can now enjoy a simpler payment experience with automated, flexible payments, which is now read

Last month, we released the 2022 H2 data dive - a thorough report on the trends recorded for the last 6 months and glimpses of what is to come in 2023. What the data says about occupancy:Year-on-year, single night stays have decreased by 3% and 3-7 night stays have increased by the same amount. During most of H1, apartments has a clear occupancy lead over hotels and hostelsDownload the report to see more trends in other areas such as rate types, RevPAR and chargebacks.Mews 2022 H2 Data Dive

Unfold is an annual hospitality tech forum hosted and curated by Mews. The fourth edition will bring together hundreds of the industry's most inspiring innovators, visionaries and thinkers to the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam.This year's theme: The New Standard in Hospitality.When is it? Tuesday 4th AprilFeatured speakers include:Charlie McGregor, Founder and CEO, The Social Hub Kari Anna Fiskvik, Vice President of Technology, Nordic Choice Hotels Matt Welle, CEO, Mews Richard Valtr, Founder, Mews James Bishop, VP, Ecosystems & Strategic Partnerships, SiteMinder James Lemon, Travel, Transport and Leisure Lead, Stripe

This is a day in the Mews history books and you might have already seen the announcement but just in case you missed it:Mews closes $185 Million in fundraising to transform the hospitality industry for brands and their guests. 🥂🎉 The Series C fundraising brings the total amount raised to date to over $225 million. Latest funding led by Kinnevik and Goldman Sachs Asset Management; Akhil Chainwala from Kinnevik and Kirk Lepke from Goldman Sachs to join the board. Funding will be used to accelerate product innovation, global expansion and consolidation through its Mews Ventures arm. Take a look at the press release here and read what Richard has to say on the news

Check out the new features that were delivered in December:NEW FEATURE:Guests can now book parking along with their stay in the Mews Booking Engine!You can now promote bookable services such as Parking along with stay service in the Mews Booking Engine so guests can book these services along with their stay reservation. - read more. IMPROVEMENT:Seen our fresh new look? More vibrant colors and simpler, more consistent icons.

As I approach my first Mews anniversary in mid-January, I thought it was the perfect time to kickstart a quarterly Support update to everyone in our community. Support touches everyone here in one way or another so it important I keep you updated as to our progress and plans. I would also love to get your viewpoints and feedback. It is important that we are listening and being guided by your collective voice.   A year in Support flies by and upon reflection this has been a year where we have significantly invested in improving our support experience. I am hoping that if you are in regular contact with Support you will have noticed that increasingly you are hearing from different voices on the team. Since January 2022 we have more than doubled the size of the team. This growth has happened across all regions with us bolstering the European, US and APAC teams. We also expanded the team welcoming the Mews POS Support Team which we have also grown by over a third in the la

November ‘22. Another busy month for our product team delivering some new features for you.Take a look:NEW FEATURE:Less guesswork, more transparency: Track changes to individual bills with a new Action log.Ever wondered what changes were made to a specific bill, or who made them? You can now view and track all changes made to an individual bill- read more.  IMPROVEMENT:Mews University update: New Housekeeper learning path!The Mews University Housekeeper learning path has been updated and is now interactive, informative and in four languages. - read more. 

Skift.com, a trusted online publisher of hotel news, interviewed Andrea Grigg, who leads the global asset management practice at JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group, which manages about 90 hotel assets worth more than $6.8 billion.This is an interesting read on her insights of what’s to come in 2023 for the industry:“If all the clouds on the horizon come together and make a storm, your team needs to be able to adapt,” Grigg said.She notes that hotels can respond well by flexing up and down in rate and operational costs and how to keep labour costs in check.Read this article, published 7th Nov 2022

Snapchat! I have to say, I’ve never used it - I believe it’s something for the youngsters.But this articles looks into Snapchat as a valuable tool for hospitality marketing, especially if your clientele errs towards the Z-gen demographic.‘’Snapchat is a highly visual platform; hotels with beautiful amenities and eye-catching rooms can really stand out with high-quality photos and videos.’’Read more in this article from Hotel Tech Report, published 12th Oct 2022 Community question: Is anyone in this community using Snapchat successfully to drive brand awareness?

This October, our product team have been busy adding more features and improvements for you to use. 🤓Here’s a summary of what is now available:NEW FEATURE:Send invoices to corporate email addresses directly from Mews Operations! For many business reservations, the guest staying at your property isn’t always responsible for the payment. You can now send invoices (and bills) to any email - read more.  Age-based product pricing is now ready for gradual roll out. 🙌Speak to your CSM if you want to get started with this feature. Here’s what you need to know -

Welcome to the Mews family, Faern. 🖐The collection of Swiss Alps resorts undergoes rapid digital transformation, with Mews at its heart.Published 15th September 2022PRAGUE / ZURICH - Mews, the award-winning hospitality cloud, has been chosen by Faern as the property management system to help establish its new collection of lifestyle resorts in the Swiss Alps.Faern combines vintage alpine charm with modern convenience, providing a haven for guests, both in and out of ski season. The brand is managed by Vertell Asset Management, who specialize in bringing cutting-edge technology to their hotel investments.“We needed to move away from on-premises solution and embrace the increased productivity and savings of cloud technology,” said Thibault Catala, Co-Founder and COO of Faern. “It’s important for us to be agile, and Mews is the best solution for this. In the l

skift.com - published September 19th 2022To rebuild trust with leisure travelers and compete with larger chains, independent hotels need to rethink their core value proposition and reimagine loyalty. Joining a loyalty program network helps independent hotels capture repeat business, reduce operational strain, and drive topline revenue at minimal cost. Global Hotel Alliance With corporate travel continuing to lag behind as the leisure market rebounds, hospitality loyalty programs have shifted focus from business travelers to leisure customers who are looking for more flexibility on how they earn and spend rewards.Kristi Gole, VP at GHA“Across industries, loyalty programs used to be very transactional,” sai

An interesting read on hybrid workforces. 📰 It raises the question of whether our Mews customers are capitalising on this recent co-working space demand. 🏩 Any first-hand changes seen at your property? 🤓Survey of Business Travel Leaders Spotlights Issues Driven by Hybrid Workforces as Corporate Travel’s Return Accelerates; 44 Percent “Don’t Know” How Co-Working Spaces are Contracted. Published in hospitalitynet.orgCologne, Germany & Alexandria, VA –