Mews Accounts Receivable (AR) is a connected set of features that automate how your property issues invoices, collects invoice payments, and reconciles them against open balances, all directly in Mews Operations. Instead of switching between Mews, your bank portal, and spreadsheets to track who has paid what, AR keeps the full invoice lifecycle inside Mews: from issuing the invoice, to receiving the payment, to closing the invoice in your ledger.

 

AR is for hotel operational staff with access to Mews Finance ledgers and your accounting team. It is built for properties that work with post-stay invoicing; typically corporate accounts, travel agencies, group bookings, and long-stay guests who pay against an issued invoice rather than at check-out.

 

In this article, you can learn about:

• Accounts Receivable in Mews Operations
  • What Accounts Receivable includes
  • How the invoice lifecycle works
  • Availability
  • How to get started
  • How to set up invoice automation
  • Activation edge cases
  • How to deactivate
  • Permissions

Accounts Receivable in Mews Operations

What Accounts Receivable includes

Accounts Receivable bundles several capabilities. The manual ones are part of Mews and free to use. You can unlock the automated ones with an AR subscription.

 

Manual Accounts Receivable (included with Mews):

• Issue and manage invoices manually
• Reconcile external payments manually
• Link one payment to one or more invoices manually
• Send single or bulk payment reminders manually
• Process payments against one or multiple invoices
• Reminders: Sends an email reminder about invoice payment. Can be sent for one or multiple invoices to the same debtor.
• Process payment for multiple invoices: Applies a single incoming payment across multiple open invoices at once. Invoices are closed and reconciled automatically.

 

 

You can enable either Manual or Automated Accounts Receivable. If you select Automated AR, the system automatically turns on Manual AR as well. When you select either option, Mews enables invoice tracking. If you do not select Accounts Receivable, then the system disables invoice tracking. Once active, the system tracks issued invoices as unpaid in the City Ledger, where you can monitor outstanding balances, send reminders, and process payments. See Enabling and managing receivable tracking and The City Ledger.

 

Automated Accounts Receivable

Note: All features available in Manual AR stay active in Automated AR.

 

• Automated invoice issuing: You can issue single-stay invoices and send them at checkout automatically, with a configurable delay. Configured through Billing Automation.
• Invoice statements: A summary document listing all outstanding invoices for a company over a period, with payment instructions. Useful for accounts with multiple open invoices.
• Automated reminders (Coming soon): Automatically sends an email reminder about invoice payment. Can be sent for one or multiple invoices to the same debtor.
• Invoice payment link (Payment Request by Invoice): Adds a payment link to invoices so guests or companies can pay online directly. You can configure supported payment methods in Accounting Configuration settings.
• Invoice payment link (Payment Request by Invoice): Adds a payment link to invoices so guests or companies can pay online directly. You can configure supported payment methods in Accounting Configuration settings. You can select to disable this option.
• Process payment for multiple invoices: Applies a single incoming payment across multiple open invoices at once. The system closes and reconciles invoices automatically.
• Mews Wire Transfers: Collect invoice payments by bank transfer using a dedicated Mews IBAN per payer, with funds paid out daily to your main hotel bank account.
• AR Reconciliation: Incoming payments are matched to the right invoice automatically when a payment reference is used; manual reconciliation is available for everything else.
• Smart reconciliation (coming soon: AI-suggested payment matches with confidence scoring to help staff review and approve matches faster. Reduces time spent on exceptions and unmatched payments.

 

How the invoice lifecycle works

Automated Accounts Receivable covers four phases of the invoice lifecycle:

 

Phase 1 — Issue. When you create a reservation that matches a billing automation rule, the system schedules an invoice for checkout. Staff can see this on the reservation itself. If anything is missing, for example, a Tax ID, a billing address, or an email address, the system doesn't create the invoice; it raises a task requesting that you submit the missing information, with direct links to the fields that need attention, and you need to issue the invoice manually.

Note: In particular, if an e-mail address is missing, the system issues the invoice, but fails to send it, and raises a task for it.

When the guest checks out and there is an outstanding balance, the system automatically creates the invoice. The PDF arrives in the payer's inbox within the timeframe the property is configured, with no manual action needed.

 

Phase 2 — Chase. Overdue invoices continue to appear in the City Ledger. Instead of resending individual PDFs, staff can send a single statement covering all outstanding invoices for a payer, with a summary of amounts and payment instructions. Reminder automation is coming soon.

 

Phase 3 — Collect. Payers can pay in two ways. With an online payment, the payer clicks Continue to payment directly from the invoice email or PDF and pays with any method the property has enabled. With a wire transfer, each payer has a unique Mews IBAN printed on the invoice along with a payment reference; they copy the details into their bank and send the transfer. In both cases, the payment records themselves in Mews the moment they are received and match to the invoice automatically. The invoice updates to paid as soon as the payment is recorded and the system removes it from the City Ledger when fully settled.

 

Phase 4 — Reconcile. Reconciliation confirms that what appears in your property bank account matches what Mews recorded. For wire transfers, Mews’ banking partner creates a payout for each daily batch. The payout ID appears in the bank transfer and is findable in the Payout Report. From there, staff can trace from the bank statement to invoice.

 

Availability

Automated Accounts Receivable is available to properties operating in Eurozone (EUR) countries, with more markets added over time. Wire Transfers within AR currently support SEPA transfers in Euro only.

 

How to get started

Activating AR is an enterprise-level decision. Only users with admin-level permissions can activate it. Note: When you activate the AR subscription, invoice tracking (receivable tracking) is automatically enabled for your property if it is not already active. This means the City Ledger module becomes available immediately, giving you full visibility of unpaid invoices and aging balances.

 

To activate:

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu > Settings > Property > Finance > Accounts Receivable.
2. Review the benefits and click Compare options to see what is included in each plan.

3. Enable the Automated Accounts Receivable toggle.
4. Accept the AR Terms & Conditions.
5. Go to the onboarding dashboard to start business verification with the banking partner (KYC). Once approved, all AR features are available and your subscription begins. 

 

 

How to set up invoice automation

Once AR is active, you configure invoice automation inside the Billing Automation flow. You can learn more in the help article How to send invoices automatically in Mews Operations.

 

Activation edge cases

• Receivable tracking is not configured: Mews enables it automatically when you activate AR. No manual action is needed.
• Activation during a grace period: If your property previously had AR and is in the 60-day grace period after deactivation, you can re-activate. Existing dedicated bank accounts continue to operate and new ones are issued again from the activation date.
• AWX rejected the property: If the banking partner (AWX) rejects the KYC application, AR activation does not complete. Contact Mews Support for next steps.

 

 

How to deactivate

If you decide to opt out, AR features remain active for a 60-day grace period after deactivation. During this time:

• No new dedicated Mews IBANs are issued to new payer profiles.
• Existing dedicated accounts continue to receive and reconcile payments.
• You can finish collecting on invoices already sent before the accounts are closed.

 

After the grace period ends, all dedicated bank accounts are closed, and wire transfers are no longer processed through Mews. Mews sends a notification 3 days before the grace period ends.

 

To deactivate,

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu  Settings > Property > Finance > Accounts Receivable.
2. Disable the Automated Accounts Receivable toggle.
3. Check the box, and click Deactivate.

 

Permissions

Only users with admin-level permissions can enable or disable Automated Accounts Receivable. Non-admin users can view the Accounts Receivable page and the Compare options panel, but the toggle is disabled for them. If a non-admin user attempts to interact with the toggle, a message appears: "You cannot enable this feature as you do not have the required permissions. Please contact your administrator."