Hi there, we have recently implemented Revinate CRM which integrates with MEWS. I understand that there are many MEWS/Revinate customers.
We have had various serious and concerning issues (mostly around features defined in the sales deck not being in the actual product) but we have serious concerns around their subscription status integration logic with MEWS.
Their set-up is such that if an existing subscribed guest booked with MEWS, but did not check the opt in to emails GDPR comliant box, Revinate unsubscribes the guests.
This strikes us as incredibly odd - as it is makes no commercial sense (high value guests and engaged guests are being unsubscribed) but it does not align with GDPR as the guest is not making an active, explicit decision to unsubscribe.
We have spoken to Revinate and they have given us a few options:
- to move to another consent logic - to bring all through as Implicit Consent (we woduln’t be able to email them anyway as they’re not explicit and the ones who do tick the box aren’t converted to explicit consent so that option is not suitable or gdpr compliant
- email all guests in a pre arrival email to ask them to subscribe which is not gdpr compliant (or preferable)
- email implicit subscriptions anyway!
- just accept that those unsubcribes are unsuscrbed and we’ve lost them
- change the box to a do not opt in (which is against gdpr)
- ask MEWS to move to 3 subscrption statuses - explicit, unsubscribed and unspecified (so no tick would come through as unspecified, but that doesn’t help as we can’t email unspecified - and would sit with MEWS to make this change across all hotels.
We’re at quite a loss as it feels so illogical - any insights from other revinate custsomers is gratefully recieved.
As mentioned I understand there are significant numbers of MEWS / Revinate hotels so would really appreciate anyone’s input.
Thank you very much,
Georgina
Hi @Sami_Citystay @Robin_Gustavsson Wondering if either of you have also come across this situation with Revinate and found a compromise/solution that would help Georgina? Thanks
Sarah.Masterton-Brown wrote:
Hi @Sami_Citystay @Robin_Gustavsson Wondering if either of you have also come across this situation with Revinate and found a compromise/solution that would help Georgina? Thanks
Hello,
It’s been a while since we worked with Revinate. I wasn’t too involved, as that falls under our marketing department, but I don’t recall any issues like that. However, we do not use the Mews booking engine, which is where I assume the mentioned “opt-in” box is located.
Hi Georgina
Alas, we no longer use Revinate and when we did it was purely for the review aggregation features rather than mailing list functionality. Sorry I couldn’t be more help!
Sami
Apologies, this is a rewriten with AI response, purely because I rambled :
Whats actually happening in your flow is:
- Guest opts in → consent = YES
- Guest books again and doesn’t opt in → Mews sends NO
- Revinate receives NO → updates profile to opt-out
- Guest is now no longer marketable
The reason this keeps happening is structural:
- Each booking is treated independently
- There’s no persistent consent preference across the guest lifecycle (THIS IS THE ISSUE)
- The latest data point always overwrites the previous one
So the real issue isn’t that either system is “wrong”, it’s that:
consent is being handled transactionally rather than as a long-term guest preference
That’s why you see previously opted-in guests dropping out of the database over time.
In short, no way to fix it without getting a CRM/Booking system that allows a login with a persistent state for the email marketing consent to keep people subscribed as every time they book, it fires a new status through for marketing consent.
MattJones wrote:
Apologies, this is a rewriten with AI response, purely because I rambled :
Whats actually happening in your flow is:
- Guest opts in → consent = YES
- Guest books again and doesn’t opt in → Mews sends NO
- Revinate receives NO → updates profile to opt-out
- Guest is now no longer marketable
The reason this keeps happening is structural:
- Each booking is treated independently
- There’s no persistent consent preference across the guest lifecycle (THIS IS THE ISSUE)
- The latest data point always overwrites the previous one
So the real issue isn’t that either system is “wrong”, it’s that:
consent is being handled transactionally rather than as a long-term guest preference
That’s why you see previously opted-in guests dropping out of the database over time.
In short, no way to fix it without getting a CRM/Booking system that allows a login with a persistent state for the email marketing consent to keep people subscribed as every time they book, it fires a new status through for marketing consent.
Hi Matt
Thanks so much for this that’s helpful and yes that is what I understood from my conversation with their support team.
I understand the structural set up of this system what I don’t understand is why an email marketing CRM would implement this structural system, as it is commercially ineffective and does not align with customer data wishes either.
Its unfortunate this was not explained to us at sales stage - we would not have chosen the system if we knew. From our chat with the support team, it is a common concern for their hotel clients but they have no plans to adjust in their roadmap.
Thank you so much though!
Georgina
Sarah.Masterton-Brown wrote:
Hi @Sami_Citystay @Robin_Gustavsson Wondering if either of you have also come across this situation with Revinate and found a compromise/solution that would help Georgina? Thanks
Thank you for helping