In hotels, the cash register system, also known as a Point of Sale (POS), plays a central role in daily F&B operations. From restaurant and bar to room service and events, all orders, payments, and room charges run through your POS. The system must not only be efficient and user-friendly for staff, but also work reliably together with your reservation system (PMS).
In this comparison, we highlight three commonly used POS systems for hotels, each with its own focus and strengths within hotel operations.
The order of the POS systems in this article is random. Which solution suits your hotel best depends on the type of hotel and the specific functionalities you are looking for.
Best for: full-service hotels and hotel restaurants
Winston fits perfectly with the daily operations of full-service hotels that have restaurants, bars, room service, and multiple service moments. The system is designed for environments where speed, overview, and flexibility are essential and processes are more complex than in standalone restaurants.
The intuitive interface is quick to learn, making it easy to onboard staff, even during peak periods or seasonal pressure. At the same time, Winston offers extensive options to tailor workflows, screen layouts, and product structures per outlet to the hotel organization.
Can be used on various operating systems and devices, from fixed terminals to tablets and mobile handhelds, without limitations from closed platforms.
Room charges, packages, and F&B bookings are directly linked to the front office, allowing F&B and hotel operations to work seamlessly together without extra manual steps.
Dealers with experience in hotel processes help configure the system, provide training for service staff and management, and guide the entire go-live process.
With kitchen display systems (KDS), order processing runs digitally between service, bar, and kitchen, resulting in higher speed and fewer errors during peak moments.
Best for: hotels with multiple outlets that focus strongly on reporting and insight
Lightspeed is a cloud-based POS system that is widely used in hotel restaurants and bars, especially by hotels with multiple outlets or F&B concepts.
Its strength lies in reports and dashboards with real-time insight into:
Thanks to the cloud, this data is available anytime and anywhere.
Service staff work with a tablet-based POS for mobile service. In addition, Lightspeed offers extensive standard restaurant functionalities such as:
With integrated payments and multi-outlet management, Lightspeed is highly scalable. Implementation and onboarding are handled via partners and resellers.
Best for: all types of hospitality venues, from snack bars to stadiums
DISH is an all-in-one hospitality platform where the POS system forms the central foundation for daily F&B operations. From the POS, hotels can deploy additional digital tools, such as:
Thanks to its international scale, the platform benefits from continuous development, more integrations, and an increasingly broad range of functionalities around the POS environment.
The POS itself is clear and easy to learn, which works well for hotels with changing teams. Implementation and onboarding are supported by partners and suppliers who assist with system setup and staff training.

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