Hospitality tech (2025)

1. Interview: Matthijs Welle, CEO of Mews

   AI is an obvious thing for the hospitality industry to care about — an unobvious one is Ozempic, the weight loss drug.

   Starting with the obvious one. “AI scared me a few years ago,” admits Mews CEO Matthijs Welle. “Now I’m really excited by it.” His method for overcoming the fear? Get his team to book him on a stage to talk about it. “Then I was really forced to think about it,” he says.

   Amsterdam-based Mews creates tech to automate everything from front-desk check-in and payments to reservations and housekeeping management. The company sells to most European countries bar Bulgaria and Croatia — where regulations are too onerous, says Welle — and into the US, Canada, New Zealand and other parts of the world. Mews sounds like a friendly place to work. Pets are important at Mews (Welle has a dog named Beyonce). Staff are encouraged to work remotely from hotels or other accommodations (naturally, there are discounts).

   AI’s already changing hospitality, Welle explains. “Hotels sit on humongous amounts of data — they know your passport number, your purchase history etc. AI tools can create three-line summaries of you for the receptionist. If you know in advance that a guest’s allergic to feathers, AI can create a task for the housemaid to get new pillows for your room. When you give your room number at the hotel bar, they'll know what you’re allergic to.”

   Hotels need to use this tech in a "not-creepy way," Welle says. "Most of the time, the personal touches are delightful. Like how I opened my hotel mini-bar recently and found lactose-free milk: that was really great.”

   Now the non-obvious thing — Ozempic — that will change hospitality. Welle struck a chord on LinkedIn recently when he complained about how hard it was to find a decent hotel gym. “I’m one of the many new users of Ozempic — which by the way is great, I did three days straight in a conference room recently and did not get tempted by a chocolate muffin — but gyms are not keeping up with us." He wants weight sets rather than treadmills. "They'll need to think about this more. Also, hotel bars, which mainly serve burgers and club sandwiches — they’ll need healthier options.”

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