When hospitality becomes a lifeline: Armen Melkonian’s story
Armen Melkonian was forced to flee war-torn Syria and then Lebanon, until he rebuilt his life from scratch in the Netherlands through UNHCR’s resettlement programme. He opens up about finding safety as a member of the LGBTIQ+ community, the challenges of acclimatizing to a foreign culture and how his experiences shaped a deeply personal approach to service. To Armen, hospitality starts with something small – a greeting, a moment of acknowledgment, the thing that tells someone they’re no longer invisible.
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How a five-star London hotel turns pet-friendly luxury into revenue, with Dean Culpan
A five-star hotel and a Michelin-starred restaurant that welcome dogs? There’s a big difference between a hotel that embraces pets and one that simply tolerates them. Dean Culpan, General Manager of South Place Hotel in London, has built a dog-friendly approach that even drives more revenue: fuller weekends, higher on-property spend and loyal guests who return because their pets are treated well. He joins Matt to talk about rising demand for pet-friendly stays and how his team delivers a luxury experience for both guests and their fluffy companions.
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Walkie-talkies, AI and the remaking of housekeeping with Luka Berger
When Luka Berger landed a summer job as a housekeeper at Yellowstone National Park, he didn’t expect it to inspire his whole career trajectory. But seeing staff juggle walkie-talkies and race between rooms to remain on top of housekeeping tasks ultimately sparked the idea behind Flexkeeping. In this episode, Luka shares how Flexkeeping, now part of Mews, uses AI to automate time-consuming housekeeping tasks and break down language barriers.
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What's next for AI in hospitality and why Mews is investing
AI in hospitality so far meant chatbots and big promises, while hotel teams still worked using manual checklists and post-it notes. Matt talks about the rise of AI agents and how the next wave will move fast for hotels built on the right tech stack. He explains why Mews acquired DataChat and how its technology brings a new kind of intelligence into hotel operations, one that listens, learns and acts.
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The push and pull of automating hotel operations
When Maurits Bots stepped into the Hotel ICT Specialist role at WestCord Hotels, some properties still ran on legacy systems. Others used Mews like the old PMS. He didn’t set out to replace tools, but rather to rebuild how the work gets done. “The fact that somebody has to check every reservation – that time has passed”, Maurits says, as he joins Matt to talk about what it takes to automate the everyday without slowing anyone down.
Matt Talks Hospitality is a podcast for hoteliers who want to understand the technology, ideas and people shaping modern hospitality. Hosted by Mews CEO Matt Welle, each episode explores the tools, challenges and decisions behind how hotels work – and how they keep getting better. All episodes available here: https://hubs.ly/Q0350wrf0
Meet Matt beyond the podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthijswelle/
Netherlands