Mews Coffee Corner is a series of short webinars in which hoteliers and tech partners share their opinions, successes and operational tips. The latest episode features Harding Group, and the conversation is a must-watch.
Harding Group is a hospitality brand that runs a hotel, two aparthotels, several apartments and a hostel, set amongst the beautiful landscape of Trolltunga in Norway. Sebastian Garsteci is a hotelier for the group, who has been using Mews since January 2024.
You can watch the full conversation here (scroll to the Customer Spotlight section) or read on for some of the highlights that cover some of the most common challenges and solutions for hoteliers today.
Simplified reservation management
The more properties you need to manage, the more complex operations can become. Unless, of course, you can centralize all your inventory in the same cloud-native platform.
Harding Group not only manage multiple properties, but different property types. Their previous system wasn’t working for them and put too much strain on operations, especially during peak times. As Sebastian explains: “we suddenly had four or five logins to several different booking systems, and we had quite a mess with managing all of them. Logging out, logging in, logging out; it’s a stressful situation.”
“It was important for us to make the job for the reception more efficient, easier, and to concentrate on the guest experience. Mews let us put all of our properties – beds, rooms, apartments – in one system. In one click, we can change the services, and it makes everything easier to manage from one place.”
Enhanced guest experiences
Before automation, providing great guest experiences usually meant a lot of manual effort from staff. For instance, if a hotel wanted to send pre-arrival emails, they’d have to not only manually click send but also tailor them individually with relevant information.
Mews comes with several automated emails as part of its guest journey, each of which can be tailored to the hotel’s needs. Harding Group use these emails to share important information like apartment access codes and check-in details. The group can curate the information depending on guest and property type, which also has a positive knock-on effect for staff workload and upselling.
“It makes the reception work much easier because most of the guests read the information and they are prepared for the for the visit. We can also promote different kinds of services that we have, like informing them about the opening times of the restaurant or our sauna.”
As part of a streamlined, digital guest journey, the brand is planning to implement smart locks on all apartments. Mews Digital Key is the perfect solution for keyless, mobile entry.
Intuitive staff training
Effective and efficient staff training is important for any hospitality brand – especially those with different property types. Mews University provides self-guided video learning. Each staff member is given their own login and learning path, which they can complete online at their own pace.
Sebastian describes Mews University as “wonderful”. “My team told me it’s so intuitive that they only need a few hours to get to know the system. You can compare it to using a smartphone or Facebook; nobody taught us how to use Facebook, and we all know how to use it. The Mews product team is doing a really good job!”
Smooth rate management
Rate management shouldn’t give you a headache. Mews makes it easy for you to change prices and run reports on occupancy and plenty more areas. Automated rate management allows you to set parameters for multiple rates and let the tech do the rest. Plus, make fast changes with bulk rate options and easily add unique products to enhance stays.
“It’s easier to look forward many, many months. In the past, we only sold rooms and apartments for one year at a time. Now we’re selling for two or three years ahead of time. We can price everything much better for the future and have a bigger overview of what’s coming in through the reports.”
A good rate management system goes hand in hand with an effective payment solution. There are also huge time savings to be had for hotels that automate payments and cut manual processing and reconciliation. You’ll also see fewer manual errors – and all you need is Mews Payments.
As Sebastian says: “One of the best things Mews did for us is to automate charging cards. We can take payments and everything is as it should be – there’s no mess in the system like we had before.”
Continual evolution
When you choose a PMS, you’re not just picking a software to solve today’s problems. You’re choosing a partner that will help your brand grow for years to come. That means you need a solution that constantly evolves, introducing new features that keep pace with changing guest habits and staff needs. In other words, you need Mews.
We’ll leave the final word to Sebastian: “We’re so satisfied that Mews is always developing. You listen to the customers and make it better. The system has changed even in the past seven months, and it’s now better than it was when we onboarded.”
“Our past system felt like a Nokia 3310, and with Mews we’re upgrading to the newest iPhone. And once you have this iPhone, you will not change the iPhone; you always want a newer version of the phone. That is the feeling we get.”
Watch more Coffee Corner conversations with hoteliers and tech partners:
