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 60 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:
Exely shines in ease of use and customer support , with exclusive features like Transactional Emails (booking, folios, etc) and Payment Requests.
IQWare shines .
Side-by-side ratings based on 60 verified hotelier reviews on HTR.
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| Starting Price | From $400/mo | Contact sales |
| Verified Reviews | 56 | 4 |
After analyzing 60 verified reviews, Exely users most value its user interface, customer support, hotel operation efficiency, while IQWare users highlight . Click any theme to see what reviewers say.
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User Interface
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Customer Support
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Hotel Operation Efficiency
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Channel Management
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Customization and Reporting Features
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System Performance and Speed
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Mobile Application
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How each product ranks among Hotel Management Software 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) ▾ | #23 16 reviews | #40 2 reviews |
| Mid-Size (25-74 rooms) ▾ | #17 15 reviews | #40 1 reviews |
| Large (75-199 rooms) | #16 3 reviews | — |
| X-Large (200+ rooms) | #11 1 reviews | #26 0 reviews |
By Property Type
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| Boutique ▾ | #22 13 reviews | #37 1 reviews |
| Luxury ▾ | #20 11 reviews | #41 0 reviews |
| Branded / Chain | #25 2 reviews | #44 0 reviews |
| Extended Stay | #21 3 reviews | #33 0 reviews |
By Region
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| North America | #22 2 reviews | #35 2 reviews |
| Europe | #24 2 reviews | — |
| Asia Pacific ▾ | #6 28 reviews | — |
| Middle East ▾ | #7 5 reviews | — |
Choosing the right hotel management software depends on your hotel’s size, needs, and growth plans. Both Exely HMS and IQWare HMS aim to streamline operations, but they do so with very different strengths and weaknesses. Your choice will significantly influence daily workflows, customer experience, and revenue strategies—so understanding their differences is crucial.
Exely offers a more modern, integrated platform with a focus on direct bookings, online reputation, and automation, whereas IQWare provides a longstanding, broad-spectrum PMS primarily suited for established multi-property operations. Are you ready to dig into which solution aligns best with your goals?
Exely HMS stands out with high user ratings, recent reviews, and a strong focus on optimizing revenue through features like a booking engine, channel management, and online reputation tools. Its latest reviews and 48 total reviews, with 18 in the last six months, give it a more current perspective on product performance.
IQWare’s reviews are limited (only four total, with no recent feedback), and its overall rating is significantly lower at 2.83/5. While IQWare has a long history in hospitality tech, the lack of recent reviews suggests less ongoing development or user engagement. Should you prioritize a solution with current user insights?
If your hotel is looking for an all-in-one platform that emphasizes direct bookings, guest engagement, and automation—especially if you’re in a boutique, city center, or resort segment—Exely is the more suitable option. Its robust features include a booking engine, channel management, guest messaging, and revenue management, making it ideal for hotels striving to increase direct revenue and streamline operations.
Conversely, if you operate a large multi-property portfolio with complex operational needs and prefer a longstanding, traditional PMS, IQWare’s broad feature set might appeal—though its lack of recent reviews and support issues suggest caution. For most hotels seeking modern efficiency and active support, Exely emerges as the better choice.
Exely’s ease of use shines with a 4.88/5 rating, and reviews praise its intuitive interface, simple navigation, and quick onboarding—users highlight how staff can adapt rapidly. Its recent reviews reflect strong support and a user-friendly experience, making staff adoption straightforward.
IQWare scores lower at 3.38/5, with feedback indicating a steeper learning curve, inconsistent support, and outdated interfaces. Some users report frustration with navigating the system and delays in assistance, which could hinder daily operations.
Edge: Exely HMS.
Exely boasts 38 exclusive features, including multi-currency support, gift vouchers, automated night audits, native email marketing, group booking and website development tools, guest profiles, and a comprehensive PMS with online check-in/out. Its feature set is heavily focused on direct revenue, online presence, and automation.
IQWare, with no unique features listed, appears to offer a broad but less specialized suite, focusing on reservations, housekeeping, maintenance, and basic reporting, with 20 verified integrations. It lacks the depth seen in Exely’s automation, marketing, and online tools.
Edge: Exely HMS.
Exely’s support ratings are exceptional, with a 4.9/5 rating and recent reviews praising prompt, helpful responses and continuous improvements. Users mention quick solutions via multiple channels and a proactive support team, making support a reliable pillar.
IQWare’s support scores 3.63/5, with reviews revealing inconsistent communication, long wait times, and some frustration during troubleshooting. Several users cite unresponsiveness during off-hours and difficulties resolving issues.
Edge: Exely HMS.
