The project dashboard is a free tool that is only available to verified hoteliers to make adopting new technology easier by streamlining their research and simplifying their communication workflow.
TLDR
We analyzed 170 verified hotelier reviews, compared feature sets, pricing, and real-world case studies to break down where each platform delivers. The right choice depends on your property type and priorities:
Mews shines in customer support , with exclusive features like Payment Log Reports and Mobile Ordering.
Square shines in ROI and onboarding .
Side-by-side ratings based on 170 verified hotelier reviews on HTR.
| HTScore |
|
|
| Likelihood to Recommend |
|
|
| Ease of Use |
|
|
| Customer Support |
|
|
| Value for Money |
|
|
| Starting Price | From $200/mo | Contact sales |
| Verified Reviews | 169 | 1 |
After analyzing 170 verified reviews, Mews users most value its user interface and reporting, integration with third-party systems, seamless pms integration, while Square users highlight . Click any theme to see what reviewers say.
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Pros | |
|
+
User Interface and Reporting
▾
|
|
|
+
Integration with Third-Party Systems
▾
|
|
|
+
Seamless PMS Integration
▾
|
|
|
+
Automation and Efficiency
▾
|
|
| Cons | |
|
−
Product Development and Feature Evolution
▾
|
|
|
−
Customization and Flexibility
▾
|
|
|
−
Operational Refinements
▾
|
|
How each product ranks among Hotel POS Systems vendors for different property sizes, types, and regions — based on verified reviews from hoteliers in each segment.
By Hotel Size
| Segment |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Small (10-24 rooms) ▾ | #2 44 reviews | #6 1 reviews |
| Mid-Size (25-74 rooms) ▾ | #3 94 reviews | — |
| Large (75-199 rooms) ▾ | #5 7 reviews | — |
| X-Large (200+ rooms) ▾ | #2 9 reviews | — |
By Property Type
| Segment |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Boutique ▾ | #3 74 reviews | #10 1 reviews |
| Luxury ▾ | #3 41 reviews | #10 1 reviews |
| Branded / Chain ▾ | #3 31 reviews | — |
| Extended Stay ▾ | #2 12 reviews | — |
By Region
| Segment |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| North America ▾ | #3 14 reviews | — |
| Europe ▾ | #2 130 reviews | — |
| Asia Pacific | #5 4 reviews | — |
| Middle East | #6 0 reviews | — |
Choosing between Mews POS by Mews and Square by Square hinges on your hotel’s specific operational needs. Both aim to streamline transactions but differ significantly in scope, integration, and target hotel segments. Mews POS is tailored for hotel restaurants and integrates directly with property management systems (PMS), whereas Square is a general-purpose POS system suited for diverse retail and hospitality businesses. Which aligns better with your hotel’s strategy?
Mews POS is designed explicitly for hotels, offering a unified platform that combines POS, inventory, reporting, and online ordering in one solution. Square, in contrast, is a broad business tool with a focus on retail and small restaurant environments, lacking dedicated hotel integrations. Do you need a hotel-specific solution, or could a more generic system suffice?
The key difference lies in their targeted use cases. Mews POS excels in hotel restaurant operations with direct PMS integration, reducing errors and enhancing guest service. Square offers flexibility and ease of use but requires additional systems for hotel-specific needs like room billing. Is your goal to streamline hotel restaurant workflows or to have a versatile payment system adaptable to multiple business types?
More recent reviews favor Mews POS, with 66 reviews in the last six months compared to none for Square, giving Mews a stronger evidence base. Its 100 HTR Score emphasizes its focus on hotel needs, while Square’s lack of recent hotel-specific feedback limits its relevance. Are you comfortable choosing a system with recent, hotel-specific validation?
If your hotel needs a tightly integrated POS solution that communicates directly with your PMS, choose Mews POS. It’s ideal for properties seeking operational automation, real-time reporting, and features like digital menus, inventory management, and guest-specific billing.
On the other hand, if you require a flexible, easy-to-deploy payment system that handles multiple business types, including retail and food service, Square is a good fit. It suits smaller or non-traditional venues that prioritize simplicity and broad payment acceptance without deep hotel integration.
For luxury or boutique hotels seeking in-depth operational control, Mews POS’s 29 exclusive features make it the clear pick. Conversely, if your hotel operates more like a café or restaurant with multiple outlets, Square’s straightforward interface and broad payment options could be advantageous.
