Mews says 89% of the 3,250 travelers it surveyed want either a hybrid stay or AI working quietly in the background, and guests chose a human over AI at all nine touchpoints it tested.
According to the Mews release dated 7 October 2026, the survey ran in July 2026 across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US. Fifty-nine percent of guests said AI should take over repetitive tasks. The human preference was strongest at the bar and restaurant (72%), the front desk welcome (66%) and check-in and key (58%). It narrowed to 50% human against 23% AI for room service and 44% against 28% for arranging taxis.
Why it matters for operators
Guests drift toward AI as a task becomes transactional, and stay with staff where judgement or trust is involved. That gives a property group a ranking for where to spend AI budget first: pricing, housekeeping coordination and reporting, which the release lists as behind-the-scenes work, ahead of anything at the desk.
What the release leaves out
Mews sells a PMS, POS and RMS platform with AI features, and the release does not split results for US or UK respondents. A University of South Florida study in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, covering 145 participants in the southeastern US, found guests preferred a human for requests with emotional attachment, and 81% called emotional authenticity a critical challenge, according to USF. Mews’s own Hotelier Survey 2026, covering more than 500 properties, found 59% of hoteliers say front desk welcome and check-in should stay human-led. Hoteliers and guests agree on the desk, and the USF sample is small.
For an independent or a franchisee choosing between tools, that argues for pairing a guest messaging rollout like the Mews guest messaging launch with a rule on which requests route to staff. Labor tools such as Unifocus Claira sit on the back-of-house side of that line.
Source: Mews press release
