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Travel · head to head

Protel vs Travelport Smartpoint

Protel logo

Protel

Travel

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

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Travelport Smartpoint logo

Travelport Smartpoint

Travel

Travelport GDS booking desktop for travel agents, now on version 12

From
On request
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.; Travelport Smartpoint travelport retires older Smartpoint versions on its own schedule, and agencies that do not track release notes can lose sign-on access to Travelport+ or Apollo with little warning.
  • They diverge on capability: Protel covers Front desk and reservations, Travelport Smartpoint covers Graphical and cryptic modes.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Protel and Travelport Smartpoint actually diverge.

Attributes where Protel and Travelport Smartpoint differ
AttributeProtelTravelport Smartpoint
PlatformsWeb, Windows, iOS, AndroidWindows, Web

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Travel).

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 Travelport Smartpoint

  • Graphical and cryptic modes
  • Multi-GDS content
  • Smartpoint Cloud
  • Automation scripting
  • Marketplace distribution
  • Queue and PNR management

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 Travelport Smartpoint
  • A property with substantial conference and banqueting business that a rooms-only PMS cannot handlenot Travelport Smartpoint
  • An existing Protel on-premise site deciding whether to move to the cloud edition or change vendornot Travelport Smartpoint
  • A group wanting PMS and card acquiring from one supplier under a single contractnot Travelport Smartpoint

Travelport Smartpoint

  • A retail agency already on a Travelport segment agreement needing the current supported desktop versionnot Protel
  • A TMC running mixed cryptic and graphical booking teams on one workspacenot Protel
  • An agency migrating from an older Smartpoint build after Travelport retired 8.1 to 9.1not Protel
  • A consolidator wanting Apollo, Galileo or Worldspan content behind a single agent interfacenot 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.

Travelport Smartpoint

  • Travelport retires older Smartpoint versions on its own schedule, and agencies that do not track release notes can lose sign-on access to Travelport+ or Apollo with little warning.
  • Pricing is never published and is folded into a segment incentive agreement, so two agencies of similar size can be paying materially different effective rates with no way to compare.
  • Cryptic command knowledge is still needed for a meaningful share of servicing tasks, so a newly hired agent takes months to reach full productivity.
  • It is a Windows-weighted desktop product, and agencies wanting fully remote or Mac-based teams need Smartpoint Cloud or virtual desktop infrastructure to compensate.
  • Switching to Sabre or Amadeus means retraining staff on a different command language and renegotiating a separate incentive deal, which locks agencies into their existing GDS relationship longer than pure product quality would justify.

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

Travelport Smartpoint

On request
  • Travelport Smartpoint$undefined/year
    • Usually bundled into a GDS segment agreement
    • Distribution and version entitlement managed per country via the Marketplace
    • Segment incentive payments to the agency

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 Travelport Smartpoint if

  • You need graphical and cryptic modes.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want multi-gds content.
Travelport Smartpoint review

Questions people ask

Is Protel or Travelport Smartpoint better?
Neither clearly leads. Protel starts at On request and Travelport Smartpoint at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Protel or Travelport Smartpoint?
Protel starts at On request and Travelport Smartpoint at On request.
Does Protel or Travelport Smartpoint run on more platforms?
Protel runs on Web, Windows, iOS, Android. Travelport Smartpoint runs on Windows, Web.
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 Travelport Smartpoint is typically brought in for.
What can Protel do that Travelport Smartpoint cannot?
Protel covers Front desk and reservations, Conference and banqueting, Cloud and on-premise editions, Integrated payments. Travelport Smartpoint covers Graphical and cryptic modes, Multi-GDS content, Smartpoint Cloud, Automation scripting.

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.

Travelport Smartpoint: Do we pay a separate licence fee for Smartpoint?

Usually not directly. It is typically bundled into a GDS segment agreement in which Travelport pays incentives per booked segment.

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.

Travelport Smartpoint: What happened to older Smartpoint versions?

Travelport retired versions 8.1 through 9.1 as of 30 April 2026; agencies must be on Smartpoint 12.0 to keep signing on to Travelport+ or Apollo.

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.

Travelport Smartpoint: Is there a browser version?

Yes, Smartpoint Cloud runs in a browser for agents without a managed Windows desktop.

Protel: Where is Protel strongest?

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

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