With so many hotels and lodgings available to guests, it can be hard to stand out from the competition. To do so, you’ll need a strong brand to guide the experiences you offer, aided by the smartest hospitality tech.
Matt Talks is a video series where Matt Welle, Mews CEO, shares his pro tips and lessons learned to help hoteliers grow their businesses. The first episode is all about the digital guest journey, and we summarized some of the highlights in the article. If you’d prefer to watch the series (and we recommend that you do), you can find it here:
https://www.mews.com/en/resources/matt-talks
Moving to the cloud: a game changer for hotels
One of the first steps to modernizing hotel operations is migrating to a cloud-based PMS. Legacy on-premises systems simply don’t offer the flexibility and integration capabilities needed for a seamless guest journey. Moving to the cloud opens the door to a host of powerful digital tools, enabling automation and personalization that are otherwise unattainable.
With cloud-based solutions, hotels can craft unique digital guest experiences, streamline operations, and even unlock new revenue opportunities through upselling. The benefits extend beyond operational efficiency, transforming how hoteliers interact with guests from pre-arrival to post-departure.
Understanding your hotel’s segment: the key to tailored solutions
Hotels come in many shapes and sizes, and understanding your property’s unique needs is essential to choosing the right digital tools. At Mews, deep market analysis revealed four key segments: Low Cost, Efficiency, Personalized Experiences, and Frictionless Experiences. Each of these segments has its own operational challenges and guest expectations, requiring different technological approaches.
1. Low-Cost: focus on efficiency and automation
In the low-cost segment, efficiency is king. These limited-service properties, such as bed-and-breakfasts or budget hotels, often have lower average rates and minimal staff. To maintain profitability, automation is essential. From online check-ins to digital kiosks, guests can breeze through the arrival process, minimizing the need for staff intervention.
Low-cost hotels also need to focus on upselling through partnerships with local businesses. Since guests are primarily interested in exploring the area, your website and digital journey should provide recommendations for activities, driving both guest satisfaction and additional revenue.
2. Efficiency: balancing leisure and business guests
Efficient hotels often serve both leisure and business guests, particularly in urban areas where labor costs are higher and competition is fierce. The challenge here lies in managing a more complex guest mix, all while maintaining operational efficiency.
To streamline the booking process and maximize direct bookings, your hotel’s website should be simple and intuitive. Business travelers are looking for speed and ease. For them, a seamless check-in and digital key process is critical – they simply want to get into their rooms and get on with their day.
At the same time, leisure guests expect a more curated experience. By using customer relationship management (CRM) tools, hotels can personalize the journey, offering city tours or restaurant bookings to leisure travelers while ensuring business guests get the quick and efficient service they desire.
3. Personalized experiences: capturing revenue through onsite engagement
In full-service hotels that focus on leisure travelers, the goal is to keep guests on-site and engaged with hotel facilities, such as restaurants, spas and recreational areas. The challenge here is to integrate technology that drives in-house spending while providing a highly personalized experience.
A strong digital presence, from a well-designed website to a mobile app that allows guests to book restaurants and services, can significantly boost on-site revenue. Tools like QR codes for room service and AI-driven guest profiling can help hoteliers anticipate guest needs and offer upsells, like a bottle of champagne upon arrival.
4. Frictionless experiences: managing complex operations with custom tech stacks
The frictionless segment serves a mix of both business and leisure travelers in full-service, city-based hotels. These properties often face the most operational complexity due to the variety of services they offer and the high guest expectations they must meet.
These hotels typically adopt a best-of-breed approach to technology, integrating multiple systems to create a highly customized guest journey. From advanced CRM solutions to coworking space reservations, frictionless hotels need to cater to diverse needs while maintaining operational efficiency. Business travelers, in particular, expect everything to work seamlessly, and a reliable digital infrastructure ensures their demands are met.
The future of hotel operations: personalization through AI
As we move into the future, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in hospitality is set to grow. AI can help hoteliers better understand guest preferences and behavior, enabling more tailored experiences. Mews has implemented AI-driven tools that analyze guest profiles to suggest relevant upsells, anticipate service needs, and even resolve issues more efficiently.
AI’s potential to enhance personalization is especially relevant in high-end, full-service hotels where guest expectations are elevated. With AI, hotels can ensure a consistent and exceptional guest experience – something that even the best-trained staff may struggle to achieve.
Conclusion: embrace technology to elevate guest experiences
The hospitality landscape is changing, and hoteliers need to embrace technology to stay competitive. Whether you’re operating a low-cost budget hotel or a full-service luxury property, cloud-native systems like Mews can help you streamline operations, deliver personalized guest experiences, and ultimately drive profitability.
By understanding your hotel’s segment and leveraging the right digital tools, you can unlock new revenue opportunities and create memorable guest journeys that keep customers coming back.
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About Mews
Mews is the leading platform for the new era of hospitality. Powering over 5,000 customers across more than 85 countries, Mews Hospitality Cloud is designed to streamline operations for modern hoteliers, transform the guest experience and create more profitable businesses. Customers include Generator-Freehand, Strawberry, The Social Hub, and Airelles Collection. Mews was named Best PMS (2024) and listed among the Best Place to Work in Hotel Tech (2021, 2022, 2024) by Hotel Tech Report, as well as World’s Best Hotel PMS Provider (2023) and World’s Best Independent Hotel PMS Provider (2022, 2023) by World Travel Tech Awards. Mews has raised $335 million from investors including Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Kinnevik and Revaia to transform hospitality.
www.mews.com
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