Six.Hoteliers

Alternatives · property management

Guestline alternatives

Looking for an alternative to Guestline (7/10)? We've paid for and run it and 7 other property management tools at our own hotels. Below is an honest side-by-side of the alternatives, ranked by how we rated them. For the full story on any one, read its review. If the sticking point is cost, our Guestline pricing breakdown lays out what you'd actually pay.

Guestline has been the default PMS for British independents for good reason, and the channel manager is still the best I've used for the UK and Irish market. The reason people are looking around is the Access Group acquisition. The product I use today is good; the direction is what worries me. Development has been coasting, the partner and support ecosystem has thinned out, and the independence that made Guestline trustworthy is gone. Add pricing you can't compare against anything, and you have a system that's fine to use and hard to plan around. The property management systems we've paid for and run at our own hotels are below.

Tools we'd consider instead

  1. 8/10

    Apaleo

    A PMS with a public API, a developer sandbox, and no proprietary UI requirement. I opened the docs before the marketing page. For once, I wasn't disappointed.

    Best for
    Tech-forward hotel groups wanting a headless PMS with best-of-breed integrations
    HQ
    Germany (Munich)
    Pricing
    Quote-based, no setup or licensing fees, open API included

  2. 8/10

    Mews

    Mews processes over $10 billion in payments for its hotels. I wanted to know what that means for where your guest data ends up.

    Best for
    Mid-size independents and lifestyle hotels wanting a modern cloud PMS with integrated payments
    HQ
    Netherlands (Amsterdam)
    Pricing
    From ~€300/month, tiered plans (Essentials, Advanced, Enterprise)

  3. 7/10

    Clock PMS+

    Every subscription is a vote. Clock has been building hotel software since 1994 without taking venture capital. In a market where your PMS vendor might get acquired next quarter, that counts for something.

    Best for
    Independent hotels wanting an all-in-one platform from a bootstrapped European company
    HQ
    UK (London) / Bulgaria (Varna)
    Pricing
    ~€250–810/month depending on revenue and rooms

  4. 7/10

    Cloudbeds

    Cloudbeds has raised $253 million and SoftBank is involved. I wanted to know what that buys an 80-room city hotel that could use the money elsewhere.

    Best for
    Independents wanting an all-in-one platform with global distribution reach
    HQ
    USA (San Diego)
    Pricing
    From ~$100/month, four plan tiers, no commission on direct bookings

  5. 7/10

    RoomRaccoon

    I gave Nikos the login on his second day. By lunch he was making reservations. That's the test, and RoomRaccoon passed it.

    Best for
    Small European independents wanting PMS, channel manager, and revenue management in one system
    HQ
    Netherlands (Breda)
    Pricing
    From ~€200/month for a 30-room property

  6. 6/10

    Amenitiz

    A PMS that publishes its pricing, charges no commission, and starts at €42/month. I checked the maths. Then I checked whether you actually get a PMS for that.

    Best for
    Small independents in Southern Europe upgrading from spreadsheets or basic legacy systems
    HQ
    Spain (Barcelona)
    Pricing
    €42–125/month, three tiers, 0% commission on bookings

  7. 6/10

    Noovy

    A PMS that costs less per room than a coffee. I wanted to know what you give up for that price, and whether my staff would notice.

    Best for
    Budget-conscious independents wanting radical pricing transparency and simplicity
    HQ
    Europe
    Pricing
    €5/room/month (€95/hotel/month minimum), €499 one-off setup fee, 1-year term

Common questions

What is the best alternative to Guestline?

For a UK or Irish independent the hard part is replacing the channel management, which is where Guestline is strongest. Mews and Cloudbeds both have the distribution reach to do it, and both are further ahead on interface and pace of development. Clock PMS+ is the option worth a look if what you're reacting to is the private equity ownership, since it has stayed independent since 1994.

Is there a Guestline alternative that publishes its pricing?

Yes, and after four years of not knowing what I pay relative to anyone else, I'd weigh that more heavily than I used to. Amenitiz publishes a full grid, Noovy publishes a per-room figure, and Clock PMS+ names a range without requiring a deck first. None of them are like-for-like replacements for Guestline's channel manager, but you can at least do the arithmetic before you're in the room.

Should I switch away from Guestline after the acquisition?

Not on principle alone, and not in a hurry. The tool works today, my staff know it, and rate sync has never once thrown a mapping error in four years. What I'd do, and what I am doing, is stop treating it as the permanent default: get comparison quotes, keep an eye on the release notes, and know what your migration would look like before you need it rather than after.