Hotel software firm Mews laid off about 15% of its roughly 1,350 staff, saying it must become an AI-native company; Czech employees later formed a union
On Tuesday 7 July 2026 Mews, a hotel-management software company with Czech roots, announced that it was letting go about 15 percent of its roughly 1,350 employees, which CzechCrunch put at about 200 people. Its founder said the business was in a very strong position and growing fast, but that artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing the economics of hospitality and can now handle much of the executive part of the professional services that hotels pay for, and that to help its customers become AI-native the company had to become AI-native itself. Its product and technology director told Lupa.cz the company had completed a ground-up review of how work is done in an AI-native world, that the decision was proactive and not a reaction to financial pressure, and that the organisation was being designed around what AI enables. The company said the cuts affected positions across all teams and regions and largely spared customer-facing roles. In October 2026 Lupa.cz reported that employees at the company's Czech head office had formed a trade union within the ICT Union, shortly after a layoff it described as officially due to changes brought by AI; the union wants a collective agreement and to be informed before decisions on layoffs and reorganisations. The sources do not say which roles, if any, were taken over by AI tools, how many dismissed employees worked in the Czech Republic, or what severance they received.
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 30/10/2026