On 29 September at ExCeL London, we joined Toby Hill from Kew Green Hotels, Wes Thompson from Barclaycard Payments and Chris Sampson from Planet to talk about the future of hospitality tech partnerships. The panel conversation centred on Kew Green’s recent transformation, delivered together by all four businesses, and what it means for operators weighing up their next move.
Here are the five takeaways that our discussions.
Kew Green didn’t look for one supplier to do everything. It brought together specialists in EPOS, payments and acquiring, introduced through Barclaycard Payments, and let each lead in its own field.
Toby was open about his approach, he knew the outcome he wanted, but not every step in between, so he leaned on the experts rather than dictating the answer. Asked what he’d change if he did it again, his only wish was more time, not different partners.
The model has worked well enough that Kew Green is now applying the same approach across food, beverage and procurement. Its international parent company is adopting it more widely too.
Many operators put off changing their EPOS because they expect it to take years, cost millions and disrupt service.
When every partner shares the same goal, with no side agendas, a large rollout becomes far simpler than people expect. Barclaycard now uses the approach as a repeatable model, and similar transformations with Tevalis are already underway.
For operators, the takeaway is reassuring, the scale of a project matters less than how well the partners behind it work together.
Wes shared Barclaycard Insights research showing that 68% of operators investing in new technology are focusing on guest experience.
Toby explained why. Guest expectations are shifting, and younger generations don’t always want traditional table service. Kew Green is now exploring kiosk payments and QR order-and-pay through Fetch, a partner recommended by Barclaycard Payments.
The common thread is choice, technology should let guests order and pay the way they prefer, while giving teams more time for hospitality.
The panel’s most debated point was the growing overlap between EPOS and payments. Wes observed that some EPOS providers now earn more from payments than from their software, and questioned what that means for innovation.
His view was that an EPOS platform’s job is to deliver great guest and operator experiences. When commercial focus shifts towards payments revenue, product development can lose that focus.
Chris described Planet’s approach as the opposite: stay focused on payments and partner with EPOS providers for the rest.
Both agreed on one principle, listen to what the operator needs, solve that problem, and keep the operator’s interests first.
With Planet now rolled out across front office as well as F&B, Kew Green’s systems are fully integrated. Toby described the result as a single version of the truth: clear, joined-up data the business can plan from.
He was also clear that this is only the first step. As part of a global group, Kew Green is already looking at how these platforms can scale internationally. Choosing partners that can grow with the business is, for him, what makes the next stage exciting.
For us, the panel confirmed what we see every day: operators get the best results when their technology partners work as one team. Kew Green’s story shows that even large, complex transformations can be delivered smoothly when everyone shares the same goal.
Thinking about your own EPOS or payments setup? Talk to our team about how Tevalis works with partners to deliver change that fits your business.
