PMS migration checklist: switching vacation rental software

Everything to do from the day you decide to switch to the weeks after you go live: 8 phases, 51 steps. Print it, or download the CSV and assign each step an owner and a date.

Download the checklist (CSV)

The move, phase by phase

  1. 1. Decide and plan

    Read your current contract before anything else: the notice period, renewal date, any early-termination fee and what it says about exporting your data. Pick a switch-over date in a quiet week — few arrivals, not a holiday, not month-end — and work back from it. Name one person to own the move.

  2. 2. Export everything before you cancel

    Once access ends, what you didn’t export is gone. Export reservations past and future with the money, guests, owners, owner balances and a trial balance at the cutoff date, the year’s 1099 data, tasks, rates, listing content, any message history you want to keep, and documents. Date every file and keep a copy outside both systems.

  3. 3. Keep your channel listings — and your reviews

    Reviews belong to the listing on each channel, not to your software. Keep the same listings and connect them to the new system; don’t delete and recreate them. Record every listing ID and the confirmation code of every future booking so each one can be matched.

  4. 4. Run both systems side by side

    Load your bookings into the new system while the old one keeps messaging guests and taking payments. Bring across bookings made or changed during the run, set up cleaning schedules, and test a real direct booking end to end.

  5. 5. Reconcile every booking

    Before you switch, check every future booking — property, dates, guest, total, paid and balance due — and that owner balances and trust totals match the old system at the cutoff date. Write down each difference and how you resolved it.

  6. 6. Switch over

    On the day, turn off the old system’s guest messages, payment reminders, scheduled charges and owner statement runs, so guests aren’t messaged or charged twice. Move the channel connections, check every calendar, update website links and call forwarding, then turn on the new system’s messages.

  7. 7. Tell owners, train the team

    Owners want the date, what changes for them and how they’ll log in. Train office staff, housekeepers and maintenance before switch-over day, not after. Tell guests only what affects them, such as a new payment link.

  8. 8. Check after the switch

    Watch the first week of arrivals closely, check channel calendars daily for double bookings, and make sure the first payments and payouts reconcile. At the first month-end, compare owner statements and the trust reconciliation with prior months. Cancel the old system last.

A word on reviews

No software moves reviews from one listing to another. Reviews belong to your listing on each channel, so the way to keep them is to keep the listing: connect your existing Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com listings to the new system rather than creating new ones. Be wary of anyone who says otherwise.

The checklist

Tick steps as you go, or print it and pin it up for the move.

1. Decide and plan

2. Export everything before you cancel

3. Channel listings and reviews

4. Parallel run

5. Reconcile every booking

6. Switch over

7. People

8. After the switch

Download or print

No sign-up. The CSV opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers with one row per step: phase, step, who owns it, due date, done and notes — so you can share it with your team and track the move.

Download the checklist (CSV)

Still choosing?

If you haven’t picked the new system yet, ask every vendor how the move works before you sign.

How to choose vacation rental software

About us — this section is about VacayOps

How the VacayOps Migration Center handles it

Switching is built in — a self-guided Migration Center, with a specialist reviewing your move.

Migration is the reason managers stay on software they have outgrown. The Migration Center is in your account from day one: it reads your old system’s exports, shows exactly what will change before anything is saved, runs both systems side by side so your guests notice nothing, checks every booking against your old system, and switches over on the day you pick.

  • Self-guided, from your exports. You run it from your own account. There is no API connection to your old system — it works from the files you export, with export guides for Streamline, Guesty, Hostaway, OwnerRez, Escapia, Track and Hospitable, and a general guide for anything else.
  • Preview before saving. Each upload shows what it would change before anything is saved.
  • A parallel run. Both systems run side by side; you re-upload a fresh export by hand whenever you want the latest bookings brought across.
  • Every booking checked against your old system, and pre-flight checks before the switch-over.
  • A specialist reviews your move, with a kickoff call and a review before you switch over.
  • What stays behind: reviews stay on your channel listings, and guest message history, saved cards and rate calendars don’t come across.
  • No setup fee — onboarding, setup, configuration and training included.

Switching from a particular system:

See the Migration CenterBook a 30-minute walkthrough

Questions about switching vacation rental software

Will my reviews move to the new software?
Reviews don’t live in your software — they belong to each listing on Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com. Keep the same listings and connect them to your new system, and the reviews stay where they are. Deleting a listing and creating a new one is what loses them.
How long does it take to switch vacation rental software?
It depends on how many properties and bookings you have, how clean your old data is and how long you run both systems side by side. Plan the switch-over date first, work back to when your exports and parallel run need to start, and leave room before your old contract ends.
When should I cancel my old PMS?
Give notice in time to avoid an automatic renewal, but keep the old system running until you have switched over, checked the first week, and saved and checked your final exports. Ask the vendor whether your access ends the day the contract does.
What is a parallel run?
A period where both systems hold your bookings. The old one keeps messaging guests and taking payments; the new one is loaded, checked and set up behind the scenes. It lets you find differences before guests or owners notice anything.
What data should I export before switching?
Past and future reservations with every money line, guests, owners with payout and tax details, owner balances and a trial balance at the cutoff date, the year’s 1099 data, trust balances, property details and access codes, rates, open tasks, vendors, message templates and history you want to keep, and documents such as owner statements and agreements.
Why do guests get duplicate messages after a switch?
Because the old system’s scheduled messages and payment reminders are still switched on. Turn off guest messages, payment reminders, scheduled charges and owner statement runs in the old system on switch-over day, before the new system’s messages go live.