The power of connected hotel tech | Grand Hotel ter Duin

Meet Jelle Landman, hotelier of the future. He looks like a pretty normal guy – apart from the fact that he’s always exceptionally dressed – but he’s doing extraordinary things with his hotel, Grand Hotel der Duin in Zeeland, Netherlands. 

So what exactly is he doing? Actually it’s pretty simple. He’s embracing one of the fundamental principles of the modern age: open, connected technology. 

To do so, he knew he needed a modern, flexible PMS that would allow his hotel to easily integrate with other innovative hotel tech, and that’s why he turned to Mews. Our open API and integration Marketplace gives hoteliers a library of 300+ hospitality tools, many of which are simple plug and play applications that can be up and running in next to no time.

For Gideon de Vries, Sales Manager at Grand Hotel der Duin, the simplicity and ease of integrations came as a shock. “Connecting new integrations has been really easy, just with two clicks in Mews Marketplace – I’ve never experienced it that easy before, and it’s all done by itself.”

This philosophy of open connectivity allows hoteliers to curate a property that utilizes the best in class for every area of operations. For example, it’s unrealistic for a PMS to develop cutting edge upselling functionality, in large part because they already have so many other areas of property management to prioritize. A simple connection to a company like Oaky, who specialize in upselling, is a much better solution for the hotel.

As Jelle explains: “The integration between Mews and Oaky means we don’t have to handpick every upgrade anymore and put it into the profile: it goes in automatically, which is so much better.”

The best thing about this smart hotel tech is that it isn’t just designed to be clever and optimize revenue: it’s also designed to save hotel staff time and make your operations more scalable and reliable. Jelle continues:

“Integration with Mews is especially nice because it integrates with so many systems. And because it’s integrated with so many systems, it saves us a lot of time and also saves us a lot of manual work – and you know, with manual work you can make mistakes but when systems are being designed right we’re developing really fast.”

And it’s not only endpoints and software that’s communicating effectively – Mews better connects hotel staff to live information wherever they are, which in turn means they can talk to and help guests quickly and effectively. 

“I think that Mews helps us best in flexibility,” Jelle told us. “You don’t just access your PMS from your computer: it’s from your phone, it’s different apps for housekeeping, for food and beverage, for rooms – it can be used by everyone and it’s accessible from everywhere. That makes work way more handy, it saves you a lot of time and you’re way faster at helping your guests or helping each other.”

That’s what it all boils down to: guests. The freedom to choose the best connected technologies and have them work together all under the roof of a single PMS ultimately leads to a better guest experience; one where they have the power to upgrade their room, send reception a query about room service, and check out online – all through a few simple taps on their phone.