The project dashboard is a free tool that is only available to verified hoteliers to make adopting new technology easier by streamlining their research and simplifying their communication workflow.
TLDR
We analyzed 57 verified hotelier reviews, compared feature sets, pricing, and real-world case studies to break down where each platform delivers. The right choice depends on your property type and priorities:
Counter shines in ease of use and customer support , with exclusive features like Payment processing and Housekeeping module.
Elite Solutions GmbH shines .
Side-by-side ratings based on 57 verified hotelier reviews on HTR.
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| Starting Price | Contact sales | Contact sales |
| Verified Reviews | 57 | 0 |
After analyzing 57 verified reviews, Counter users most value its user interface and usability, customer support, automated features, while Elite Solutions GmbH users highlight . Click any theme to see what reviewers say.
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User interface and usability
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Customer support
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Automated features
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Platform integration
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Bug issues
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Reporting and revenue management
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Pricing
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How each product ranks among Property Management Systems vendors for different property sizes, types, and regions — based on verified reviews from hoteliers in each segment.
By Hotel Size
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| Small (10-24 rooms) ▾ | #26 28 reviews | — |
| Mid-Size (25-74 rooms) | #46 4 reviews | — |
| Large (75-199 rooms) | #32 2 reviews | — |
| X-Large (200+ rooms) | #31 1 reviews | — |
By Property Type
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| Boutique ▾ | #31 16 reviews | — |
| Luxury | #44 4 reviews | — |
| Branded / Chain | #43 4 reviews | — |
| Extended Stay ▾ | #32 5 reviews | — |
By Region
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| North America ▾ | #25 8 reviews | — |
| Europe ▾ | #20 25 reviews | — |
| Asia Pacific | #16 4 reviews | — |
| Middle East | #11 2 reviews | — |
Choosing between Counter by Counter and Elite Front Office hinges on your hotel's specific needs and your operational priorities. Counter is a dedicated PMS tailored for hostels, emphasizing ease of use and rapid deployment, while Elite Front Office offers a broader scope for property management with a focus on real-time insights and guest satisfaction. Both aim to streamline operations, but their target audiences and core features differ significantly.
Counter excels at providing a simple, accessible interface with high user ratings, especially among hostel operators. Conversely, Elite Front Office, despite lacking recent reviews, is known for its comprehensive management tools. So, which one aligns best with your hotel’s size, complexity, and strategic priorities?
Counter is designed specifically for hostels, with 54 recent reviews and a 4.73/5 overall rating, indicating high satisfaction from its core user base. Elite Front Office, with no recent reviews and a 0/5 rating, provides little recent customer feedback, making it difficult to evaluate its current performance or suitability.
Counter’s strengths lie in its intuitive interface, ease of onboarding, and support, with an average support rating of 4.96/5. Meanwhile, Elite’s lack of recent review data suggests limited recent customer engagement or updates, which may impact your confidence in its ongoing support and innovation. Are you comfortable choosing a system with more recent, positive customer feedback?
If your hotel primarily operates as a hostel or boutique property seeking a straightforward, cost-effective PMS, Counter is the clear choice. Its 54 reviews, high ratings, and features tailored for hostel management—like group bookings, online support, and multi-currency handling—make it ideal for small, fast-paced properties.
On the other hand, if your hotel is a larger property or chain requiring extensive front-office capabilities, real-time insights, and integrations, Elite Front Office might be appealing. However, with no recent reviews or detailed feature data, the current evidence favoring Elite is limited. For most hoteliers, especially small to mid-sized, Counter offers a proven, reliable solution.
Counter boasts an overall ease of use rating of 4.6/5, with many reviews highlighting its simple, intuitive interface and quick onboarding process. Users find it straightforward to learn and deploy, even for staff with minimal prior experience, with specific praise for its mobile-friendly design, enabling management from anywhere.
Elite Front Office lacks recent user feedback and explicit ratings, making it difficult to assess its usability. Its broader management scope suggests a potentially steeper learning curve, especially for smaller properties without dedicated IT support. Based on available data, Edge: Counter.
Counter offers 19 unique features, including a dedicated channel manager, payment processing, booking engine, calendar view, custom rates, revenue reports, housekeeping modules, and guest CRM. These features are specifically designed for hostel operations, emphasizing automation and simplicity.
Elite Front Office’s features are less transparent, with no detailed list available. Its offerings are described as providing real-time insights and guest feedback management, but without specific functionalities listed, it's challenging to compare directly. Given the detailed feature set and proven track record, Edge: Counter.
Counter’s support ratings stand out at 4.96/5, with reviews mentioning fast, helpful, and responsive service, particularly praising staff like Evelyn and Max. Many hoteliers appreciate their proactive engagement and quick resolution of issues.
Elite Front Office, with no recent reviews or detailed support ratings, leaves this aspect unverified. The lack of recent customer feedback makes it difficult to assess current support quality. Based on available data, Edge: Counter.
Counter has 7 verified integrations, including popular partners like Stripe, Cloudbeds, and SiteMinder, primarily focused on channel management and payment processing. Its integrations are well-suited for small to medium-sized properties seeking seamless connectivity.
Elite Front Office offers 16 verified integrations, including Profitroom, hotelkit, and RateBoard, indicating a broader scope of partnership options. However, the absence of recent reviews or detailed user experiences limits the assessment of how well these integrations perform in practice. Edge: Elite Front Office.
Counter consistently receives high ratings, with a 4.73/5 overall score based on 54 recent reviews, predominantly from hostel operators. Its user base reports satisfaction with ease of use, support, and features tailored to small properties.
Elite Front Office has no recent ratings or reviews, making it impossible to gauge current user satisfaction. Given the available data, hoteliers favor Counter by a wide margin, especially those in the hostel segment. Edge: Counter.
