An honest roommaster review, and when Malvavisco fits instead.
Looking for a roommaster alternative? Start with what roommaster does well, taken from its own pages. Founded in 1994 as InnQuest, roommaster sells hotel software: a cloud PMS with a booking engine, a channel manager, payments and revenue management. Malvavisco is newer and built for remote lodges and guest ranches where the stay includes guides, horses, meals and a bar, in English, Spanish or Portuguese. We wrote this page, and we say when roommaster is the better choice.
What is the best roommaster alternative?
It depends on what you sell. If your property sells rooms through its website and online travel agencies, roommaster or another hotel PMS with a channel manager is the right kind of tool, and switching may not help. If every stay includes guided days, rides, meals and a bar, and the hard part is running the week, Malvavisco schedules guides with their horses, boats or vehicles, plans included meals and keeps the bar on the guest’s bill, in English, Spanish or Portuguese. Malvavisco has no booking engine or channel manager, so it doesn’t replace roommaster’s distribution.
What roommaster does well
From roommaster’s own website, checked on 23 October 2026.
roommaster describes itself as a complete platform for independent hotels, hotel groups, resorts, motels, B&Bs, parks and hostels.
- A long track record. Founded in 1994 as InnQuest Software, acquired by Valsoft in 2016 and since renamed roommaster. It says it runs thousands of properties in over 100 countries, with offices in the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK (source).
- Distribution in one system. A cloud PMS, a commission-free booking engine for your website and a channel manager that keeps rates and availability in sync with Expedia, Booking.com, Airbnb and 300+ other channels (source).
- Payments. roommaster Payments takes cards at the front desk on EMV terminals and online through the booking engine, lets international guests pay in their own currency, and includes fraud screening and chargeback support. It lists availability in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia (source).
- Revenue management. Pricing that follows demand, competitor rates and local events, within rules you set (source).
- Resort tools. Spa and activity bookings alongside rooms, group bookings for weddings, retreats and reunions, a guest app with mobile check-in and digital keys, and 270+ pre-configured reports with an SQL report builder (source).
- Integrations. More than 100, including point-of-sale systems, Sage accounting and passport readers (source).
- Migration and support. Its implementation team moves reservations, guest profiles and history, and most properties are live in 3 to 5 business days (source). Support runs 24/7 by chat, phone and email (source).
How much roommaster costs
As published on roommaster’s pricing page on 23 October 2026.
roommaster doesn’t publish prices. Its pricing page asks you to describe your property and sends a personalized quote; it says pricing “scales with your property size and operational needs”.
- The quote includes the cloud PMS, the commission-free booking engine, the channel manager, payment processing, implementation, training, data migration and ongoing support.
- It promises “No hidden fees or surprise charges”, and special pricing for hotel groups and multi-property operators.
- Setup fees, contract length and a free trial aren’t stated; it offers a demo.
Source: roommaster.com/pricing. Malvavisco doesn’t publish prices either; it quotes after a demo.
Malvavisco and roommaster, row by row
Malvavisco wrote this comparison. roommaster’s column comes from its own website, checked on 23 October 2026, with a link for each row. Its details may have changed since.
