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 58 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:
Heartland shines .
Zil Money shines in ease of use and customer support , with exclusive features like Recurring Payments and Mail Order Telephone Order (MOTO) Payments.
Side-by-side ratings based on 58 verified hotelier reviews on HTR.
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| Starting Price | Contact sales | From $400/mo |
| Verified Reviews | 0 | 58 |
After analyzing 58 verified reviews, Heartland users most value its , while Zil Money users highlight user-friendly interface, customer experience enhancements, payment processing speed. Click any theme to see what reviewers say.
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User-Friendly Interface
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Customer Experience Enhancements
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Payment Processing Speed
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Customer Support
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Integration Capabilities
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Third-Party Integrations
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Approval Process
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How each product ranks among Payments Processing 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) ▾ | — | #1 9 reviews |
| Mid-Size (25-74 rooms) ▾ | — | #2 27 reviews |
| Large (75-199 rooms) ▾ | — | #3 12 reviews |
| X-Large (200+ rooms) | — | #3 2 reviews |
By Property Type
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| Boutique ▾ | — | #3 17 reviews |
| Luxury ▾ | — | #3 15 reviews |
| Branded / Chain ▾ | — | #3 25 reviews |
| Extended Stay ▾ | — | #1 9 reviews |
By Region
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| North America ▾ | — | #3 51 reviews |
| Asia Pacific | — | #3 0 reviews |
| Middle East | — | #2 1 reviews |
Choosing between Heartland Payments by Heartland and Zil Money hinges on your hotel’s specific needs for payment processing and financial management. Heartland Payments has a long-standing presence with a broad focus on secure, reliable payment services, primarily serving US-based clients. Zil Money, by contrast, is a newer platform with a global reach and a focus on streamlining invoicing, expense tracking, and automated payments.
While Heartland boasts a large user base and extensive integrations, its reviews are nonexistent, making it difficult to assess real-world performance. Zil Money, with 54 recent reviews and a high Net Promoter Score (8.57/5), provides more recent data to inform your decision. Which platform better aligns with your hotel’s operational priorities?
Heartland Payments aims to provide comprehensive payment processing solutions, including credit card acceptance, mobile payments, and online transactions. However, it has no reviews or ratings, indicating a lack of recent user feedback or demonstrated hotel-specific success.
Zil Money, on the other hand, has 54 reviews, all within the last six months, showing active user engagement and recent performance data. It offers a suite of features tailored to financial management, such as invoicing, expense tracking, and automated payments, along with solid UX ratings (4.5/5). Given the absence of recent feedback for Heartland, Zil Money's current standing as a user-rated platform makes it the clearer choice.
Are you looking for a well-established, proven payment processor or a newer platform with detailed recent reviews?
If your hotel needs a payment processor that integrates various online and mobile payment options, Heartland might seem appealing. Yet, the lack of recent reviews and user ratings suggests uncertain performance in the hotel industry.
Conversely, Zil Money is better suited if your team values a flexible financial platform with multiple payment methods, invoicing, and expense management features. It supports international payments, virtual cards, ACH, wire transfers, and printable checks—features that can streamline your financial workflows.
Hotels prioritizing verified, recent user feedback should lean toward Zil Money due to its 54 reviews and high NPS score, indicating strong satisfaction among users. Which platform aligns more with your operational complexity and growth plans?
Heartland’s usability is difficult to evaluate because it has no reviews or user ratings, leaving its interface and onboarding experience unverified in your industry context. Its lack of recent feedback suggests limited recent user adoption or feedback.
Zil Money, with a 4.5/5 ease of use rating based on 54 reviews, receives consistent praise for its intuitive interface and straightforward invoicing and payment features. Users highlight quick onboarding and simple management of multiple accounts, making it especially suitable for hotels seeking minimal disruption.
Edge: Zil Money.
Heartland offers core payment processing features, but it has no listed or verified unique functionalities beyond basic credit card acceptance, online payments, and mobile transactions. Its feature set appears minimal and unverified in recent hotel-specific contexts.
Zil Money distinguishes itself with 15 features unique to its platform, including pay-by-link, recurring payments, multi-currency settlements, contactless payments, and payment splitting. It also supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, American Express, Visa, and Mastercard, broadening payment options for guests.
Edge: Zil Money.
