AI workforce management for hotels on protel.
HotelCadence is workforce software for hotels: it forecasts how busy each department will be, hour by hour, builds the roster to match, records worked hours and prepares payroll. It reads the bookings already in protel and turns them into forecasts per department and draft rosters your managers approve. Hotels cut 6–12% of labor cost while guest service holds. HotelCadence only reads from protel; it never changes anything there.
Calculate your labor savings →Book a demo with your own protel data
protel by Planet · vendor website: weareplanet.com ↗
Osaka, 220 rooms: the 15:00 check-in wall was in protel all along
With check-in at 15:00 sharp, arrivals do not curve, they pile. This chain property rostered the desk flat at six from 10:00: the quiet morning paid for agents with nothing to process, and the 16:00 peak of eleven agents' worth of arrivals queued into the lobby. The hourly arrival counts predicting it were already in protel.
The data behind this chart
| Hour | Staff required | Flat roster | Demand-matched roster |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| 12:00 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| 14:00 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| 15:00 | 9 | 6 | 9 |
| 16:00 | 11 | 6 | 11 |
| 17:00 | 10 | 6 | 10 |
| 18:00 | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| 19:00 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| 20:00 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| 22:00 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
Worked example, figures indicative, 220-room city property.
Put your own numbers on this → the calculator takes two minutes and needs no email, or see pricing first.
The workforce management layer on top of protel
Three modules on one connection, measured against your own starting point. Labor runs 32.4% of hotel revenue (CBRE, US benchmark); demand-matched scheduling recovers 6–12% of it.
AI demand forecasting
Arrivals, departures and covers forecast per department, per hour, from the live bookings in protel.
How forecasting works →AI staff scheduling
Draft rosters at the lowest cost that still meets your service standard; managers approve every schedule.
How scheduling works →PMS data insights
Revenue, labor cost and productivity per property on one live screen, straight from protel.
See the insights →Go live in three steps
HotelCadence only reads · counts and dates only, no guest names or payment details · your protel administrator can switch it off at any time.
- 1
Authorize read-only access
Your protel administrator switches on a secure connection that only reads for protel cloud properties; installations on your own server start from scheduled exports. You can switch either off at any time. HotelCadence never changes anything in protel.
- 2
Load history and check accuracy
HotelCadence loads up to two years of booking history from protel and checks its hourly forecasts per department against what your hotel recorded, so accuracy is proven on your own numbers before anyone rosters against it.
- 3
Go live and measure
Forecasts refresh as bookings change, and draft rosters flag shifts that no longer match demand. Managers approve every roster, and you measure results monthly against the starting point you agreed.
protel integration questions, answered
How long does a protel integration take?
protel is the property management system from Planet, the software a hotel front desk uses to hold bookings, arrivals, departures and occupancy, and the system HotelCadence reads to forecast demand per department. Cloud properties switch on the connection and go first; installations on your own server start from scheduled exports, confirmed before you commit. Loading history and checking forecast accuracy run alongside, and the connection is part of onboarding.
We run protel on-premise, does that work?
Yes. protel installations on your own server connect through scheduled exports of reservations, arrivals, departures and occupancy, and switch to a live connection where the installation supports it. Nothing is installed on your front-desk machines beyond the export task.
Our check-in time concentrates arrivals into two hours, can a roster follow that?
That concentration is the reason to roster hourly. A fixed check-in time turns the arrival curve into a wall, so a flat roster is overstaffed at 11:00 and drowned at 16:00 on the same day. Hourly forecasts from protel data staff the wall itself, including split and staggered shifts where your rules allow them.
Does HotelCadence write anything back into protel?
No. HotelCadence only reads. Rates, reservations and guest profiles in protel are never touched. Forecasts and draft rosters live in HotelCadence, where managers review and approve them.
Where does our data live, and what about guest privacy?
HotelCadence needs counts, dates, rates and guest segments, never guest names or payment details. Data is hosted in your region, with Singapore as the default for Asia-Pacific and options consistent with Japan’s APPI for Japanese groups.
Part of our portfolio runs OPERA Cloud or Mews, can one rollout cover both?
Yes. Each property connects through its own system, protel here, OPERA Cloud, Mews or Cloudbeds elsewhere, and the whole group rolls up into one view with the same per-department, per-hour forecasts and one measurement method. See the hotel chain software page for the group layer.
The calculator takes 2 minutes, no email needed · the demo runs on your live arrival curve · no obligation.