How long does it take to switch hotel PMS, and what can go wrong?

What decides how long a switch takes

No vendor can give you an honest timeline without looking at your property. These are the things that make a switch quicker or slower. Ask every vendor how they handle each one.

1. Your future reservations. Every booking already on the books for the coming months has to arrive in the new system with the right dates, room type, rate, deposit and guest details. This is the part that matters most, because a missing booking turns into a guest at the desk with no room.

2. Rates, room types and rules. Room types, rate plans, taxes and restrictions have to be set up again. A simple rate structure moves faster than one built up over years with lots of exceptions.

3. Channel connections. Each OTA and channel manager connection has to be pointed at the new PMS. Ask in what order this happens and who checks availability on each channel after the switch.

4. Guest profiles and history. Find out what your current vendor will export, in what format, and whether they charge for it. Some older systems make this hard.

5. Staff time. Front desk, housekeeping, night audit and accounting each need hands-on time with real workflows before the switch, not on the day.

6. Local compliance. In countries like Serbia and Croatia, guest registration and fiscal invoicing have to keep working from the first check-in. Ask exactly how the new system handles this and what you need to provide.

What can go wrong, and how to lower the risk

Lost or duplicated bookings. Compare a count of future reservations in the old system with the new one before you switch, then spot-check arrivals for the first weeks.

Overbooking during the switch. If the old and new systems both send availability to channels at the same time, or neither does, you can sell a room twice or not at all. Agree on a cut-over moment and check each channel straight after.

Open folios and balances. Guests in-house on switch day, deposits and unpaid accounts need a clear plan. Pick a quiet day, outside peak season, and close out what you can in the old system first.

Staff falling back to paper. If the team doesn't trust the new screens, they work around them. Train on your own room types and real cases, and make sure the night auditor is trained too.

Getting locked in again. Before you sign, check that you can export your own data from the new system and cancel without a long contract.

How HAIP PMS Cloud fits a switch

No servers to install. Telivity hosts, monitors and updates HAIP PMS Cloud, so there is no hardware to set up at the hotel and no upgrades for your team to run.

Free migration and an overlap month. We move your data across for free, and you get an overlap month so the old system stays available while your team settles in.

Everyone gets a login. Unlimited staff seats with role permissions come with the core plan, so every person on the team can practice before go-live without adding to your bill.

A front desk your team will recognize. Arrivals, in-house and departures in one view, 1-click check-in, room moves, walk-ins, live room status, and folios with split bills, routing, taxes and payment capture. Night audit and reporting on occupancy, ADR and RevPAR are built in.

Direct bookings and channels. A commission-free direct booking engine is included, and HAIP Cloud works with the channel manager your hotel already uses, such as Channex, SiteMinder, DerbySoft or Beds24. Channel costs are passed through at cost, with no Telivity markup.

Your data stays yours. Reports export to CSV, including an accounting CSV export.

Local language and currency. The dashboard is available in Hrvatski and Srpski (Latin), with English as fallback.

Serbian and Croatian compliance. Compliance is built into the data flow. Live filing switches on per property with your credentials or a certified partner. We will go through what that means for your hotel before you switch.

No long contract. Billing is month-to-month, and you can cancel anytime. A card is needed before go-live.

A real person on support. When something comes up during the switch, you talk to a person, not a chatbot.

FAQ

How long will my switch take? It depends on your reservations, rates, channels and staff schedule. Tell us about your property and current system and we will walk through what a switch looks like for you.

Will my future reservations come across? That is the first thing to plan in any PMS switch. Migration is free. Bring a list of your future bookings from your current system and we will go through how they move.

Do I need to buy hardware or install anything? No. HAIP PMS Cloud is hosted, monitored and updated by Telivity.

Does training more staff cost more? No. The core plan includes unlimited staff seats, and seats are never the pricing meter.

Am I locked in if it doesn't work out? No. Billing is month-to-month and you can cancel anytime.

Plan your switch

Book a 15-minute intro and bring your room count, current PMS and channels. We will go through what moving to HAIP PMS Cloud looks like for your hotel: Book a 15-min HAIP Cloud intro