"The quicker we allow our guests to detox from the modern world, the better. The less traditional hospitality functions we have on that arrival day, the more we can focus on wellness shots, tours and orientation. Mews allows our teams to focus on the service and the guest by taking those manual processes away."
About The Ranch Hudson Valley
The Ranch Hudson Valley doesn’t look like a hotel, and it doesn’t operate like one. Located on a historic estate in Ramapo, New York, the property spent decades as a Catholic retreat before becoming what it is today: a sanctuary for physical and mental transformation. Thirty rooms, one program: guests arrive and depart together, living and moving as a cohort through an immersive week of wellness that is equal parts rigorous and restorative.
The model is the opposite of traditional hospitality. There’s no à la carte, no flexible checkout, no drop-in stays. Guests commit to the full program – they pay in advance, they arrive together, and for seven days they are treated not as hotel guests but as members of something more lasting. Staff know their names, their snack preferences, their wellness goals – all the small details that turn a first visit into a second family.
Running an experience like this on manual systems doesn't scale. As the brand grew, the administrative weight grew with it. Every hour spent on disconnected tech or paper logs was an hour not spent on guests and the program.
The challenge: admin-heavy check-ins and knowledge loss
Before modernizing their operations, The Ranch ran on a combination of QuickBooks and manual, pen-and-paper processes. For a property that's relationship-driven, built on knowing your guests better than they know themselves, the friction was felt most acutely on arrival day. Screens, paperwork and check-in administration are the antithesis of what The Ranch is trying to do. Guests arrive to detox from the modern world, not to fill in forms.
The deeper problem was information. Returning alumni had histories: a preferred bunk, a dietary note, a wellness goal carried over from the last visit. Without a central system to hold that detail, the reservations and programming teams did it manually, relying on personal notes and memory. Whenever a new team member joined, they’d have to start from scratch.
The Ranch needed a system that would remove the administrative load from the guest journey and put the knowledge back in the hands of the whole team.
"When our team is checking our guests in on arrival day, we know Sally is coming, and she likes her lunch a certain way, and she likes these types of snacks in her room. It just really helps our team make that experience perfect for them."
The solution: a single source of truth
A digital foundation built for a non-traditional model
The Ranch implemented Mews as the operational foundation for Hudson Valley. The setup had to reflect a model that bears little resemblance to a standard hotel: full advance payment, cohort arrivals, week-long programs with ancillary services ranging from spa treatments to energy therapy to boutique retail. Getting that right took time, and the team brought lessons learned from their first Mews property in Malibu to get the setup process right.
Guest profiles that carry the relationship forward
One of the most immediate changes was in how staff access and use guest information. The reservations team calls every guest before their stay – asking about their goals, their health, what they're hoping to get from the program – and logs everything directly in Mews. By the time arrival day comes, the whole team knows who is walking through the door.
The effect goes further when a guest returns. Even a new team member who has never met a returning alumna can see her history the moment she checks in. That recognition – “Welcome back, Sally” from someone she's never met – is not a small thing. As Gina McAlpin describes it: the guest's reaction is simply: “They remember me. This is home for me.”
Frictionless arrivals, connected services
The POS integration through Mews Marketplace connects boutique purchases and ancillary services – spa treatments, energy therapy, retail – directly to the guest bill. Nothing needs to be manually reconciled at departure. When a guest finishes a week at The Ranch, they leave without paperwork. Any additional experiences are already accounted for and added to their invoice, which is sent later.
Reporting that drives programming decisions
Over the years, The Ranch has expanded well beyond its hiking-and-fitness origins, adding spa services, body treatments, energy therapy and other wellness activities to the core program. Deciding what to add next, and when, used to be a matter of instinct. Now it is a matter of data.
"Being able to pull reports through Mews on how we're doing in that area – what are guests looking for, what are they wanting – also helps us expand our programming. For me in my role, it's very important."
The results: rising revenue and system consolidation
The move from manual systems to a digital foundation delivered both commercial growth and operational freedom for The Ranch Hudson Valley.
- 13.5% year-on-year RevPAR increase
- 11% year-on-year rise in ADR
- Structural processes previously managed in QuickBooks fully automated through Mews
- Staff of any tenure can access complete returning guest profiles and preferences
- Real-time Mews BI reporting on ancillary services now informs programming and wellness decisions
- Seamless departure experience: all ancillary charges automatically synced to the guest bill via POS integration
Arrival days look different now. Staff are not processing paperwork but handing guests a wellness shot and walking them through an orientation. That shift from administration to connection is what the brand is built on, and Mews made it possible to deliver it at scale.
"We don't want to bother them with all that kind of stuff. They get their bill later when they get home so that they can just leave here on that ranch high."
Integration spotlight
VERB Interactive
VERB works alongside the Mews open API to enhance guest messaging and digital interaction – without disrupting the tranquil environment The Ranch is designed to protect.
Why Mews?
The Ranch Hudson Valley is not a typical hotel. It’s a transformative experience, one that starts before guests arrive and lasts long after they leave. Mews is the infrastructure that makes that possible without getting in the way: handling the billing, the data, the reporting and the integration, so that the team's attention stays where it belongs.