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 128 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:
Planet shines in functionality and features — especially for vacation rental properties (4.3/5), with exclusive features like On premise and Revenue management module.
Side-by-side ratings based on 128 verified hotelier reviews on HTR.
| HTScore |
|
|
| Likelihood to Recommend |
|
|
| Ease of Use |
|
|
| Customer Support |
|
|
| Value for Money |
|
|
| Starting Price | Contact sales | From $500/mo |
| Verified Reviews | 0 | 128 |
After analyzing 128 verified reviews, HOIST GROUP users most value its , while Planet users highlight functionality and features, ease of use, multi-property management. Click any theme to see what reviewers say.
| HOIST GROUP |
|
|---|---|
| Pros | |
|
+
Functionality and Features
▾
|
|
|
+
Ease of Use
▾
|
|
|
+
Multi-property Management
▾
|
|
| Cons | |
|
−
Support Issues
▾
|
|
|
−
Customization and Flexibility
▾
|
|
|
−
System Performance and Reliability
▾
|
|
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
| Segment | HOIST GROUP |
|
|---|---|---|
| Small (10-24 rooms) ▾ | — | #24 38 reviews |
| Mid-Size (25-74 rooms) ▾ | — | #14 62 reviews |
| Large (75-199 rooms) ▾ | — | #12 15 reviews |
| X-Large (200+ rooms) | — | #37 1 reviews |
By Property Type
| Segment | HOIST GROUP |
|
|---|---|---|
| Boutique ▾ | — | #20 51 reviews |
| Luxury ▾ | — | #20 37 reviews |
| Branded / Chain ▾ | — | #17 38 reviews |
| Extended Stay ▾ | — | #19 11 reviews |
By Region
| Segment | HOIST GROUP |
|
|---|---|---|
| North America ▾ | — | #30 6 reviews |
| Europe ▾ | — | #10 100 reviews |
| Middle East | — | #14 2 reviews |
HOIST GROUP - HotSoft and protel PMS by Planet diverge sharply in market presence, feature scope, and verified user feedback. HotSoft lacks any publicly available verified reviews, user ratings, or documented market penetration, which leaves its real-world adoption and performance opaque. In contrast, protel PMS enjoys a broad footprint with 128 verified reviews, an overall rating of 4.0/5, and active recent user engagement, including 20 reviews in the last six months sustaining that rating.
Both products aim to solve core property management challenges like reservations, front desk operations, billing, and reporting. HotSoft claims to streamline hotel operations and improve guest experiences through automation and integration, but these assertions lack supporting customer data. Protel PMS takes these goals further with extensive features, cloud and on-premise deployment options, and a large integration ecosystem, positioning it as a fully realized platform fit for diverse hotel operations.
If you manage a hotel that requires a proven, fully featured PMS with active vendor support and extensive integrations, protel PMS is the data-backed choice. Its 128 reviews, spread across hotel types including boutique, branded, luxury, and resorts, provide representative confidence. The recent reviews sustain a 4.0/5 rating, showing ongoing satisfaction and system maturity.
In contrast, if you are open to evaluating a newer or less documented system without verified user feedback, HotSoft might warrant exploration but with caution due to the absence of verified ratings or integrations. There is insufficient data to recommend HotSoft for any specific hotel segment confidently.
For small to medium independent hotels, especially those in Europe or North America, protel’s multi-currency, multi-lingual support and cloud/on-prem flexibility have proven operational value. Hotels prioritizing integrated payments and direct booking engines will find protel’s ecosystem supportive. HotSoft’s lack of public data precludes segment-specific guidance.
Only protel PMS has verified ease-of-use and onboarding ratings: 4.2/5 and 3.8/5 respectively, across 128 reviews including 20 recent ones maintaining these scores. Reviewers praise protel’s intuitive interface and efficient daily operations management, with comments such as "Protel is very easy to use" and "Management for hotel check-ins is simple and efficient." Some users note that recent updates introduced complexity in certain workflows, but overall usability remains a strength.
HOIST GROUP - HotSoft has no verified user ratings or reviews to evaluate ease of use, onboarding, or staff adoption. Without user feedback, HotSoft’s usability claims remain unsubstantiated.
Edge: Even.
Protel PMS offers at least 46 verified hotel-specific features that HotSoft does not document or claim publicly. These include both cloud-based and on-premise deployment, revenue management modules, integrated booking engine, multi-currency and multi-lingual support, guest CRM, housekeeping modules, group functionality, PCI and GDPR compliance, integrated payment terminals, task management, and advanced reporting such as RevPAR and ADR reports.
