Welcome to RemoteHotelier!
In today’s newsletter:
🚀 Mews raises $300M
💰 ChatGPT is finally adding ads
🤔 Is advertising the least bad option?
💸 Inflation exposes weak hotel decisions
🛬 Cracking the luxury code in Southern Europe
🗞️ + 6 extra news
💼 + 3 new jobs in hotel tech
MAIN NEWS
#1 Mews raises $300M
Mews has just secured $300 million in a Series D round, valuing the company at $2.5 billion, with a clear goal to lead the industry in AI.
Mews plans to use the cash to keep expanding in the US and Europe.
They also plan to enhance Mews Payments and its fintech infrastructure.
Why would they raise so much money? Well, there isn’t any true “AI PMS”, and Mews is clearly trying to fill that gap. Their recent acquisitions tell a story, and $300 million seems like a perfect foundation to keep developing it.
#2 ChatGPT is finally adding ads
OpenAI is bringing ads to the free and low cost versions of ChatGPT. They’re testing advertising inside the chatbot while they promise privacy and neutral answers.
They also announced a new low cost tier, ChatGPT Go, which is already available for $8 per month.
Ads will appear only on Free and Go plans, not on Pro, Business, or Enterprise.
Conversations and data are not shared or sold to advertisers.
This is important for any hospitality company, regardless of size. The process of finding products and services is becoming a conversation, not a list of links and filters. That changes how customers discover you, and it kind of turns the table towards relevance instead of visibility.
#3 Is advertising the least bad option?
OpenAI follows Netflix, and goes in the opposite direction regarding their advertising policy. Sam Altman himself has shown many times how reluctant he is to squeeze ads in tech products.
Advertising isn’t necessarily bad, and I think it has a terrible reputation because of what social media companies have done in the past. When implemented well (like Netflix did), it’s a win-win for the users and the companies.
As bitter as it might sound, advertising seems to be the only business model that makes pricing remain affordable. Otherwise, these products would be so expensive that would be available only for the elite.
I can imagine industry giants ready to pour the millions they are pouring into Google Ads into this… but I don’t really think it’s going to work in the same way.
#4 Inflation exposes weak hotel decisions
Duetto and HotStats, a global hotel profitability platform, just released a new study showing that even though revenue is up, the cost to get those bookings is rising faster.
Global RevPAR is up 19% compared to 2019.
Booking costs per available room are up 25% in the same period.
To put the numbers in perspective: according to this data, in 2025 in the US for every $1 of extra revenue, hotels kept only $0.18 as profit. In Europe, for every €1 of extra revenue, hotels kept €0.29.
This is the kind of data that hurts a bit to read. In this inflationary environment, every cent you spend on tech must work twice as hard. The good news is that this is the point in history where hospitality has the best tools available.
Source: Duetto and HotStats
#5 Cracking the luxury code in Southern Europe
This week, Journey announced that they’re expanding in Spain to help luxury hotels sell more than rooms by connecting experiences, marketing, bookings, and payments in one platform.
Southern Europe is a tough market to penetrate because it’s very traditional. You need boots on the ground and a deep understanding of the luxury culture here. Let’s not even talk about fiscalization.
And yet, many hospitality and tech companies choose this region to expand because despite the hurdles, the opportunities are huge. This is just one more example.
RESOURCES
📍 Next Event: NoVacancy London (25–26 February).
📅 See the full hotel tech event calendar.
💼 Check which hotel tech companies offer remote jobs.
💻 Get your cloud PMS comparison list.
HOTEL TECH EXTRAS
☀️ Cloudbeds announced two new integrations this week aimed at the Spanish market:
🥘 They are teaming up with Ágora POS, a very strong local hospitality vendor.
💃 They’ll also integrate with Jumbonline, a distribution platform based in Spain that serves thousands of hotels.
👨🏫 Maestro PMS reveals its 2026 roadmap with new automations, mobile features, and dynamic pricing among other features.
📊 Revenue Analytics and Jonas Chorum launch a new two-way integration to automate hotel pricing and boost revenue performance.
💳 RMS integrates with Salto so users can issue digital mobile keys and manage access directly from the PMS.
🔴 Red Roof will roll out Sojern’s AI Concierge across over 700 hotels in the US to improve communications with guests during and after the stay.
JOB BOARD
PR & Communications Manager | Remote (based in Barcelona) | Lighthouse.
Product Lead | Remote (based in Munich) | Apaleo.
Account Executive | Remote (based in Germany) | Mews.
BEYOND HOTEL TECH
There’s no doubt that the news of the week in tech is ChatGPT bringing ads. However, Google confirmed that they don’t plan on doing the same any time soon. They are doing a great job “poaching” customers from OpenAI, offering cheaper alternatives and a better free plan (for now).
What I don’t know though is how Google plans to monetize their services. They pretty much shot themselves in the foot replacing search ads (their main source of income) by AI overviews instead. They must have a plan, but it’s amazing to see how they seem to have endless cash to burn.
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See you next week!
Jose