Mews API integration guide for 2026

If you want to build anything custom on top of Mews, the fastest path is usually this: use an existing Marketplace integration when it already solves your need, and only build a custom integration when you need a unique booking flow, data pipeline, or business workflow that the Marketplace cannot cover. Mews supports multiple open APIs (including Connector API and Booking Engine API) and a demo environment for development and testing, so you can prototype safely before going live.

What you can build with Mews

Mews positions its Open API as a way to connect systems and move raw data across your stack. In practice, these are the most common high value builds: custom booking experiences, CRM sync, guest journey tooling, accounting exports, and data warehouse pipelines.

Examples that are often worth building:

• Custom booking flow that matches your brand and conversion strategy (Booking Engine API is built for connecting a custom booking engine to Mews).
• Two way CRM sync (guest profiles, reservations, spending, company info) so sales and guest teams stop copying data manually.
• Data warehouse exports for BI and forecasting, including portfolio level reporting.
• Automation on top of operational events (e.g., trigger workflows when reservations change) using webhooks rather than polling.

‍

Marketplace integration vs custom API integration

Use the Marketplace when it fits
If your need is standard (accounting, BI tools, guest messaging, revenue tools), Marketplace is usually the lowest risk option. Mews promotes 1,000+ integrations and states there are no connection fees for Marketplace integrations.

Build custom when you need leverage
Custom API work makes sense when you need one of these:

• A unique website booking UX, pricing logic, or membership flow
• A unified view across multiple properties with custom business rules
• A custom portal for owners, operations, or guests
• A specialized integration that is not available or not deep enough

‍

How authentication works

Most teams get stuck here first, so keep it simple:

• Mews Connector API requests require a ClientToken (identifies your application), an AccessToken (identifies the enterprise or property you connect to), and a Client string (name/version).
• Mews supports Demo and Production environments, and Demo is intended for development and testing.

Practical advice: never put tokens in the browser. Keep tokens server side and expose only the data your frontend needs.

‍

Rate limits and reliability

Mews enforces API request limits and your integration must be ready to handle 429 Too Many Requests.

What to do in real systems:

• Add caching for read heavy requests (availability, rates, content)
• Use exponential backoff and retries for transient failures
• Prefer events (webhooks) over frequent polling when possible
• Log every request and response ID you need for debugging

‍

Real time updates: webhooks and WebSockets

If you want your website or internal tools to react quickly to changes, you will likely use events.

• Mews supports webhook mechanisms in its API events area.
• For webhook verification, Mews documents an option to add a shared secret token to the webhook endpoint URL (configured via support).
• For WebSockets, Mews documents authentication using the same ClientToken and AccessToken as standard API operations, provided as cookies for the connection request.

Rule of thumb: use webhooks for business events, and use WebSockets only if you truly need live streaming style updates.

‍

A proven architecture pattern (that keeps tokens safe)

The safest pattern is an API layer between your front end and Mews:

1. Your website or app calls your backend
2. Your backend calls Mews using tokens securely
3. Your backend returns a minimal response to the frontend
4. Optionally, your backend stores normalized data for reporting or caching

This is also how we recommend doing website integrations, such as connecting a hotel site to Mews availability, using an API layer hosted on Google Cloud as a bridge rather than calling Mews directly from the browser.

Implementation plan (what a good project looks like)

A practical Mews integration project usually goes like this:

Week 1: Scope and data mapping

• Define the core use case (availability widget, booking flow, CRM sync, data export)
• Map the required Mews entities and fields
• Decide what must be real time (webhooks) vs what can be cached

Weeks 2 to 4: Build the integration layer

• Implement auth, request handling, retries, and caching
• Build the minimal endpoints your app needs
• Add logging and monitoring from day one

Weeks 4 to 6: Hardening and go live

• Load testing and rate limit safety checks
• Webhook validation, replay strategy, and idempotency
• Production rollout plan and support window

If you are integrating multiple systems (for example Webflow for the site and Stripe for billing, plus Mews), your main job is not code volume. It is keeping data consistent and flows predictable.

Common Mews integration mistakes

• Putting tokens in the frontend
• Polling too frequently instead of using events
• Not handling 429s and transient failures
• Building a custom integration when a Marketplace app would do
• Treating “multi property” as a UI problem instead of a data model problem

Mews explicitly highlights multi property use cases and the ability to work efficiently across portfolios, so design for that up front if you have more than one property.

‍

Conclusion

A successful Mews integration is less about “calling an API” and more about designing a reliable system around it. Use the Marketplace when it covers your use case, and build custom only when you need unique workflows or deeper data control. If you keep tokens server side, design for rate limits, and use events (webhooks) for updates, you can build booking, CRM, and data pipelines on top of Mews that stay stable as properties and traffic grow.

‍

If you’re planning an MVP, a SaaS rebuild, or a Mews integration project and want a clear plan before you commit budget, book a free call with Codelevate. We’ll review your goals, scope, timeline, and recommend the fastest path to launch.
‍
Book a free call: https://www.codelevate.com/intake

‍

‍