Matt Talks Hospitality: Real conversations for innovative hoteliers

Simona Eicher left consulting to run Hotel ÜJA, an 11-room hotel in the Swiss Alps. Small hotel owners tend to treat technology as something for the big brands. Simona sees it the other way around. With her partner, she bought an old hotel in the mountains and reopened it in 2025 as Hotel ÜJA in Scuol, run by a team of four with automation at the center of the operation. A year in, she switched to Mews, and she has firm views on what a small hotel needs from its technology.

Every year, around 2,000 hotels apply to join Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH), and only a small fraction get in. The new members average 38 rooms, most are family-owned, and range from tents in national parks to boats on the Nile. What does luxury mean at that scale, and what role does technology play in a stay built on personal touch? Richard Hyde, Chief Operating Officer of SLH, joins Matt to talk about the SLH operating model, luxury hospitality, and why SLH chose Mews as a preferred PMS partner in Europe, the Americas, and APAC.

Choice Hotels is built around the idea that a franchisee is in business for themselves but never alone in it. That premise shaped the company that grew into one of the largest franchisors in hospitality. Raul Ramirez, Chief Segment and International Operations Officer at Choice Hotels International, tells Matt how technology supports that premise, and why he believes the next battle for hotels will be fought over distribution.

As Matt Talks Hospitality celebrates 2 years and 100 episodes, Mews CEO Matt Welle reflects on what all these conversations have taught him about innovative hospitality. He revisits his favorite stories of hoteliers who defy gravity and dare to do something different, and explores what drives their success. Matt also looks at the technology behind these hotels and the freedom it gives hoteliers to build the concept that sets them apart.

Hospitality is still working out its relationship with AI, embracing it where it saves time and holding back where it touches the guest. Catherina Gioino, a News Editor at Fortune covering AI and technology, brings an outside read on where that technology helps and where it falls short. She joins Matt for a view on where the industry stands and what AI is doing to the way people find, book and experience a hotel.