| Feature | MalvaviscoLodge software | roommaster |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Remote lodges and guest ranches in the Americas where a stay includes guided days, rides, meals and a bar | Independent hotels, hotel groups, resorts, motels, B&Bs, parks and hostelsSource |
| Guest online booking | No: staff enter bookings from email, phone and agents | Yes: a commission-free booking engine on your websiteSource |
| Channel manager | No: no sync with Booking.com, Airbnb or Expedia | Yes: Expedia, Booking.com, Airbnb and 300+ other channelsSource |
| Card processing | No: staff record cash, transfer and card-terminal payments with receipts. Mercado Pago links in Argentine pesos are built but not yet live | roommaster Payments: EMV terminals and online payments, chargeback support; listed for the USA, UK, Canada and AustraliaSource |
| Guides, horses and boats | Activities sold on the booking, then scheduled with a named guide and the horse, boat or vehicle they need, with overlap, capacity and skill checks | Spa and activity bookings on its resort page; guides, horses and rides not mentionedSource |
| Kitchen | Included meals planned per stay, a daily dietary brief, kitchen tickets from preparing to ready to served | No kitchen tools on its product pages; its guest ranch article lists it for meal plans and charge-to-staySource |
| Bar and shop | Point of sale on the booking’s bill, with stock counts, supply orders and supply receipts | Through point-of-sale systems in its integrations marketplaceSource |
| Groups and families | One booking holds the party; charge one guest or share charges, with one printable invoice | Group bookings for weddings, retreats, reunions and tour groups, with multi-room billingSource |
| Currencies | Rates in about 30 currencies, one per booking, reported separately with no automatic conversion | International guests pay by card in their own currencySource |
| Staff interface language | English, Spanish or Portuguese, set per workspace | Not stated; website in English. Its AI concierge answers guests in several languagesSource |
| Moving your data | Free: our team sets up the workspace, enters upcoming bookings with their deposits and loads the guest list | Included in the quote: reservations, guest profiles and history; most properties live in 3 to 5 business daysSource |
| Price | Not published; quoted after a demo | Not published; a quote per property, with implementation, training and migration includedSource |
When to choose each
Stay with roommaster, or choose it, if…
- Most of your rooms sell through your website and online travel agencies, so you need a channel manager
- Guests should book and pay online, with cards processed in the same system
- You run a resort-scale property: several outlets, groups and events, a spa, or several properties under one login
- You want revenue management that moves rates with demand
- You want 24/7 support and a vendor with three decades in hotels
Choose Malvavisco if…
- Every stay includes guided days, rides or hunts, and each one needs a named guide with the horses, boats or vehicles that go with it
- Meals are included and the kitchen needs daily counts and dietary needs
- The bar and the shop should land on the guest’s bill, with stock counts
- Your team works in Spanish, or in Spanish and English
- Bookings come by email, phone and agents rather than online travel agencies
- You bill in pesos, reais or other currencies and want each one reported on its own
What roommaster’s pages don’t cover
roommaster’s product pages are written for hotels and resorts. We found no horses, wranglers, guide schedules, meal counts or waivers described for its own system, no staff interface language other than English, and no offline use. Its blog ranks roommaster first among guest ranch systems, so ask its demo team to show a ranch week with rides and included meals. Its payments are listed for the USA, UK, Canada and Australia; lodges in Latin America should ask what applies to them. For a wider field, see the best guest ranch software comparison and hotel software vs lodge software, or how Malvavisco runs a guest ranch.
roommaster reviews and alternatives
For hotels, resorts and B&Bs that sell rooms online, it covers a lot: a cloud PMS, a booking engine, a channel manager, payments and revenue management, with migration, training and 24/7 support included in the quote. For a remote lodge or guest ranch where the week is guides, horses and meals, its product pages describe little of that, and it doesn’t publish prices.
roommaster doesn’t publish prices. Its pricing page sends a personalized quote based on property size and needs, and says the quote includes the PMS, booking engine, channel manager, payment processing, implementation, training, data migration and support, with no hidden fees.
roommaster’s own blog ranks it first among guest ranch systems. Its product pages describe hotel and resort tools (rooms, a booking engine, a channel manager, spa and activity bookings, groups) but no horses, wranglers, rider forms or meal counts. If your ranch sells mostly online, that may be enough; if the hard part is running the riding week, compare it with Booking Marshal, The Flybook or Malvavisco in our guest ranch software comparison.
For running a lodge or ranch week, yes: bookings, rooms, guides, horses and boats, the kitchen, the point of sale, payments and reports, in English, Spanish or Portuguese. It doesn’t replace roommaster’s booking engine, channel manager, card processing, revenue management or guest app.
Yes, for free. Our team sets up your rooms, rates, services, guides, assets and staff roles, enters every upcoming booking with its deposits, loads your guest list and rebuilds your emails. Past bookings stay in roommaster. Malvavisco’s subscription is quoted after a demo.
Its website is in English and doesn’t say which languages the staff interface offers; its AI concierge answers guests in several languages. Malvavisco’s staff app runs in Spanish, English or Brazilian Portuguese, set per workspace.