IQWare offers 20 verified integrations, including major players like SiteMinder, Revinate, and RateGain, providing broader connectivity with third-party systems. This extensive list could be valuable for larger, multi-property setups needing various operational tools.
Exely has 8 verified partners, including Booking.com, Oracle Hospitality, and Bakuun.com, with one shared partner (IDeaS). Its focus is more on core hotel management and direct booking tools rather than a wide array of integrations.
Edge: IQWare HMS.
Exely’s reviews are recent, plentiful, and highly positive, with a 98% likelihood to recommend and an average rating of 4.88/5 for ease of use and 4.9/5 for customer support. Hotels across segments, especially boutique, city center, and resorts, rate it highly for reliability and support.
IQWare’s reviews are sparse, mostly negative, with a 0.5/5 worst review citing a scam. The few positive comments are outdated or limited, making it clear that current user satisfaction favors Exely.
Edge: Exely HMS.
Exely costs $400 per month with no implementation or trial fees, providing a transparent flat rate. Pricing details for IQWare are unavailable, but historically, their solutions tend to have higher or custom pricing, often with additional implementation costs.
Given Exely’s clear, predictable pricing, your hotel can budget effectively without surprises, whereas IQWare’s undefined costs could lead to unforeseen expenses.
Not ideal if your hotel relies heavily on legacy systems or has minimal online presence.
Not ideal if you seek modern user experience, strong support, or active development.
Exely HMS is a modern, highly-rated platform that excels in ease of use, customer support, and features tailored for revenue growth. Its recent reviews and high recommendation rate position it as a trustworthy choice for most hotels aiming to optimize daily operations and guest engagement.
IQWare offers a broad, established system with extensive integrations, but its outdated reviews and support concerns suggest limited ongoing development. Its suitability is best for large, multi-property portfolios with complex needs and less emphasis on modern user experience.
If your hotel values current user feedback, rapid support, and an all-in-one system, Exely HMS is the clear winner. For hotels with complex operational requirements and existing integration needs, IQWare might still be relevant—but proceed with caution.
According to HTR's product database, Exely HMS and IQWare HMS share 0 features. Here are the key differences — features one has that the other lacks.
| Feature |
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| Automated night audit | ||
| Gift Vouchers | ||
| Multi-currency | ||
| Payment Requests | ||
| RevPaR & ADR Reports | ||
| Transactional Emails (booking, folios, etc) |
Showing top differences. 26 more features differ between these products.
We analyzed 2 verified case studies to compare what hotels actually achieve with each platform across four key business objectives.
"We took a proactive approach and collaborated with Exely, implementing various strategies, such as a loyalty program. The outcome has been outstanding — not only have we been able..."
No published case study for this goal yet.
"Once we switched to Exely, we immediately noticed a significant increase in reservations from online travel agencies. We discovered that our previous system had blocked some availa..."
No published case study for this goal yet.
What hoteliers love
The intuitive and straightforward interface of Exely significantly enhances user experience, making it easier for staff to navigate during busy period... The intuitive and straightforward interface of Exely significantly enhances user experience, making it easier for staff to navigate during busy periods and integrating seamlessly into daily operations.
The customer support team receives praise for their quick responses and helpfulness, ensuring any issues are swiftly addressed, though this is a more... The customer support team receives praise for their quick responses and helpfulness, ensuring any issues are swiftly addressed, though this is a more general feature and not unique to Exely.
Exely is praised for streamlining hotel operations, reducing errors and enhancing overall workflow efficiency by automating various processes and task... Exely is praised for streamlining hotel operations, reducing errors and enhancing overall workflow efficiency by automating various processes and tasks.
Where hoteliers push back
Users express a need for more advanced reporting options and customization capabilities to enable deeper performance analysis and personalized user ex... Users express a need for more advanced reporting options and customization capabilities to enable deeper performance analysis and personalized user experience, which are lacking in the current system.
There is critique regarding the system's performance during peak workload periods, with reports of long loading times, occasional errors, and unexpect... There is critique regarding the system's performance during peak workload periods, with reports of long loading times, occasional errors, and unexpected logouts hindering operational flow.
Ranks higher for
Unique capabilities
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Where the ratings diverge most
It depends on your requirements. Exely HMS and IQWare HMS share many core Hotel Management Software features, but each has unique capabilities. Exely HMS offers 8 verified integration partners, while IQWare HMS offers 20. Review the feature comparison above to see where they differ before switching.
Small hotels should prioritize ease of use and fast onboarding. Exely HMS leads in ease of use at 4.9/5 vs 3.4/5. 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.
Exely HMS: No. IQWare HMS: No. Neither product currently offers a free tier. Most Hotel Management Software 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. Exely has an HT Score of 82 and IQWare 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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