Switch your hostel PMS without losing a booking
Send the export from your current system, as it is, to contact@hostelmate.co. Small files are usually loaded within the hour, a full property within the day, and you keep taking bookings the whole time.
Switching PMS does not have to mean losing your data
This is usually the first question people ask when they are thinking about moving to a new system: What happens to everything I already have?
You may already have future reservations on the calendar, guest details in your system, room and bed setup configured, notes attached to bookings, and a team that cannot afford a messy changeover.
That is exactly why we built our onboarding process around migration support.
If your current PMS lets you export your data, we can review the files and help bring the important parts into HostelMate, so you are not left rebuilding your operation from scratch.
Want the play-by-play before you commit? Start with how switching actually works, then the guide for where you are coming from: what switching from a hotel PMS looks like, how to move out of the spreadsheet or, since Counter shut down, how to leave Hostelworld Inbox behind.
We import your upcoming bookings and any historical reservation data that makes sense to bring across, so you are not rebuilding the calendar from scratch.
- check-in and check-out dates
- room or bed assignments
- guest names
- pricing and booking totals
A simple migration process, handled with you
- 01
1. You export your data from your current system
This usually includes reservation data, guest details and any other useful reports your current PMS can provide.
- 02
2. You send the files to our support team
Once we have the files, we review them and check what can be imported cleanly.
- 03
3. We map the data to HostelMate
We organise the data so it matches the right fields and structure inside your new account.
- 04
4. We import it into HostelMate
Once everything is ready, we handle the import for you.
- 05
5. You review the setup before go-live
Before you switch fully, you can check that your reservations and setup look right. It is reviewed, checked and handled properly before you start relying on the system day to day.
Fast support-led onboarding
When the files are ready, small ones are usually loaded within the hour and a full property within the day.
That speed matters. Most hostels do not have spare time to spend rebuilding future bookings manually or cleaning up avoidable mistakes after launch.
A support-led import gives you a much cleaner start and helps your team focus on getting the property live, not firefighting the move.
An important distinction: your PMS is not the same thing as your booking channels
If you are moving from Cloudbeds or BananaDesk, those are examples of systems you may already use to run your property. Platforms like Booking.com, Airbnb and Hostelworld are different, those are channels where guests make bookings.
That means there are two separate parts to onboarding: Moving your data from your current PMS and Connecting your booking channels. These two things are related, but they are not the same.
Connecting a channel starts delivering new bookings to HostelMate. It doesn't bring the reservations already sitting on that channel, so those need one more step, straight after you map rooms and rates.
Hostelworld: in the Hostelworld connection, open Manage Connection and click Import Bookings. It's a one-time pull of every reservation already on Hostelworld. Coworksurf and Mixdorm work the same way.
The safest way to go live
1. Export your current data: Pull the files you need from your existing PMS.
2. Import the key bookings and guest details into HostelMate: This gives you a proper base inside the new system.
3. Review your setup: Check rooms, beds, reservations and availability.
4. Bring in each channel's existing bookings: Import Bookings for Hostelworld, Pull Future Reservations for the others, and an export for anything left over.
5. Connect your channels and go live: Once the important bookings and setup are in place, the switch is much safer.
- reservation exports
- guest data exports
- room or bed setup
- room type information
- rate plan details, where relevant
- your target go-live date
If you are not sure which reports to export, that is fine. We can guide you on what is most useful. The point is to keep the process practical and manageable, not turn it into an admin marathon.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, provided your current system lets you export. Reservations, guest details, and your room and bed setup all come across; our team reviews the files first and tells you honestly if something will not transfer cleanly.
The parts that usually need a second look are custom fields and historic invoices, which vary a lot between systems. Everything a front desk needs to run tomorrow morning moves without drama.
Cloudbeds, BananaDesk, other hostel or hotel systems, Hostelworld Inbox, and spreadsheets or CSV files. If your current system exports, we can review it.
Reservations (dates, beds or rooms, guest names and totals), guest details where the export includes them, and your room and bed setup. Custom fields and old invoices vary most between systems, so we tell you up front if those won't transfer cleanly.
Small files are usually loaded within the hour, a full property within the day. You keep taking bookings the whole time, and channels move across one at a time.
To contact@hostelmate.co, or in the chat, exactly as they come out of your current system. No cleanup needed.
New ones arrive once the channel is connected. For the ones already on Hostelworld, open Manage Connection in the Hostelworld connection and click Import Bookings, a one-time pull. If anything is missing, export it from the extranet and send it to contact@hostelmate.co.
New ones do. For the ones already there, run Pull Future Reservations; if a platform won't hand them over, export them from its extranet and we'll load them.
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