These features enable front desk teams to automate billing, manage complex group bookings, optimize revenue with dynamic rate management, and ensure compliance with payment and data regulations. Protel’s drag-and-drop tapechart and rules-based room assignments streamline housekeeping and room allocation workflows.
HotSoft does not list any unique or overlapping features in public data, limiting its competitive feature set relative to protel.
Edge: protel PMS.
Only protel PMS has customer support and onboarding ratings: both 4.0/5 and 3.8/5 respectively, based on 128 verified reviews including recent user feedback. Users note "a competent support team, always reachable," and "very helpful support hotline," though some also mention long wait times and reduced phone support responsiveness post-acquisition.
HOIST GROUP - HotSoft lacks verified customer support ratings and user feedback. Its support quality cannot be assessed.
Edge: Even.
Protel PMS boasts 196 verified integration partners including key hospitality systems like Innspire, Right Revenue, Omnibees, Profitroom, and Bookboost. This extensive ecosystem supports revenue management, channel distribution, CRM, and BI tools, essential for hotels aiming to leverage best-of-breed third-party applications and maximize operational efficiency.
HOIST GROUP - HotSoft has no verified integrations. This absence signals limited ecosystem connectivity, potentially restricting flexibility and scale.
Edge: protel PMS.
HOIST GROUP - HotSoft has zero verified reviews or ratings; therefore, no customer sentiment data exists.
Protel PMS has an overall 4.0/5 rating from 128 reviews including 20 recent reviews with a consistent 4.0/5 rating. Its Likelihood to Recommend is 80%. Ratings by hotel segment show solid performance in luxury hotels (4.1/5 across 37 reviews), branded hotels (4.3/5 across 39 reviews), and boutique hotels (3.9/5 across 51 reviews). Smaller segments such as motels report perfect 5/5 but with only 3 reviews, limiting representativeness.
Edge: Even.
HOIST GROUP - HotSoft does not publish pricing details, nor is there public information on implementation fees, trials, or pricing models.
Protel PMS charges a base price of $500.00, with no per-room or flat monthly pricing published. No trial is offered. The pricing transparency and structure are clearer than HotSoft’s but still require direct inquiry for full details.
Not ideal if:
Not ideal if:
The core difference between HOIST GROUP - HotSoft and protel PMS by Planet lies in market validation and feature completeness. HotSoft is unverified with no public reviews, integrations, or pricing information, making its real-world capability speculative. Protel PMS is a mature, widely adopted system with comprehensive hotel-specific features, a large integration ecosystem, and a verifiable user base rating it 4.0/5 overall.
Hotels should choose protel PMS when they need a robust, scalable PMS with integrated payments, multi-currency support, and a proven track record in boutique to luxury segments. Protel’s advanced features like rules-based room assignment, digital registration, and native email marketing support operational efficiency and revenue growth.
Conversely, HOIST GROUP - HotSoft may only suit hotels willing to pilot an unproven system or those with very specific vendor relationships. Without evidence of adoption or support, HotSoft carries operational risk that more established systems like protel mitigate.
In sum, protel PMS offers a verified, feature-rich, and integratable platform for a wide range of hotels. HotSoft remains untested in public data and should be approached cautiously.
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.
| HOIST GROUP |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | — | From $500/mo |
These are the features each vendor has configured, organized by feature group — the same data shown in the vendor dashboard. Expand a group to compare features side by side.
