Phishing campaigns are on the rise, particularly around the peak travel season. WhatsApp is becoming a new attack vector, and cybercriminals – who exploit data leaks at Booking, for example – can use reservation data for even longer once they have obtained it.
From guest experience to revenue strategy, from finance automation to channel distribution, Mews Unfold 2026 set out a vision for a hospitality industry in which AI does not merely accelerate operations but fundamentally changes what is possible. The manual workflows is over.
People in Germany are switching off – at least some of the time. After years of steady growth and constant digital activity, internet usage in Germany is falling noticeably for the first time.
Mews CEO Matt Welle and former Disney Innovation Chief Duncan Wardle made the same argument from two different directions. The industry's most urgent problem is not its technology. It's the lack of courage to use their people differently. A wake-up call for many hoteliers, who still think and act in silos, something that no longer makes much sense in the era of AI.
"Technology is not the enemy of the hospitality industry. The point of technology is not simply to blindly replace jobs or destroy other aspects of what makes hospitality what it is." Richard Valtr, the founder of Mews, still looks into the fearful eyes of those he is speaking to: This industry seems to have preserved conservatism right down to its very core. Change it!
At Hey Lou, guests check in via their smartphone and unlock their room door using the key in their digital wallet. This works without the need for an app or a loyalty program.
New Mews research across 500+ properties shows AI is now standard in hotel operations, while human interaction remains critical for high-value guest moments.
Back in late February, Best Western Hotels (BWH) had sent emails to customers warning them about phishing attempts. Only now is the scale of the data breach becoming apparent. According to BWH, the breach has been resolved.
OTAs still dominate distribution in the Swiss hotel sector — and hotels are now observing new influences on prices resulting from platform mechanisms.
China has launched its 15th Five-Year Plan by placing robotics at the heart of its modern industrial system. The aim is to pivot its AI research towards physical applications with robots as main drivers for economic growth.
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