# Access Hospitality vs Paddl

Canonical: https://paddl-ai.co/compare/access-hospitality
Last reviewed: 2026-09-11 by the Paddl team

Access Hospitality (Evo platform) provides POS, payroll, scheduling, maintenance, and compliance for UK hospitality chains. Part of The Access Group.

## In one sentence

Paddl is food safety, compliance and operations software for UK hospitality: digital SFBB, HACCP plans, allergens and Natasha's Law labels, temperature, cleaning and training records, and an EHO-ready audit pack. £69 per location per month with every feature included, a 30-day free trial and no contract. Access Hospitality: Suite on quote; Trail (its checklist product) from £38 a site a month; Maintain Evo from £65.

## Access Hospitality pricing

Access Hospitality: Not published as a suite. The checklist product, Trail, is £38 to £82.50 a site a month; Access Maintain Evo is listed on Capterra from £65 a month; the rest is quoted. Modular suite (EPOS, payroll, rota, maintenance, compliance) bought as separate products under one vendor. Not published by the vendor. Checked 2026-09-11 against https://trailapp.com/pricing.

Paddl: £69 per location per month, every feature included, 30-day free trial. No tiers and no volume discount. 5 owner and manager users per location included, £2.99 a month for each extra; staff do not take a seat.

## Access Hospitality reviews

4.2 out of 5 from 20 reviews on Capterra (https://www.capterra.co.uk/software/1079405/Access-Maintain-Evo), read 2026-09-11.

## Where Access Hospitality and Paddl differ

44 features compared; 16 are in Paddl and not in Access Hospitality, checked against Access Hospitality's published feature list on 2026-09-11.

**Food Safety & Compliance** Paddl has, Access Hospitality does not: AI HACCP Generation, EHO Report Generation, One-Click Audit Packs. Access Hospitality covers in part: Digital SFBB Packs, HACCP Plans, Allergen Management, Risk Assessments, Fire Safety - Drills, Certificates & Expiry Alerts, COSHH Management.

**Operations & Equipment** Paddl has, Access Hospitality does not: AI Equipment Anomaly Detection, Delivery Checks. Access Hospitality covers in part: Temperature Monitoring, Maintenance Swimlanes, Supplier Management.

**Team & Training** Paddl has, Access Hospitality does not: GPS Check-in, Shift Handovers / EOD Reports. Access Hospitality covers in part: Staff Inductions, Staff Notifications.

**Documents & Knowledge** Paddl has, Access Hospitality does not: Insurance Gap Detection, Lease & Property Management. Access Hospitality covers in part: Knowledge Hub, Digital Signatures, Licence Management.

**Reporting & Incidents** Paddl has, Access Hospitality does not: Complaint Monitoring, Incident & Accident Reporting, EHO Visit Dashboard, AI Legal Guidance & Evidence Packs.

**Platform & AI** Paddl has, Access Hospitality does not: Mobile Manager View, AI That Carries Out Tasks, AI Document Extraction. Access Hospitality covers in part: Offline Mode, AI Assistant, Compliance Dashboard.

Where Access Hospitality is stronger: Comprehensive enterprise suite; Strong payroll and HR integration; Part of established Access Group; Good maintenance and certificate tracking.

## Choose Access Hospitality if

- You need enterprise HR and payroll integration
- You are a large chain with complex requirements
- You want a single vendor for all business systems

## Choose Paddl if

- You want focused compliance and operations without complexity
- AI-powered features matter (HACCP, document extraction, equipment health ratings)
- Simple, all-in-one pricing (£69/month) is preferable
- EHO preparation, complaints, and shift handovers are important

## What matters most

**A suite of products versus one product** Access Hospitality is EPOS, payroll, rota, maintenance, training and compliance bought as separate products under one vendor, sized for chains. Paddl is one product for compliance, routines, rota, equipment, licences and insurance at one price, sized for independents and small groups.

**The compliance product is Trail** Access's checklist and food safety product is Trail, priced per site on a 12-month term. Paddl covers what Trail does and adds the HACCP plan, SFBB pack, allergen matrix, COSHH register and risk assessments with AI drafting.

**When the suite wins** If you want EPOS, payroll and rota from one vendor with account management, Access is built for that. If you want the daily records and operations without the suite, Paddl is cheaper and quicker to set up.

## Switching from Access Hospitality to Paddl

- One product for compliance and daily operations at £69 per site, rather than modules from a suite priced by combination
- The food safety system itself per site: HACCP plan and SFBB pack drafted by AI, allergens and PPDS labels, COSHH, risk assessments, training with expiry
- A daily compliance score for every site with an all-locations view and an audit pack per site
- Licences, insurance, lease and rates tracked per site from uploaded documents
- Live in days with a setup call for groups; keep Access for EPOS and payroll if you use them

Most groups keep Access for EPOS, payroll or bookings and move compliance and daily operations to Paddl. Set up sites and scoped managers, let the AI draft the HACCP plan and SFBB pack, pilot one site and switch the rest in waves.

### How the switch works

1. Decide which Access modules stay (EPOS, payroll, bookings) and which records move (compliance checks, maintenance, training)
2. Export the records you must keep and file them in Paddl documents
3. Create the account with your site count and give managers the sites they run
4. Build the template library and let the AI draft the HACCP plan and SFBB pack
5. Pilot one site for a week, then assign to every site and switch in waves

What you keep: Daily checks and maintenance records per site; Multi-site reporting for head office; Training records and expiry tracking; Access EPOS and payroll, if you keep those modules
What you give up: A single vendor for every business system; Access's enterprise HR and payroll integration inside the compliance product

## Alternatives to Access Hospitality for UK hospitality

| Product | Category | Pricing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Paddl | Food safety, compliance and operations | £69 per location per month, every feature included, 30-day free trial. No tiers and no volume discount. |
| Trail (by Access) (https://paddl-ai.co/compare/trail) | Food safety and compliance | From £38 per site per month on a 12-month term (Team); £75 Standard, £82.50 Trail Evo; unlimited users |
| Mapal OS (https://paddl-ai.co/compare/mapal) | Operations and multi-site execution | Suites on quote, sized to the estate |
| Crunchtime (Zenput) (https://paddl-ai.co/compare/zenput) | Operations and multi-site execution | Quote-led; Capterra lists from US$40 a month |

## Questions

**How much does Access Hospitality cost?**

Access does not publish a suite price. Its checklist product, Trail, is £38 to £82.50 a site a month on a 12-month term; Access Maintain Evo is listed on Capterra from £65 a month; EPOS, payroll and rota are quoted. Paddl is £69 a location a month with compliance, routines, rota, equipment, licences and insurance in one product.

**What do Access Hospitality reviews say?**

Reviews are per product: Trail has 4.9 from 7 reviews on Capterra UK, Access Maintain Evo 4.2 from 20. The Access Group's G2 seller page holds over 800 reviews across all its products.

**Is Access Hospitality suitable for a small business?**

It is built for chains and the modules are bought separately; a single site usually ends up with more product than it uses. Paddl is one plan per location.

**What is the best alternative to Access Hospitality for compliance?**

Paddl for compliance and operations in one product; Trail (Access's own) if you only want checklists; Mapal OS for another enterprise suite.

**Can I move from Access to Paddl?**

For compliance, routines, rota and maintenance, yes: export the records, rebuild checks as routines, let the AI draft the documents. EPOS and payroll stay where they are; Paddl reads Square takings and exports hours to payroll.
