Your guest leaves your site to pay.
Mews says the widget takes payment on the Mews domain and then sends the guest back to a confirmation screen.1 Mews’ own help says the guest is sent to its secure payment gateway and then back to the booking.2
For Mews properties
A Mews website that is yours, up to the payment page.
Keep Mews running the property. We build every page your guests see up to payment, and connect them to Mews through its API. The guest pays on Mews’ secure page and comes back to your site.
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You see your new homepage before you pay for anything.
The usual trouble
With the Mews widget, your guest pays on a Mews page.
Your analytics can split one guest in two.
That payment page is a separate domain from your website. Mews says that without a Google Analytics 4 cross-domain setup, “The visitor would appear as two separate users” and “the referral source attribution would be compromised.” For anything more complex, Mews says it cannot provide support.1
The widget has strict install rules.
It is an isolated, iframe-based overlay on your website.3 The loader script has to sit in the page head, unmodified. Installing it any other way “is not supported.”3,4 If your site has a content security policy, the domains Mews uses must be allowed, including Google reCAPTCHA and the payment script.3
The teardown
The road from your page to the Mews payment page.
Mews’ docs name three ways in: a page hosted by Mews, the widget on your site, and the API. Steps 1 and 4 happen with every widget booking, and step 4 is the payment on a Mews domain. Steps 2, 3 and 5 only happen in some cases, and each one is marked with when.
To see a year of booking fees next to your own site, try the booking fee calculator. Running a retreat on Mews? See how we build for retreats.
Booking teardown
When it happens, and who controls it
A Mews widget booking, from the first click
- 1
Every bookingA visitor opens the page where you installed the Mews widget.
Your page - 2
If you use the standalone linkThe guest leaves your site for a page hosted by Mews.5
Mews page - 3
If your site is not on HTTPSThe widget is redirected to that same standalone page.3
Redirect - 4
Every widget bookingThe guest pays on the Mews domain and is sent back to a confirmation screen.1
Mews payment page - 5
Without cross-domain setupGoogle Analytics can count one guest as two users, and Mews says the referral source attribution would be compromised.1
Two visitors
On your own pages, you choose every step up to payment. The guest pays on Mews’ secure page.
Get your free homepage previewWhat we do
Every step up to payment, on your own pages.
We build your site on top of your Mews, through its API. Search, room pages and every step up to payment are designed as part of your site, on your own domain. The guest then pays on Mews’ secure payment page and comes straight back to your site. Mews keeps running the property.
- The pages up to payment are designed as part of your site.
- You decide the steps, the words and the order.
- Rooms and availability come live from your Mews, and reservations are created in your Mews.6
- Payment stays on a Mews payment page, with a link back to a page on your site. Paying during booking only works for rates charged automatically at booking.7
- Mews labels this API a Beta test version. We talk through what that means for you on the call.6
Proof
Two sites we built, and what changed.
Eagle’s Nest Atitlán · Retreat center, Guatemala
98%
Stay booking value up, September 2026 vs September 2025.
Measured in their booking system. Ads, prices and the season play a part too.
Kalart · Rural coliving, Catalunya
4 to 18
Room applications a month.
Our cases so far are a retreat center and a coliving. We have no Mews case yet.
A few more questions
Do I need a particular Mews plan?
Yes. Mews says its API for custom booking pages is only available to customers with an Enterprise subscription, the plan that includes API access. Mews now lists Core, Pro and Enterprise.5,8,9 Other plans can contact customersuccess@mews.com.5 Mews Support also has to register your application first, through a ticket.10 Mews labels the API a Beta test version.6
Does a custom Mews booking page need Mews to certify it?
Mews says integrations built on this API do not need to be certified, do not need a pilot property and will not normally be listed on the Marketplace.11 The gating steps are the Enterprise subscription and the registration of your application by Mews Support.5,10
Does the guest pay on my own pages?
No. Our pages own everything up to payment. The guest then pays on Mews’ secure payment page and is sent back to your site.7 Paying during booking only works for rates charged automatically at booking.7 There is another route in Mews’ Connector API: a payment taken outside Mews can be recorded on a reservation as an external payment, if the property enables that payment type.12 That API needs certification by Mews before it gets a token,11 and the card types in that list are marked “deprecated, only for existing partners”.12 So we do not promise it, and we check with Mews what is possible for your property. We would rather say that now than surprise you later.
The Mews widget keeps guests on my site, doesn’t it?
Mews says the widget lets guests book from your website without being redirected elsewhere.5 The payment step is the exception: it happens on a Mews domain, and the guest is then sent back to a confirmation screen.1 Our pages go the same way at payment, the guest pays on Mews’ secure page and returns to your site,7 but every step before it is designed by you.
Does my Mews keep running the property?
Yes. Your account, rooms, reservations and staff tools stay in Mews. We build the website guests see and use.
What do I pay and when, and how long does it take?
In three payments: a part up front, a part at launch, and the last part 90 days after launch, due only if your website booked more than in the same 90 days last year. We go through the numbers on the call. Your property needs the Enterprise subscription, and Mews Support has to register your application. Those steps are in Mews’ hands. Once both are done, your site is live within thirty business days.5,10
Can I see my homepage first?
Yes. The free homepage preview comes first, shown to you on a call. You decide after.
Is there a page for my kind of property?
Yes. Read more about websites for colivings and websites for retreats. Comparing systems? See our page for Cloudbeds.
Where the Mews facts come from
Every fact about Mews on this page was read on Mews’s own pages on 2 November 2026. Mews changes its pages, so check yours before you decide.
How we build, what it costs and our results are ours, not Mews’s.
- 1Mews docs: Google Analytics cross-domain trackingPayment on a separate Mews domain, and what that does to your analytics.
- 2Mews help: The guest payment flow in MewsPayment on Mews’ secure gateway, and which payment methods it covers.
- 3Mews docs: Widget, getting startedHow the widget is installed, and what it needs from your site.
- 4Mews docs: Widget, troubleshootingWhere the widget script has to sit.
- 5Mews docs: Ways to integrateThe three ways in (standalone page, widget, API), and who can use the API.
- 6Mews docs: the API for custom booking pagesWhat the API does, and that Mews labels it Beta.
- 7Mews docs: API on-session paymentsHow payment works through the API: a Mews payment page and a return link.
- 8Mews help: Upgrading from Mews Pro to Enterprise subscriptionThat Enterprise is the plan that includes API access.
- 9Mews: PricingThe plans Mews lists: Core, Pro and Enterprise.
- 10Mews docs: API authenticationRegistration of your application by Mews Support.
- 11Mews docs: Your integration journeyWhich integrations Mews certifies: those on the Connector API are, those on the API for custom booking pages are not.
- 12Mews docs: Connector API, paymentsThat an outside payment can be recorded on a reservation as an external payment, if the property enables that type, and which card types are limited to existing partners.
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