Mews POS boasts a high ease-of-use rating of 4.74/5, supported by positive reviews highlighting its intuitive interface and smooth onboarding process. Users appreciate the cross-device functionality, from desktops to tablets and smartphones, which enhances staff flexibility.
Square scores a perfect 5/5 for ease of use, with reviews emphasizing its simple setup, minimal training, and straightforward operation, making it popular among small teams and quick adopters. However, Square's lack of hotel-specific features means you might need additional systems to cover all operational bases.
Edge: Square
Mews POS offers 29 unique features tailored for hotels, including PCI compliance, discounts, upselling, check splitting, digital menus, inventory and ingredient management, loyalty programs, and detailed reporting tools. It also integrates with accounting software and offers real-time sales analytics, providing a comprehensive toolkit for hotel restaurants.
Square provides core POS features, automatic email receipts, gift cards, integrated payments, and basic inventory management. However, it lacks advanced hotel-specific functionalities such as check splitting, inventory control tailored for F&B, or integrated kitchen displays.
Edge: Mews POS
Mews receives a strong support rating of 4.43/5, with reviews praising its reliable support team, structured onboarding, and helpful guidance during implementation. Users mention that support responsiveness can sometimes lag during busy periods but overall find the team solutions-oriented.
Square’s 4/5 support rating reflects a broad support network, with many users appreciating its extensive online resources and responsive customer service. However, some hotel-specific users report that support can be less tailored to complex integrations and hotel workflows.
Edge: Mews POS
Mews boasts 336 verified integrations, including critical hotel partners like Criton, Right Revenue, Sage, and Orange Hotel Marketing, as well as channel managers and payment gateways. This extensive ecosystem allows seamless connectivity across property management, revenue management, and guest engagement tools.
Square offers only 3 verified integrations, with most being limited to retail or restaurant solutions like QuickBooks, Toast, and other general business apps. Its limited hotel-specific ecosystem means additional systems are often required for comprehensive hotel operations.
Edge: Mews POS
Based on recent reviews, Mews POS’s hotel segment ratings are predominantly 0/5, reflecting its limited use in traditional hotel settings. However, its overall hotel-specific support and recent positive feedback give it a solid standing among hotels that have adopted it.
Square’s reviews lack hotel-specific ratings altogether, as it mainly caters to retail and restaurant businesses. Its usability is praised, but it does not cater to hotel-specific needs, making it less relevant for most hoteliers.
Edge: Mews POS
Mews POS’s pricing starts at $200 per month, with no trial or freemium options. It’s a straightforward subscription, but additional costs for integrations or custom features may apply.
Square’s pricing is more flexible, with no monthly fee for their basic POS. Instead, they charge transaction fees (typically 2.6% + 10¢ per swipe or chip card), making it more affordable upfront but potentially costly with high sales volume.
Mews POS and Square serve different hotel needs. Mews POS is designed explicitly for hotel restaurants, providing an integrated, feature-rich platform that enhances guest service and operational efficiency. Square offers a straightforward, versatile payment system suitable for non-hotel-specific retail and hospitality outlets but falls short in hotel integration.
Choose Mews POS if your hotel requires deep PMS integration, comprehensive reporting, and automation for F&B and front desk operations. Opt for Square if you need a simple, reliable payment system for outlets, with minimal hotel-specific needs and a focus on ease of use.
For hotels that aim to streamline operations and provide exceptional guest experiences with integrated tools, Mews POS is the definitive choice. If your priorities are quick deployment and broad payment acceptance without complex hotel workflows, Square might meet your needs—though it’s less tailored for the hotel industry.
According to HTR's product database, Mews POS and Square share 0 features. Here are the key differences — features one has that the other lacks.
| Feature |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Check Splitting | ||
| Digital Menus | ||
| Discounts & Promotions | ||
| PCI Compliant | ||
| Payment Log Reports | ||
| Upselling |
Showing top differences. 17 more features differ between these products.
We analyzed 8 verified case studies to compare what hotels actually achieve with each platform across four key business objectives.
"We’ve been with Mews for a few years now and it helped to transform the way we operate. It’s very intuitive to work with and saves our team so much time."
No published case study for this goal yet.
"In an industry where human contact is more important than digital contact, having a platform like Mews that not only reduces time at a screen but also gives us more face time with..."
No published case study for this goal yet.