| Feature | HOIST GROUP |
|
|---|---|---|
|
▾
Accounting & Finance
|
|
|
| Direct billing | ||
| RevPaR & ADR Reports | ||
| Multi-currency | ||
| Transactional Emails (booking, folios, etc) | ||
| Automated night audit | ||
|
▾
Marketing & Ecommerce
|
|
|
| Guest Communication (SMS Messaging) | ||
| Native Email Marketing | ||
| Guest profiles | ||
| Guest CRM | ||
| Gift Vouchers | ||
| Channel Manager | ||
| Booking Engine | ||
| Transactional Emails (booking, folios, etc) | ||
|
▾
Administration & Configuration
|
|
|
| Centralized user & role management | ||
| Multi-lingual | ||
| Cloud based | ||
| On premise | ||
|
▾
Customer Management
|
|
|
| Guest Communication (SMS Messaging) | ||
| Guest profiles | ||
| Centralized Messaging | ||
| Transactional Emails (booking, folios, etc) | ||
|
▾
Front Office
|
|
|
| Mobile Device Notes & Tasks (Voice-to-Text) | ||
| Mobile App | ||
| Automated night audit | ||
| Calendar view | ||
| Multi-lingual | ||
| Task Management | ||
| Automated reminders | ||
| Guest profiles | ||
| Tablet/Kiosk Check-in | ||
| Payment Requests | ||
| Centralized Messaging | ||
| Automated Space Optimization | ||
|
▾
Groups Management
|
|
|
| Group functionality | ||
| Automated Space Optimization | ||
|
▾
Guest Experience
|
|
|
| Integrated ID & Passport Scanner | ||
| Digital Registration | ||
| Guest App | ||
| Online Check-in | ||
| Online Checkout | ||
| Guest Messaging | ||
| Transactional Emails (booking, folios, etc) | ||
| ID Scanning & Registration Pre-fill | ||
| Lobby Kiosk | ||
|
▾
Housekeeping
|
|
|
| Housekeeping module | ||
| Housekeeping Mobile App | ||
| Real-Time Status Updates | ||
| Automated Assignments | ||
| Real Time Reporting | ||
| Shift Planning | ||
| Employee Messaging | ||
| Online Checkout | ||
|
▾
Payments
|
|
|
| Integrated Payment Terminal & Card Reader | ||
| Direct billing | ||
| Multi-currency | ||
| Payment processing | ||
| Payment Requests | ||
|
▾
Reservations Management
|
|
|
| RevPaR & ADR Reports | ||
| Gift Vouchers | ||
| Channel Manager | ||
| Integrated CRS | ||
| Drag-n-Drop Tapechart | ||
| Rate Management | ||
| Automated Space Optimization | ||
| Rules Based Room Assignments | ||
| Transactional Emails (booking, folios, etc) | ||
|
▾
Revenue Management
|
|
|
| RevPaR & ADR Reports | ||
| Custom rates | ||
| Ancillary revenue tracking | ||
| Revenue management module | ||
| Base Pricing | ||
|
▾
Taxes & Compliance
|
|
|
| PCI Compliant | ||
| GDPR Compliant | ||
| SOC2 Complaint | ||
| Tax Configuration | ||
|
▾
Support & Training
|
|
|
| Online 24/7 support | ||
|
▾
Food & Beverage
|
|
|
| EPoS | ||
|
▾
Spa
|
|
|
| Spa & Wellness Module |
We analyzed 5 verified case studies to compare what hotels actually achieve with each platform across four key business objectives.
No published case study for this goal yet.
"It feels like a partnership, not a product. Our feedback is always heard and acted on. We’re working together for the shared goal of great guest service."
What hoteliers love
Users appreciate Protel's extensive features for managing single properties, with comprehensive tools for reporting, room plans, and rate management.... Users appreciate Protel's extensive features for managing single properties, with comprehensive tools for reporting, room plans, and rate management. However, many reviews expressed disappointment that a lot of these functionalities are incomplete, buggy, or missing entirely when dealing with more complex setups or multi-property environments. Custom reports and seamless integration with other tools are also highlighted as beneficial.
The user interface is generally praised for being intuitive and easy to navigate. Many users found Protel Air particularly user-friendly and noted the... The user interface is generally praised for being intuitive and easy to navigate. Many users found Protel Air particularly user-friendly and noted the efficiency in managing daily operations. However, certain updates have made certain functions more complex and less intuitive than before.
Protel's performance in catering to multi-property environments received mixed feedback. While some users praised its organizational tools and interfa... Protel's performance in catering to multi-property environments received mixed feedback. While some users praised its organizational tools and interfaces, many found the system frustratingly limited for multi-location setups, highlighting significant bugs and reduced functionalities.
Where hoteliers push back
Customer support is a consistent area of concern. Reviews mentioned long waiting times for support requests, lack of phone availability, and poor resp... Customer support is a consistent area of concern. Reviews mentioned long waiting times for support requests, lack of phone availability, and poor response times after the acquisition by Planet. Users recommend improving the speed and reliability of customer service.
Users are generally happy with the level of customization available in Protel, allowing them to adapt the system to better fit their specific needs. H... Users are generally happy with the level of customization available in Protel, allowing them to adapt the system to better fit their specific needs. However, this flexibility often comes at a high cost, and some required features are only available through paid custom development.
Unique capabilities
It depends on your requirements. HOIST GROUP - HotSoft and protel PMS (by Planet) share many core Property Management Systems features, but each has unique capabilities. HOIST GROUP - HotSoft offers 0 verified integration partners, while protel PMS (by Planet) offers 196. Review the feature comparison above to see where they differ before switching.
HOIST GROUP - HotSoft: No. protel PMS (by Planet): 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. HOIST GROUP has an HT Score of 0 and Planet has 74. Here is how the score is calculated.
| Criteria Group | Weight | What It Measures |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Ratings & Reviews |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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 →
Custom recommendations tailored to your property