How He Built Mews — And Rewired the Modern Hotel Stay (With Richard Valtr, Founder of Mews)

Richard Valtr didn’t just build hotel software—he rewired what a stay could be. Before Mews, he was designing a 60-key hotel in Prague with a brazen brief: make every guest feel five-star without hiring an army. He imagined stays like playlists—moods, moments, choices—then realized the industry lacked the pipes to power it. So he built them: an open-API PMS as the backbone for personalization at scale.

Today on the show, I’m joined by Richard Valtr—founder of Mews, hotelier-turned-systems architect, and one of the sharpest minds pushing hospitality past “heads in beds.”

In this episode, we:

• Explore how that 60-key Prague experiment became a prototype for Mews—and whether a “playlist for your stay” can actually scale.
• Discuss why the real upside may live in the 16 waking hours, and how RevPAG could nudge P&Ls beyond a bed-only mindset.
• Explore what changes when spend is posted to the guest, not the room—and whether that unlocks offers people actually want next time.
• Discuss how personalization might honor your different modes—parent, partner, road warrior—with AI helping dial convenience vs. high-touch.
• Explore what an open-by-default stack could enable—and what the future relationship between OTAs and operators might look like (and how it could benefit everyone).

Connect with Richard
Explore Mews
Connect with Zach
Apply to join the Journey Alliance

Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more.

Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at journey.com/alliance.