Mews CEO Matthijs Welle sits down with PhocusWire's Linda Fox to explain an eventful year for the hospitality tech company. Six months after raising $300 million in Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, Mews cut 15% of its workforce. Welle says the two moves are unrelated. The restructuring aimed to build an AI-first organization where teams act quickly instead of waiting on meetings, and it created a new role: the product builder.

That shift is reshaping Mews' acquisition strategy. Welle splits deals into two types: property management systems, which Mews sunsets over time, and products folded into R&D. With in-house builders now creating products faster and cheaper, buying them makes less sense.

Welle also covers fragmentation in hospitality tech and why hoteliers want a single vendor, how AI turns Mews into one operating system, his working relationship with founder Richard Valtr and plans to win more large hotel brands.

Mews CEO Matthijs Welle sits down with PhocusWire's Linda Fox to explain an eventful year for the hospitality tech company. Six months after raising $300 million in Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, Mews cut 15% of its workforce. Welle says the two moves are unrelated. The restructuring aimed to build an AI-first organization where teams act quickly instead of waiting on meetings, and it created a new role: the product builder.
That shift is reshaping Mews' acquisition strategy. Welle splits deals into two types: property management systems, which Mews sunsets over time, and products folded into R&amp;D. With in-house builders now creating products faster and cheaper, buying them makes less sense.
Welle also covers fragmentation in hospitality tech and why hoteliers want a single vendor, how AI turns Mews into one operating system, his working relationship with founder Richard Valtr and plans to win more large hotel brands.

A regular dissection of the news, issues and trends in travel and technology, featuring interviews with industry executives and entrepreneurs and hosted by PhocusWire editors.

A regular dissection of the news, issues and trends in travel and technology, featuring interviews with industry executives and entrepreneurs and hosted by PhocusWire editors.

In Phocus is a regular dissection of the news, issues and trends in travel and technology, featuring interviews with industry executives and entrepreneurs and hosted by PhocusWire editors.

In Phocus

Mews CEO Matthijs Welle explains the company's AI-driven reorg, its shifting acquisition strategy and its push to become hospitality's single operating system.