Counter does not publicly list pricing but is known to have no implementation fees or monthly charges, making it accessible for small properties. Its freemium model suggests it may offer a free tier with optional paid upgrades.
Elite Solutions GmbH does not specify pricing structures either, leaving potential buyers unable to compare costs directly. The lack of transparent pricing details makes it essential to contact vendors for quotes, but based on the available information, Counter’s transparent approach is advantageous.
Counter is a dedicated, highly-rated PMS primarily suited for hostels and small properties that value simplicity, support, and quick setup. Its feature set and recent reviews strongly endorse its reliability and user satisfaction for small-scale operations.
Elite Front Office appears to be a comprehensive management platform, but the absence of recent reviews and detailed features prevents a confident recommendation. It might serve larger properties with complex management needs, but without current feedback, Counter remains the clear choice for most hoteliers.
In summary, if your hotel is a hostel or small property seeking an intuitive, proven system, Counter is the better option. For larger operations needing extensive management tools and integrations, further research into Elite Front Office is recommended, given its limited recent data.
Property Management Systems pricing is rarely straightforward. Here is what we know from each vendor's public pricing data. Always request a custom quote for your property size.
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According to HTR's product database, Counter and Elite Front Office share 0 features. Here are the key differences — features one has that the other lacks.
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| Booking Engine | ||
| Calendar view | ||
| Channel Manager | ||
| Custom rates | ||
| Payment processing | ||
| RevPaR & ADR Reports |
Showing top differences. 7 more features differ between these products.
What hoteliers love
Hoteliers find Counter's interface clean, intuitive, and user-friendly, making it easy to train new staff quickly. The mobile and desktop interfaces w... Hoteliers find Counter's interface clean, intuitive, and user-friendly, making it easy to train new staff quickly. The mobile and desktop interfaces work well, allowing managers to handle tasks remotely. It is particularly noted for its simplicity in calendar and calendar management.
The support team at Counter is frequently praised for its responsiveness and helpfulness. Staff like Evelyn and Max receive specific mentions for thei... The support team at Counter is frequently praised for its responsiveness and helpfulness. Staff like Evelyn and Max receive specific mentions for their professionalism. However, there are concerns about slower support in certain time zones.
Users appreciate Counter's automated features that include tasks like contactless check-in, automating credit card charges, and managing bookings acro... Users appreciate Counter's automated features that include tasks like contactless check-in, automating credit card charges, and managing bookings across platforms. This automation reduces staff workload and improves operational efficiency.
Where hoteliers push back
Several hoteliers mention persistent bugs in the system, particularly issues with overbookings, bed availability display, and system errors during boo... Several hoteliers mention persistent bugs in the system, particularly issues with overbookings, bed availability display, and system errors during booking cancellations. These bugs have a negative impact on daily operations and guest experience.
Hoteliers appreciate Counter's reporting capabilities but note that the reports can be improved for better insights. Revenue management features are s... Hoteliers appreciate Counter's reporting capabilities but note that the reports can be improved for better insights. Revenue management features are seen as lacking, particularly for businesses operating on multiple rate plans or using dynamic pricing.
Unique capabilities
Where the ratings diverge most
It depends on your requirements. Counter and Elite Front Office share many core Property Management Systems features, but each has unique capabilities. Counter offers 7 verified integration partners, while Elite Front Office offers 16. Review the feature comparison above to see where they differ before switching.
Small hotels should prioritize ease of use and fast onboarding. Counter leads in ease of use at 4.6/5 vs 0.0/5. Look for transparent pricing and a trial or demo option. Filter reviews on each product page by property size to hear from hotels like yours.
Counter: No. Elite Front Office: No. Neither product currently offers a free tier. Most Property Management Systems vendors offer demos or trials — request one from each to evaluate before committing.
The HT Score is a composite ranking that considers 4 criteria groups and over a dozen variables to help hoteliers objectively compare hotel technology products. Counter has an HT Score of 17 and Elite Solutions GmbH has 0. Here is how the score is calculated.
| Criteria Group | Weight | What It Measures |
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| Customer Ratings & Reviews |
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How highly do users recommend this product? Ratings Score, Review Volume, Share of Voice, Review Depth, Review Recency, Success Stories ▾ The most heavily weighted factor. Analyzes average satisfaction ratings (likelihood to recommend, ease of use, support, ROI), total review count relative to category peers, review recency (at least 20 reviews in the trailing 6 months), and share of voice across unique hotel clients to detect selection bias. |
| Partner Ecosystem |
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How highly do tech partners recommend this company? Partner Recommendations, Integration Quantity, Integration Quality ▾ Evaluates partner recommendations as expert votes of confidence, the number of verified integrations, and ecosystem quality — the average HT Scores of integration partners. Products with higher-quality integration ecosystems are more likely to deliver a connected tech stack. |
| Customer Centricity |
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How customer-centric is this organization? Certified Support, Review Consistency, Profile Completeness ▾ Assesses whether the company has earned HTR Customer Support Certification, maintains consistent review collection over time (an indicator of feedback-driven culture), and keeps product profiles complete with capabilities, screenshots, pricing, and features. |
| Reach, Staying Power & Resources |
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How extensive is this company's reach and resourcing? Geographic Reach, Staying Power, Company Resources, Trending Score ▾ Measures global presence (countries and regions served), years in business as a stability proxy, team headcount as a resource proxy, and a trending score based on trailing-twelve-month buyer inquiries, reviews, partner recommendations, and press activity. |
Customer ratings and reviews are by far the most important factor in the HT Score algorithm. HTR does not accept payment for higher rankings. All reviews are verified — only hotel industry practitioners with confirmed affiliations can submit ratings. View full HT Score methodology →
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