Where indie hotels find hidden revenue

What happens when a former hotelier builds a tech stack? You get Mews.

Mint Pillow spoke with founder Richard Valtr to dive into the challenges facing independent hotels, from tight budgets to staffing shortages. Here, he shares how cloud-native tools can quietly transform day-to-day operations and which single feature creates the biggest immediate impact.

— The Mint Pillow

(This is a sponsored Q&A)

Mews is known for streamlining operations, but how does it help independent hotels grow revenue or spot opportunities they might otherwise miss?  

Mews goes beyond streamlining operations for hotels by turning data into actionable insights. For independent hotels, which often don’t have dedicated yield managers, that means spotting revenue opportunities through booking trends, upsells and guest preferences. Real-time insights can help to optimize pricing, occupancy and service, while automation makes it easy to act quickly with small teams.

By identifying inefficiencies and underutilized services, hotels can redirect resources to what drives growth. In short, Mews helps hoteliers make smarter decisions and increase revenue they might otherwise miss. 

Since automation can often feel impersonal, how does Mews enhance the guest and staff experience instead of replacing it? 

By enhancing human interaction rather than replacing it, Mews makes stays smoother for guests and workdays more enjoyable for teams. Mews uses automation to free hotel staff from repetitive tasks, giving them more time with guests to focus on delivering personal, memorable experiences.

For guests, it streamlines check-in and check-out, payments and service requests without removing the human touch—they still interact with staff when it matters most. Staff benefit from intuitive tools that reduce errors and give them more time to anticipate guest needs.  

Independent hotels face challenges big chains don’t—limited staff, tight budgets and unique guest experiences. What feature of Mews quietly transforms their day-to-day operations?  

For independent hotels, one of the most powerful transformations comes from turning their website into a profitable sales channel. We do this through the Mews Booking Engine, which helps hotels drive more revenue without selling complexity. 

By driving more direct bookings and reducing OTA fees, independent hotels keep more revenue in-house, capture richer first‑party guest data and unlock new upsell moments—from parking and breakfast to meeting rooms and late check‑out—all before the guest even arrives. Essentially, it gives independent hotels big-chain efficiency without losing their unique charm. 

How is Mews applying AI in hospitality to improve personalization, pricing or operations without losing the human touch?  

Mews applies AI as a behind-the-scenes co‑pilot, enhancing every interaction while keeping staff firmly in control. The goal isn’t to automate relationships, but to give hotel teams better context so they can deliver more personal service, faster. 

Smart Tips uses AI to turn scattered guest data—from reservation details and housekeeping notes to past-stay behavior—into short summaries in the guest profile and reservation timeline so teams can personalize service in seconds without clicking through multiple tabs. 

Rather than replacing conversations, Smart Tips gives front‑desk and housekeeping staff timely context—preferences, sensitivities, loyalty status and typical spend—so they can greet returning guests by name, anticipate needs and offer upsells that feel thoughtful, not robotic. 

The same AI foundation powers revenue tools like Atomize, which optimizes pricing in real time, and guest-intelligence features that identify high-value guests across rooms, bars, spas and other outlets. 

Built-in guardrails ensure AI outputs use neutral language, avoid assumptions about sensitive attributes and highlight safety-critical details like severe allergies—supporting human judgment rather than replacing it.  

By combining automation with genuine hospitality, Mews uses AI as a tool, not a replacement, keeping the human touch at the heart of every stay.   

If a hotel could adopt just one Mews feature tomorrow, which would make the biggest impact and why?  

Mews Kiosk is a self-service check-in and check-out solution that lets guests handle arrival and departure themselves. In 2025 alone, hotels processed 3.2 million check-ins via kiosks. 

For independent hotels, that’s effectively a 24/7 digital receptionist: cutting queues, easing pressure on lean teams and capturing revenue that would otherwise be left on the table. Guests who check in via Kiosk are around three times more likely to purchase an upsell, generate nearly 70% more upsell revenue per check-in and free up staff to spend 35% more time with guests who really need personal attention.

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Mint Pillow is curated and written by Jennifer Glatt and edited by Bianca Prieto.