Heartland’s customer support and onboarding ratings are both 0/5, with no recent reviews to gauge responsiveness or satisfaction. This lack of user feedback raises concerns about support reliability in real hotel scenarios.
Zil Money’s support ratings, at 4.5/5, reflect strong positive feedback, with users noting reliable service and helpful onboarding. Some reviews mention room for quicker response times but overall acknowledge solid support.
Edge: Zil Money.
Heartland has a verified partnership with Actabl, but only one integration listed, indicating limited connectivity with hotel-specific systems. Its overall integration ecosystem appears sparse, which could restrict operational automation.
Zil Money offers no verified third-party integrations, which might limit its flexibility for hotels relying on other property management or financial software. However, its API capabilities provide potential for custom integrations if your team has technical resources.
Edge: Heartland, with one verified partner—though overall, Zil Money's potential for future integrations is promising.
Given Heartland’s zero reviews, it cannot be rated by hotel users now, leaving no current data on hotel satisfaction or performance.
Zil Money’s 54 recent reviews, with an 8.57/5 NPS score, indicate high satisfaction among users. Hotels across various segments, including luxury, boutique, and budget properties, appreciate its user-friendly platform and comprehensive financial tools.
Edge: Zil Money.
Heartland offers no publicly listed pricing, which is common among enterprise payment providers—they typically tailor quotes based on volume and needs.
Zil Money charges a $400 base price, with no free tier or monthly per-room fee, and offers a 15-day free trial. Its transparent pricing model is suitable for hotels seeking predictable costs for financial management.
The core difference is that Heartland is a traditional payment processor with no recent hotel-specific reviews, which limits confidence in its current hotel industry performance. Zil Money, with active user feedback and a higher overall score, offers a broader feature set tailored to modern financial workflows.
If your hotel needs a proven, user-rated platform with multiple payment options, invoicing, and expense management, Zil Money should be your choice. Its recent reviews and high satisfaction scores demonstrate strong hotel industry relevance.
However, if your priority is a long-established, secure payment processor with extensive US support, and you can verify compatibility and support needs, Heartland might still be viable. Given the lack of recent data, though, Zil Money currently presents a more confident choice for hotels seeking active, recent user validation.
According to HTR's product database, Heartland Payments and Zil Money share 0 features. Here are the key differences — features one has that the other lacks.
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| Authorization Adjustments | ||
| Gratuity Function | ||
| Multi-Currency Settlements | ||
| Partial Capture | ||
| Pay by Link | ||
| Recurring Payments |
Showing top differences. 3 more features differ between these products.
What hoteliers love
Users frequently praise Zil Money for its intuitive and straightforward interface that simplifies invoicing, expense tracking, and other financial tas... Users frequently praise Zil Money for its intuitive and straightforward interface that simplifies invoicing, expense tracking, and other financial tasks. The platform’s ease of use reduces the onboarding time and enhances operational efficiency.
Several reviews indicate that minor improvements in customer experience, such as easing the verification process and reducing the time taken for setup... Several reviews indicate that minor improvements in customer experience, such as easing the verification process and reducing the time taken for setup, could make the platform even more efficient and user-friendly.
Several users highlight the speed and reliability of Zil Money's payment processing feature, which ensures timely transactions and supports the hotels... Several users highlight the speed and reliability of Zil Money's payment processing feature, which ensures timely transactions and supports the hotels' cash flow management.
Where hoteliers push back
Users value Zil Money's ability to integrate seamlessly with various accounting and financial software, which helps consolidate financial operations a... Users value Zil Money's ability to integrate seamlessly with various accounting and financial software, which helps consolidate financial operations and enhances efficiency.
Expanding integrations with more third-party applications is suggested by users, which would offer more flexibility and customization, catering to var... Expanding integrations with more third-party applications is suggested by users, which would offer more flexibility and customization, catering to varying business needs.
Unique capabilities
Where the ratings diverge most
It depends on your requirements. Heartland Payments and Zil Money share many core Payments Processing Software features, but each has unique capabilities. Heartland Payments offers 1 verified integration partners, while Zil Money offers 0. Review the feature comparison above to see where they differ before switching.
Small hotels should prioritize ease of use and fast onboarding. Zil Money leads in ease of use at 4.5/5 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.
Heartland Payments: No. Zil Money: No. Neither product currently offers a free tier. Most Payments Processing 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. Heartland has an HT Score of 0 and Zil Money has 63. 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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