Payroll Outsourcing for 25 Hours Hotel

With 140–150 employees spread across different functions and nationalities, payroll at 25 Hours Hotels is far more than an administrative task — it's a core part o

But at this hotel chain, which operates two hotels in Denmark as part of a larger international group, the payroll process simply wasn't working the way it should.

From 14 Days to a Few Hours

Before partnering with Azets, People & Culture was pouring significant resources into payroll — despite already having an external provider. The process was heavy, unreliable, and demanded constant follow-up.

"It used to take up to 14 days to run payroll. In practice, I was handling most of it myself, even though we had a provider," says Malou Brask, Cluster Director of People and Culture.

The instability took a toll on morale. Many employees were international and already had lower baseline trust in the system, which only deepened the uncertainty.

Setting the Requirements for a New Payroll Solution

Shortly after stepping into her role as P&C lead, it became clear to Malou Brask that something had to change. In the search for the right payroll outsourcing partner, the requirements were clear:

● Payroll needed to be stable, with far fewer corrections
● Less manual work and simpler processes
● P&C needed to spend significantly less time on payroll

At the same time, it was essential for both P&C and Finance to stay on Zenegy Payroll, where all their data was already anchored. Switching systems would have been too disruptive at a time when the finance team was already under heavy pressure.

Through conversations with Azets, it became clear the existing setup could be run far more simply — and that the processes needed a rethink.

"It was clear we needed to go in a different direction," says Malou Brask.

Meeting a High Bar

The transition to Azets began with a full review of existing data and workflows. Longstanding issues were cleared up, and a more robust payroll setup was put in place.

After the switch, day-to-day operations changed dramatically. Payroll now runs stably with minimal involvement from P&C. Errors have been reduced to a minimum, and employee trust has grown. The impact has been felt across the whole organisation — not just in the process itself.

"Before, payroll took up a lot of space and often caused frustration. Now it just runs — and that makes a real difference day to day," says Malou Brask.

Time for What Actually Creates Value

The biggest shift has been in how that freed-up time gets used. Where P&C once spent weeks on checks, manual corrections and follow-up, there's now room to focus on employee development, wellbeing, work environment, and strategic initiatives.

"Now I get to spend my time on our people instead of firefighting payroll issues — working proactively instead of reactively. That's where we actually create value," Malou Brask emphasises.