Mews Survey: Guests Want AI Behind the Scenes, Not at the Front Desk

Guests are fine with AI in a hotel, as long as they do not have to deal with it directly. That is the headline from a new survey by hotel software company Mews.

Mews polled 3,250 travelers in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US in July 2026. It found that 89% want either a hybrid stay that blends AI and human service, or AI working quietly in the background on repetitive tasks. Almost none want an AI-led stay.

The numbers

75% said good hospitality depends on human staff, whatever technology sits behind it. 59% think AI should take over repetitive tasks so staff can spend time building trust with guests. 67% would worry about staff losing their jobs to AI, and 51% disagreed that they would not care if a hotel cut staff to adopt it.

People were preferred over AI at all nine touchpoints tested. The gap was widest for bar and restaurant service (72% preferred a person), the front desk welcome (66%) and check-in and keys (58%). Even for lower-stakes tasks the humans led: 50% preferred staff for room service orders against 23% for AI, and 44% against 28% for arranging taxis.

Mews founder Richard Valtr said, "Guests are telling us exactly where they want AI and where they don't." He added that the winning hotels will be those whose systems are unified enough for AI to deliver a new way of operating.

A note on the data

This is a vendor survey, and the release does not name the research firm or describe weighting, question wording or margin of error. Mews also sells software built around this idea, so treat the findings as a useful signal rather than settled fact.

What it means for operators

The practical reading is to put AI where guests do not see it: pricing, reporting, task routing, messaging drafts that staff review. Keep a person at the desk and the bar, where guests clearly want one.