"Self-check-in kiosks are integral to LyLo's DNA. Coupled with Mews capabilities like guest messaging and online check-out, they form the essence of our guest experience. In fact, t..."
No published case study for this goal yet.
What hoteliers love
The Mews interface is described as modern and intuitive, facilitating smooth navigation. However, some reviews suggest improvements in the complexity... The Mews interface is described as modern and intuitive, facilitating smooth navigation. However, some reviews suggest improvements in the complexity and flexibility of reporting tools, particularly for multi-property setups and detailed operational insights.
Mews provides strong connectivity with various third-party systems like channel managers and payment gateways. These integrations facilitate centraliz... Mews provides strong connectivity with various third-party systems like channel managers and payment gateways. These integrations facilitate centralized operations, real-time booking management, and accurate financial reporting, although occasional synchronization issues are noted.
Reviews highlight Mews' outstanding integration between its POS and PMS, allowing direct posting of charges to guest rooms and synchronized guest data... Reviews highlight Mews' outstanding integration between its POS and PMS, allowing direct posting of charges to guest rooms and synchronized guest data. This integration is praised for improving billing accuracy, reducing departmental friction, and enhancing guest service experience by personalizing interactions.
Where hoteliers push back
Mews' commitment to developing new features and evolving its product is seen positively. Users appreciate its openness to feedback, though there is a... Mews' commitment to developing new features and evolving its product is seen positively. Users appreciate its openness to feedback, though there is a need for more polished features and quicker implementation of user suggestions.
The platform is praised for its customization options, allowing tailored workflows and alerts to enhance the guest experience. However, users also exp... The platform is praised for its customization options, allowing tailored workflows and alerts to enhance the guest experience. However, users also express a need for more intuitive customization features for specific operational needs and guest interactions.
Ranks higher for
Unique capabilities
Ranks higher for
Where the ratings diverge most
It depends on your requirements. Mews POS and Square share many core Hotel POS Systems features, but each has unique capabilities. Mews POS offers 336 verified integration partners, while Square offers 3. Review the feature comparison above to see where they differ before switching.
Small hotels should prioritize ease of use and fast onboarding. Square leads in ease of use at 5.0/5 vs 4.7/5. Look for transparent pricing and a trial or demo option. Filter reviews on each product page by property size to hear from hotels like yours.
Mews POS: No. Square: No. Neither product currently offers a free tier. Most Hotel POS Systems vendors offer demos or trials — request one from each to evaluate before committing.
The HT Score is a composite ranking that considers 4 criteria groups and over a dozen variables to help hoteliers objectively compare hotel technology products. Mews has an HT Score of 100 and Square has 0. Here is how the score is calculated.
| Criteria Group | Weight | What It Measures |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Ratings & Reviews |
|
How highly do users recommend this product? Ratings Score, Review Volume, Share of Voice, Review Depth, Review Recency, Success Stories ▾ The most heavily weighted factor. Analyzes average satisfaction ratings (likelihood to recommend, ease of use, support, ROI), total review count relative to category peers, review recency (at least 20 reviews in the trailing 6 months), and share of voice across unique hotel clients to detect selection bias. |
| Partner Ecosystem |
|
How highly do tech partners recommend this company? Partner Recommendations, Integration Quantity, Integration Quality ▾ Evaluates partner recommendations as expert votes of confidence, the number of verified integrations, and ecosystem quality — the average HT Scores of integration partners. Products with higher-quality integration ecosystems are more likely to deliver a connected tech stack. |
| Customer Centricity |
|
How customer-centric is this organization? Certified Support, Review Consistency, Profile Completeness ▾ Assesses whether the company has earned HTR Customer Support Certification, maintains consistent review collection over time (an indicator of feedback-driven culture), and keeps product profiles complete with capabilities, screenshots, pricing, and features. |
| Reach, Staying Power & Resources |
|
How extensive is this company's reach and resourcing? Geographic Reach, Staying Power, Company Resources, Trending Score ▾ Measures global presence (countries and regions served), years in business as a stability proxy, team headcount as a resource proxy, and a trending score based on trailing-twelve-month buyer inquiries, reviews, partner recommendations, and press activity. |
Customer ratings and reviews are by far the most important factor in the HT Score algorithm. HTR does not accept payment for higher rankings. All reviews are verified — only hotel industry practitioners with confirmed affiliations can submit ratings. View full HT Score methodology →
Product recommendations advisor