Hotel-focused SaaS provider Mews has published a new blog post about Hotel Design for the Modern Guest, prominently featuring their "Flexible Financing" solution in partnership with YouLend (Mews). While the financing product isn't new, Mews is clearly re-emphasising its value proposition for hoteliers who want to invest in property improvements but face funding barriers.
The product page (Mews) has a few more details. Hotels can receive financing from £3,000 to £1,000,000 for 3 to 12 months. And if you have noted the currency, the financing product is currently only available for UK-based companies. Since all hotels that use the Mews software solution also use Mews for all payments, offline and online, Mews can collect the repayment from the financing directly from their income.
The lending solution addresses what Mews identifies as a key industry challenge: traditional financing options are often slow and misaligned with the hospitality industry's seasonal, fast-paced nature. Through the YouLend partnership, hotels can access funding for redesigns, space enhancements, or operational upgrades, with repayments that flex with revenue and eligibility based on performance rather than projections.
Mews’ Embedded Finance Stack
It might be worth noting that Mews uses both Stripe and Adyen for its payment processing (as far as I know, they started with Stripe). Both these payment giants also offer a financing product. Adyen has already been offering this product in Europe for some time via its Balance platform, and Stripe Capital for platforms was recently announced for a few European markets. So, why did Mews still choose YouLend? There are a lot of pros and cons, but perhaps a specialised lending provider was likely a better fit for Mews and their customers' needs. Additionally, since Mews partners with two payment companies, it would have required a setup with both. As Mews seems to be exploring the demand in the UK only, it was likely the better choice to get started. Will they stick with this setup when the product proves successful? We will see.
This financing product represents a continuation of Mews' broader fintech strategy, as detailed in my podcast with CEO Matt Welle from July 2024 (Podcast). In that interview, Matt discussed how embedded finance had become a larger revenue stream than SaaS for the company, and how they were exploring various financial products, including cash flow lending, to address seasonal challenges hotels face.
