Industry News Premier Hospitality

Mews Raises €6m to Advance Hotel Automation and Enhance Customer Experience

Aspire Executive Lounges, Swissport's global airport hospitality brand, has joined the British Institute of Hospitality, the world’s leading and award-winning membership body for hospitality professionals. Aspire Executive Lounges becomes the first business partner from the airport lounge hospitality sector to join the Institute of Hospitality. Aspire Executive Lounges, the fast-growing Swiss brand in the airport hospitality business, has joined the British Institute of Hospitality (IoH), the world’s leading membership body for professionals working and studying in the hospitality leisure and tourism industry. Aspire Executive Lounges is the first business from the airport lounge sector to become a member of IoH. The collaboration will foster an exchange of expertise and insights: IoH will benefit from Aspire's expertise in airport hospitality, while Aspire, by sharing its wealth of experience with IoH members, can extend its professional network to the hotel and catering sectors and hospitality management schools. “Our vision for Aspire Executive Lounges is clear and simple: We want to deliver a guest experience that is similar to what our guests are used to from their preferred hotels, meeting the needs and exceeding the expectations of today’s travelers,” says David Collyer, Global Vice President of Executive Lounges at Swissport International AG. “We strive to deliver an unparalleled experience and set a benchmark that transcends our industry, redefining excellence across the hospitality sector. The Institute of Hospitality is a great network to exchange insights and experiences, and to learn from others in the hospitality sector, which will help us bring our vision to life.” Robert Richardson, CEO of the Institute of Hospitality: “Our aspiration at the Institute of Hospitality has been to develop and grow our membership, the number of countries we operate in, and the number of hospitality sectors represented within our organization. With that in mind, it is a natural partnership for us to welcome Aspire into our family, and to learn from their teams, who serve travelers with passion and dedication. As two organizations with similar values, we look forward to collaborating in promoting high levels of excellence within our profession.” With over 30 years of experience, Aspire Executive Lounges is Europe’s largest brand in the airport lounges sector. In 2023, Swissport welcomed more than five million customers worldwide at over 69 lounges in 20 countries. The airport hospitality brand recently opened new lounges at Toronto City Airport in Canada, and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in Finland. Aspire Executive Lounges recently created a new lounge concept in partnership with the airline alliance oneworld. The first oneworld branded lounge was launched at Incheon Airport in Seoul, Korea, in December 2023. Aspire Executive Lounges is owned by Swissport International AG, the global leader in aviation services, serving airlines at 286 airports in 44 countries across 6 continents
Written by Amy

Series A round was led by Notion, with participation from HenQ and Thayer Ventures

Mews, the cloud-based Property Management Software platform, has announced the close of its €6m Series A funding round. The round was led by Notion, with participation from HenQ and Thayer Ventures.

The funding will be used to accelerate its mission to automate the hotel, democratise knowledge around hoteliering and encourage connectivity within travel to enhance the overall guest experience. The funds will also be used to open new offices around the world to support its fast-growing customer base.

Mews’ intuitive hotel management platform facilitates everything from online check-ins and payments, to booking management and staff training. It’s the first fully open platform fit for purpose in today’s rapidly evolving experience economy – allowing every kind of tool and app to connect through its API to enhance both the hotel back office and guest experience.

Mews was founded in 2012 by entrepreneur and ex-hotelier Richard Valtr, who was driven to build the Mews platform after experiencing the inadequacies of existing hotel software systems for himself. The company counts Different Hotels, Machefert, Clink and Wombats as customers and has over 43,000 beds in 350 properties. It was recently named the most integrated product in hotel technology by HotelTechReport.

Richard Valtr, Founder of Mews, said: “Mews’ mission is to help hotels and hostels automate their operations so they can focus on their guests, which is what the industry has always been about. We want to build the nervous system for hotels that all apps and tools for both guests and hosts can be plugged into. This new capital injection into Mews will facilitate our aggressive expansion plans and help us take the hotel industry, and hosting more widely, into the future.

“Until recently hoteliers were forced to rely upon a closed one-stop-shop PMS offered up by incumbent players who have held a luddite attitude towards the hospitality industry for years. The modern hotelier deserves more, and we’re here to empower them with tools that constantly adapt to modern requirements.”

Matthijs Welle, CEO of Mews, added: In the last year alone we have expanded from 10 to 35 countries, grown revenue by 20% per month and expanded the team from one office with 25 employees to three and 80 employees. Seeing the company grow at such an accelerated pace has been humbling and is a testament to the strength of our platform and the calibre of our global team. This new round of funding gives us the firepower required to capitalise on the momentum we have built ever since Mews was founded six years ago.”

“We think the hotel industry is at a tipping point in terms of the way it uses technology to better manage their operations and transform the guest experience. We also believe that Mews can be a catalyst to this transition in an industry that has been slow to change,” said Jos White, General Partner at Notion. “In this way we couldn’t be more excited to be leading this investment in Mews and look forward to working with Richard, Matt and the team.”

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