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Travel · head to head

Protel vs Spendesk

Protel logo

Protel

Travel

German hotel property management system, now owned and sold by Planet

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Spendesk logo

Spendesk

Accounting

Smart spend management for modern teams

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Protel the vendor is now a payments company, so the economics of a deal run through card processing rates as much as software fees, and a hotel with good existing acquiring terms may lose more on processing than it saves on licence.; Spendesk no publicly available pricing, requires custom quote
  • They diverge on capability: Protel covers Front desk and reservations, Spendesk covers Company cards.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Protel and Spendesk actually diverge.

Attributes where Protel and Spendesk differ
AttributeProtelSpendesk
Starting priceOn request$29/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWeb, Windows, iOS, AndroidWeb, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android
CategoryTravelAccounting
FoundedUnknown2016

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Protel

  • Front desk and reservations
  • Conference and banqueting
  • Cloud and on-premise editions
  • Integrated payments
  • Interface catalogue
  • Multi-property operation
  • Night audit and reporting
  • Tax-free shopping links

Only in Spendesk

  • Company cards
  • Expense management
  • Invoice payments
  • Budget management
  • Spend analytics
  • Xero
  • Sage
  • NetSuite

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Protel

  • A German or Austrian hotel needing fiscal and tax compliance handled natively rather than bolted onnot Spendesk
  • A property with substantial conference and banqueting business that a rooms-only PMS cannot handlenot Spendesk
  • An existing Protel on-premise site deciding whether to move to the cloud edition or change vendornot Spendesk
  • A group wanting PMS and card acquiring from one supplier under a single contractnot Spendesk

Spendesk

  • Expense managementnot Protel
  • Spend controlnot Protel
  • Finance automationnot Protel

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Protel

  • The vendor is now a payments company, so the economics of a deal run through card processing rates as much as software fees, and a hotel with good existing acquiring terms may lose more on processing than it saves on licence.
  • The Protel name persists on the product but the corporate identity has moved to Planet, which makes contract, support and roadmap ownership harder to pin down than it looks from the product page.
  • Hotels on the older on-premise edition face a migration to cloud that is a re-implementation rather than an upgrade, with the data and interface work that implies.
  • Nothing about pricing is published, so a buyer cannot benchmark against Mews or Cloudbeds without a full sales process.
  • Strength is concentrated in German-speaking Europe and the Middle East; support depth and partner ecosystem are noticeably thinner in North America and Asia Pacific.

Spendesk

  • No publicly available pricing, requires custom quote
  • Strong European presence but limited in some non-EU markets
  • High implementation costs due to extensive integration requirements

Pricing, plan by plan

Protel

On request
  • protel PMS by Planet$undefined/year
    • Quoted per property, no published rate card
    • Cloud and on-premise editions priced differently
    • Payment processing rates negotiated alongside the software

Spendesk

$29/month
  • EssentialsFree
    • Virtual cards
    • Expense tracking
    • Approvals

Which should you pick?

Choose Protel if

  • You need front desk and reservations.
  • You work on Web, Windows, iOS, Android.
  • You also want conference and banqueting.
Protel review

Choose Spendesk if

  • You need company cards.
  • You work on Web, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android.
  • You also want expense management.
Spendesk review

Questions people ask

Is Protel or Spendesk better?
Neither clearly leads. Protel starts at On request and Spendesk at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Protel or Spendesk?
Protel starts at On request and Spendesk at $29/month.
Does Protel or Spendesk run on more platforms?
Protel runs on Web, Windows, iOS, Android. Spendesk runs on Web, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android.
What is Protel best used for?
Protel is most often used for a german or austrian hotel needing fiscal and tax compliance handled natively rather than bolted on, a property with substantial conference and banqueting business that a rooms-only pms cannot handle, an existing protel on-premise site deciding whether to move to the cloud edition or change vendor, a group wanting pms and card acquiring from one supplier under a single contract. Of those, a german or austrian hotel needing fiscal and tax compliance handled natively rather than bolted on and a property with substantial conference and banqueting business that a rooms-only pms cannot handle are not what Spendesk is typically brought in for.
What can Protel do that Spendesk cannot?
Protel covers Front desk and reservations, Conference and banqueting, Cloud and on-premise editions, Integrated payments. Spendesk covers Company cards, Expense management, Invoice payments, Budget management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Protel: Can you still buy Protel?

Yes. Planet acquired it in December 2021 and continues to sell it as protel PMS, though the corporate branding is Planet.

Spendesk: What is included in Spendesk's platform?

Spendesk combines corporate cards, a mobile receipts app, approval workflows, automated reconciliation, accounts payable, procurement, and spend controls into one platform.

Source
Protel: Why does the payments ownership matter?

Because the vendor earns on your card volume. Evaluate the processing rate alongside the software price rather than treating them as separate decisions.

Spendesk: How does Spendesk handle expense receipts?

Spendesk captures receipts via mobile photo upload with OCR technology, automatically matching receipts to transactions and generating automated expense reports with 98% of expense receipts collected on time.

Source
Protel: Is the on-premise edition still supported?

It remains in the field with a large installed base, but new investment is directed at the cloud edition, so ask for an explicit support horizon in writing.

Spendesk: What integrations does Spendesk offer?

Spendesk integrates with accounting software including Sage, Xero, NetSuite, and SAP, plus HR systems and tools like Slack for comprehensive spend management.

Source
Protel: Where is Protel strongest?

German-speaking Europe and the Middle East, where its interface catalogue and fiscal compliance are deepest.

Spendesk: Is Spendesk profitable?

Yes. Spendesk became the first spend management platform to reach profitability in 2025, processing over £10 billion in spend across 35+ countries.

Source
Spendesk: What is Spendesk's valuation?

Spendesk is a unicorn company with a valuation of $1.5 billion, with 2025 revenue of $52 million ARR.

Source
Spendesk: How much time can Spendesk save on bookkeeping?

Organizations using Spendesk save an average of 4 days per month on bookkeeping, equivalent to over 380 hours per year returned to the business.

Source
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