You must import stayover reservations into Mews Operations to continue managing reservations that start before go-live and end after go-live. You perform this action during system migration, after you import future reservations, and before you begin daily operations in Mews Operations.

Before you import your stayover reservations, make sure to import your future reservations. 

In this article, you can learn about:

• How to import stayover reservations to Mews Operations
  • Step 1: Shorten the reservation in your current property management system
  • Step 2: Add the reservation to Mews Operations
    • Manually add reservations
    • Import stayover reservations
      • Download the import spreadsheet
      • Update the import spreadsheet
      • Import customers
  • Step 3: Verify the reservation import
  • Import errors
    • Errors in Mews Operations
    • Errors in the template
      • Incorrect formatting of dates in the template
    • Pending status not updating
  • Troubleshoot import issues

 

How to import stayover reservations to Mews Operations

Step 1: Shorten the reservation in your current property management system

1. Open the reservation in your current property management system and shorten it so that it ends on the same day as your go-live with Mews. For example, if your go-live date is March 15th, shorten the reservation so that it ends on March 15th.
2. Close the bill. Guests with stayover reservations will receive two bills for their stay:

• one issued from your old property management system, from arrival date to go-live date, and
• one from Mews Operations, from go-live date to their departure date.

Step 2: Add the reservation to Mews Operations

You can add stayover reservations manually into Mews Operations, or by import.

Manually add reservations 

This is the recommended option, as it helps your team practice creating reservations in Mews Operations and become familiar with the system before go-live. Use this option when you have a smaller number of reservations to manage. If you have a large number of stayover reservations, manual creation can be time-consuming. In this case, use the import option.

 

Note: If reservations are already imported automatically from a channel manager or online travel agency, you do not need to recreate them. Assign the correct space to complete the setup.

 

To manually add reservations:

1. In Mews Operations, Create each reservation 
2. Set the arrival date to your go-live date. For example, if your go-live date is March 15th, the reservation should start on March 15th.
3. Set the departure date to the original departure date.
4. Enter the remaining price for the stay after go-live. For example, a reservation stays for 3 nights, but only nights 2 and 3 are added to Mews. Mews went live on the 2nd day of the reservation. You now need to only add the price for the days that are in Mews.

 

Import stayover reservations

You can also import your stayover reservations in Mews Operations. Follow these steps to do so.

 

Import the reservation using the import template

Use this option if you manage a larger number of stayover reservations. Prepare and upload the file using the process in the help article How to download and upload an import file.

 

While preparing the import file, you must:

• Set the arrival date to your go-live date
• Include only the remaining charges after go-live
• Add the allocated room number to keep the guest in the space they are already occupying

 

 

Download the import spreadsheet

1. Go to the main menu  > Settings > Property.
2. Click the Import customers icon in the top right corner.
3. Click the  Download empty template icon, in the top right corner. 

Update the import spreadsheet

1. Open the Excel spreadsheet.
2. Add the reservation with the new arrival date, i.e., your go-live date.
3. In the Total Price column, add any remaining costs for the reservation. This price shouldn’t include anything settled prior to go-live.
4. In the Allocated Room Number column, add the corresponding room number in Mews so that reservations are assigned correctly.
5. Save the Excel spreadsheet.

Import customers

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu  > Settings > Property.
2. Click the Import customers icon in the top right corner.
3. Under File, click in the grey area to upload the file on your computer.
4. Click Import customers. You receive an email on completion of the import.
5. View the status of the import in the Installations Queue.

• If the import failed, click on it to see a detailed list of the errors.
• Mews marks successful imports in green with Success in the status column.

 

Step 3: Verify the reservation import

Check the Reservation report to ensure that Mews correctly uploaded the reservations.

1. Click Reservation report on the Mews Dashboard or go to the main menu  > Reservations > Reservation report.
2. In the Origin filter select Import.
3. Click View report.

Import errors

If there's a problem with your import, check the error report to find out why.

To view the report:

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu  > Queues > Installations.
2. Click on the installation code to view the errors. 

 

Errors in Mews Operations

You need to fix some of the errors directly in Mews Operations, for example, if you misspell a product name. 

To fix the error:

1. Update the incorrect information in Mews Operations, for example, the misspelled product name.
2. Go to the main menu  > Queues > Installations.
3. Click on the installation code.
4. Click the Execute icon to run the job again.
5. Refresh the Installation queue items screen to update the status of the upload.

 

Errors in the template

Some errors occur because the system does not recognize the information in the template. Common template errors occur because of:

• Incorrect format used in the Date columns.
• An outdated import file.
• The Company tab removed from the template.

Once you fix any errors in your template, upload the corrected file to Mews Operations.
 

Incorrect formatting dates in the template

1. Open the import template in Excel.
2. Select the whole column with the faulty date format, for example, Arrival date.
3. In the toolbar, click on the Data tab.
4. In the Data tools section, click Text to columns.

5. Make sure the Delimited checkbox is selected, then click Next.

6. Click Next again. 
7. Under Column data format, select Text.

8. Click Finish. 

 

Pending status not updating

If the status of the upload on the Installation queue items screen is in Pending status for a long time, contact Mews customer care team so they can investigate.

Note: Do not upload the file again. In case the initial upload was successful, you end up creating a duplicate of your reservations. You then need to manually cancel these, which negatively impacts your cancellation statistics.

 

Troubleshoot import issues

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu > Queues > Installations.
2. Open the installation item.

Review:

• Import status
• Error details

3. Fix any issues in the file or in Mews Operations, then re-upload the corrected file.

 

Common causes of errors include:

• Incorrect date format, for example, DD/MM/YYYY.
• Outdated template with incorrect header names
• Mismatch between the file and how room, rate, or product names appear in Mews.
• Overbookings or blocked rooms where no space is available for the reservation dates
• References to entities that do not yet exist in Mews, such as companions, companies, or travel agencies
• Incorrect country codes, for example, using UK instead of GB