Hospitality, Rebooted: Mews Unfold 2025 Makes A Case For Human-First Tech

Emily Goldfischer
5 days ago
5 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

A soulful cover band playing Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar” set the tone: warm, unexpected, and maybe not your average hotel tech conference? For my first time at Mews Unfold, the vibe was becoming clear... this was going to be about more than AI and data.

Even better? The day’s lineup featured a refreshingly diverse group of speakers, with women front and center across keynotes and panels.

Held in Amsterdam, Mews Unfold 2025 opened with a powerful message: in a world of volatility and accelerating technology, hospitality must evolve—not just with gadgets and code, but with grace and guts.

In a Chaotic World, Agility Is a Superpower

Forget chasing the "why" behind travel dips or unpredictable booking patterns. As Matthijs Welle, CEO, Mews pointed out, when Taylor Swift drops tour dates overnight, instinct isn’t enough to fill your hotel rooms—you need system-led, data-powered agility. The industry is now operating in a reality where volatility is constant, and reaction time is everything. The solution? Embracing a tech stack that doesn’t drown teams in dashboards, but frees them to act fast and smart.

Forget the Hype, Follow the ROI

A highlight of the opening session was the reminder from Richard Valtr, Founder, Mews that not all tech is worth your budget. "Don’t blow half your capex chasing trends," he warned. Tech investment should focus on outcomes—diversifying revenue, simplifying ops, and optimizing guest experience.

Monica Galetti on Grit, Joy, and Why Tech Can’t Fake Heart

Chef. MasterChef judge. Co-host of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby. Monica Galetti’s on-stage interview with Matthias Welle offered insights from her varied and storied career. Monica shared how her original dream was to work in tourism, but everything changed the day she stepped into a professional kitchen during her hospitality diploma. "That first day, I walked in and I saw the chef piping chocolate decoration, and I knew it's what I wanted to do," she recalled. From that spark, she built a career that took her from New Zealand to Europe, representing Oceania in international Master Chef competitions and ultimately landing a role at London's legendary Le Gavroche. She spoke candidly about the passion and grit it takes to thrive in hospitality.

Her takeaways? You can’t fake joy. If your team isn’t happy, your guests won’t be either. Technology, she believes, should empower and not overwhelm. Hospitality, she reminded us, is about humans. Hang on, this becomes a recurring theme...

Hospitality 2.0: Service as a Verb, Not a Noun

Moderated by Bashar Wali, Founder & CEO, This Assembly, one of the most buzzed-about panels tackled a few hot topics, among them: how to stay profitable when margins are shrinking and guests expect more? Speakers Dina Belon, President, Staypineapple, Sarah Doyle, VP Global Brand Leader, Design Hotels, Leila Jiwnani, Director, Head of Hospitality & Leisure Advisory, Deloitte, and Richard Valtr brought some spicy thinking.

Rethink RevPAR: Stop obsessing over room rates—the real win is revenue per available guest (RevPAG? anybody?). Focus on upselling activities and F&B.
Personalization Over SOPs: Dina shared how "ChatPineapple," their interactive tool, is designed to move beyond scripts and empower staff to respond with more authenticity.
Culture First: “You hire for EQ, you train for skills, and then you let them go,” said Belon. “Then you correct, and redirect. There’s no checklist that delivers true service.”

“Service is a verb, not a noun,” said Wali, and paraphrasing the famous Maya Angelou quote, “It’s not what you give, it’s what you do—and how you make people feel.”

Leila Jiwnani added, “Tech isn’t just a cost center anymore—it’s a strategic enabler. But you need to define the outcome before you invest.”

Sarah Doyle emphasized the importance of building tech with the guest in mind: “You can’t predict every preference, and guests evolve. It’s about creating room for discovery—not just hyper-personalization.” Noting that it can be easy to cross the line between helpful and creepy.

Hotel Tech Grows Up: What Investors Want Now

For the venture capital POV, Chris Hemmeter, Managing Director, Thayer Ventures and Joe Pettigrew, Group Chief Commercial Officer, L&R Hotels delivered one of the more provocative sessions, zeroing in on the investment climate in hotel tech. Their message? There’s been massive innovation, but we’re only now at an inflection point. AI adoption is growing, but the smart players are asking, what problem are we solving?

Hotels need strategic tech allies, not just software vendors. Tech should connect teams to the right guests, enhance training, and drive long-term profitability. That means integrating PMS, RMS, and BI on a single intelligent platform.

Tech That Actually Works , and Doesn’t Drive Staff Crazy

Moderated by Seth Borko, Head of Research, Skift, this session brought together three very different perspectives—from scrappy independents to large-scale operators—on building tech stacks that actually work. Alessandro Bottero, Director of Data Strategy & Analytics, Lark Hotels; Halima Aziz, Head of Hotels, Criterion Hospitality; and Bendix Urlbaer, Account Executive, Canary Technologies, discussed how technology can unify teams, streamline operations, and enhance the guest journey without overcomplicating the back end.

As Alessandro noted, "Your tech stack doesn’t need to be as complex as you think—it just needs to deliver." Halima emphasized the role of automation in transforming staff from “doers into investigators,” freeing them to engage more meaningfully with guests. Bendix highlighted the shift away from legacy systems: “If you don’t have the right foundation, your decisions are made for you.”

The trio agreed: modern tech isn’t about bells and whistles. It’s about empowering people—guests, staff, and owners—to get what they need faster, easier, and smarter.

Guest Experience, Rewired: Empower the Team, Elevate the Stay

Moderated by Zoe Koumbouzi , Advisor, GAIN, this panel was all about how smarter systems and stronger staff support can elevate the guest experience without ballooning the budget. Panelists Victoria Fischer, Chief of Intelligence, Penta Hotels Worldwide; Marius Donhauser, Founder & CEO, hotelkit; and Goedele Van Der Straeten, Digital Guest Experience Transformation Manager, Radisson Hotel Group offered real examples, from overhauling seven core systems at once to scaling one tech tool from a single hotel to more than 40,000 users.

The best approach? Start with staff.

Goedele put it simply: “From a corporate level, we don’t touch the guest experience directly—but we can design for the employees who do.” When the tools are intuitive and helpful, employees deliver better service, effortlessly.

“Team members are your guests,” a reminder that culture and empowerment start behind the scenes.

Marius added: “Failure is part of our DNA—it’s how we grow.” His advice: rethink from scratch instead of digitizing broken processes, and treat your teams as co-creators, not just users.

The session proved what we already know: tech won’t transform hospitality, people will.

5 Truths Every Hotelier Should Take Home

Agility isn’t optional—make it your new superpower.
Tech isn’t about features. It’s about outcomes.
Culture comes first: train, trust, and invest in your team—because, as one speaker put it, "Team members are your guests."
Don’t digitize the past—redesign for the future.
Sustainability, personalization, and team wellbeing aren’t perks—they’re expectations.

Tech Took the Stage, But Humanity Stole the Show

That same message echoed throughout the day—not only from the stage, but in the hallways, coffee breaks, and side chats. Many attendees had flown in from Barcelona, still reeling from the dramatic 12-hour blackout impacting Spain and Portugal. Their personal stories were a reminder of just how deeply entwined our lives have become with technology...and how vulnerable we feel without it.

At Mews Unfold, the conversations weren’t just about digital transformation or seamless check-ins. They were about culture, creativity, trust, and care. It was also heartening to see so many women leading the conversations on stage—proof that diversity of thought isn’t just a value, but a catalyst for the kind of innovation hospitality needs now.

As a first-time attendee, I left feeling more informed, more inspired, and, dare I say it...more human!