Mews Wire Transfers is a payment method embedded into Accounts Receivable in Mews Operations. It lets your property accept invoice payments by bank transfer, with funds flowing into a dedicated Mews IBAN assigned to each payer profile, for example, a guest or a company. When the payer makes the transfer with the correct payment reference, the payment is automatically recorded in Mews and matched to the right invoice. Hotel operational staff with access to Finance ledgers and accounting team users use Mews Wire Transfers to manage post-stay B2B invoice payments directly in Mews Operations, without switching to a separate bank portal.

 

In this article, you can learn about:

• Using Mews Wire Transfers for invoice payments
  
  • How Mews Wire Transfers works
  • What changes on your invoices
  • The payment reference
  • How a payment flows end-to-end
  • How to find payments and reconciled invoices in Mews
  • Daily payouts
  • Limitations and scope

 

Using Mews Wire Transfers for invoice payments

How Mews Wire Transfers work

Mews Wire Transfers uses a dedicated-account-per-payer model. When you issue the first invoice to a guest or company profile, Mews automatically generates a static IBAN for that payer. This IBAN is specific to that profile and is reused on all future invoices issued to them. When the payer sends a bank transfer to their Mews IBAN and includes the payment reference, the payment lands in Mews automatically, is linked to the correct payer profile, and is matched to the open invoice.

 

In short:

• Each guest or company that receives an invoice gets a dedicated Mews IBAN generated automatically.
• The IBAN, payment reference, and bank details appear directly on the invoice.
• When the payer transfers the funds, the payment appears in your Mews reports automatically.
• Once a day, all received funds are paid out as a batch to your main hotel bank account.

 

What changes on your invoices

Once Mews Wire Transfers is active, your AR invoices show two sets of bank details so payers can pay through the right rails:

Each invoice also includes a payment reference (for example, INV1234ABCD) printed on the PDF. The payer must include this reference in their bank transfer for Mews to match the payment to the right invoice automatically.

 

Note: If you currently send bank details in emails, cover letters, or other payment instructions outside Mews, update them to point payers to the bank details printed on the invoice (for example, "Please use the bank details shown on the attached invoice"). Otherwise, payers may use older details that bypass the dedicated Mews account and break automatic matching.

The payment reference

The payment reference shown on each invoice comes from the Unique Identifier field on the invoice issuing form, visible when you create or edit an invoice before issuing it.

 

You have two options:

• Leave it empty (recommended). Mews uses the invoice number as the payment reference automatically. Invoice numbers are unique by default and produce the highest auto-match rates.
• Set your own value. If you need a custom reference, keep it between 4 and 18 characters, use alphanumeric characters only (no special characters), and make sure each reference is unique per invoice. Bank payment systems can truncate longer references or strip unsupported characters, which breaks the match.

 

 

How a payment flows end-to-end

1. The invoice is issued in Mews. The first time you issue an invoice to a guest or company profile, Mews automatically generates a dedicated IBAN for that payer. The system reuses the same IBAN on all future invoices for that profile.
2. The payer receives the invoice. The PDF shows the SEPA section, for example, Mews IBAN, for Euro transfers, and the SWIFT section, for example, your hotel IBAN and BIC, for non-Euro transfers, along with the payment reference.
3. The payer sends the bank transfer. The payer copies the Mews IBAN and payment reference from the invoice into their bank and sends the transfer.
4. The payment records itself in Mews. The system records the payment automatically and links it to the correct guest or company profile based on the IBAN. It appears in real time in:

• Payment Report: Every received wire transfer appears here under the Wire Transfers payment method
• Guest or company profile: Payments are visible on the payer profile under the Payments tab

 

5. The payment matches to the invoice. If the payment reference matches an open invoice, Mews links the payment to it automatically. The invoice flips to paid the moment the payment lands and drops out of the City Ledger when fully settled.
6. Daily payout. All received payments are batched and transferred to your main hotel bank account once per day. The payout ID appears in the bank transfer and is traceable in the Payout Report.

 

Note: If a payer sends a non-Euro SWIFT transfer, the funds land in your existing hotel bank account and require manual reconciliation in Mews.

 

How to find payments and reconciled invoices in Mews

A linked bill number next to a wire transfer in the Payment Report means the payment has been reconciled. Staff do not need to guess, the link is the confirmation.

 

From the Payment Report:

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu  > Payment Report and filter by Wire Transfers.
2. A reconciled wire transfer shows a linked bill number. Click the bill number to open the bill.
3. On the bill, the payment method shows as Wire Transfer. Click Wire Transfer to see the invoice number it is linked to.
4. Click the invoice number in the Invoice row to open the invoice.

If a wire transfer has no linked bill, it is not yet reconciled. The payment is still recorded against the payer profile. To reconcile it manually, go to the payer profile > Payments > Link to invoice.

 

From the guest or company profile:

5. In the Payment Report, click the payer profile linked to the wire transfer.
6. Go to Billing > Closed bills.
7. Open the invoice to see its payment and reconciliation status.

Note: The Bills and Invoices report keeps the full history of all invoices, including a last follow-up timestamp, so staff can see when the invoice was last sent to the guest.

 

Daily payouts

All received wire transfer payments are batched and paid out to your main hotel bank account once per day. A separate payout is created for each daily batch of wire transfers. The payout ID is included in the bank transfer, so you can match your bank statement to the payout in Mews. You can see the full breakdown, including which individual wire transfers are included, in the Payout Report.

 

Limitations and scope

Mews Wire Transfers currently supports:

• EUR accounting currency
• SEPA euro transfers
• City Ledger invoice payments (AR invoices only)

The following are not currently supported:

• SWIFT (non-euro international transfers)
• Reconciliation for deposits, bills, or other non-invoice payment types

 

You can learn more about how incoming payments are matched to invoices in Reconciling invoice payments in Mews Operations.