The Joys of PMS Migration: How to Transition to Cloud-Native with Confidence | By Lauren Consiglio

For many hoteliers, this story will feel familiar: your legacy Property Management System (PMS) no longer meets the needs of your operation. Workflows are clunky, guest experiences inconsistent, and the thought of switching feels too costly or complex – so you stick with what you know.

But what does it really take to move to a cloud-native PMS like Mews, especially when your hotel runs 24/7 and downtime isn’t an option?

A recent Matt Talks episode featuring Mews CEO, Matt Welle, and Manisha, VP of Deployment and Customer Success, sheds light on what the transition truly looks like – and how to approach it with confidence.

Firstly, What Does Going Live Really Mean?

At Mews, “going live” means your old PMS is switched off, and your hotel is fully operating on the Mews platform. From contract signing through to final handover, the process covers everything – from essential but often overlooked data clean-up, to configuring payments, setting up room types, enabling bookings, and designing the guest journey.

Ultimately, going live isn’t just about flipping a switch. It means your team is confident, comfortable, and fully capable of running the hotel on the new system.

What the PMS Migration Journey Looks Like

Once the paperwork is out of the way, the real fun begins: shaping the platform to suit your hotel’s unique needs.

Configuration Phase

The initial setup involves defining room types and descriptions, not just beds and bathrooms but any bookable extras such as bike rentals, coworking desks, pool cabanas or spa treatments.

Next comes rate strategy – setting pricing rules, discounts, and promotions – alongside mapping accounting categories to build a solid operational foundation.

Getting Your Guest Journey Ready

Every hotel has a distinct brand and approach to service. Some embrace full automation with self-check-in and digital keys, while others prefer curated, high-touch guest interactions. This phase ensures the guest experience reflects your hotel’s personality and goals.

Payments Setup

Seamless, secure transactions are critical. This step involves shipping and installing payment terminals, enabling automated payment flows, and integrating payment processes smoothly into daily operations, reducing manual workload for staff.

Training Your Team

Your team’s comfort with the new system is essential. Mews offers flexible training options, including Mews University, which provides role-specific courses for front desk, finance, and more. Some opt for a “train the trainer” approach, where Mews teaches “champions” to then teach their teams.

That said, Mews is designed to be highly intuitive, so many frontline users pick it up naturally without extensive training.

Integrations

Connecting Mews to your wider tech ecosystem – channel managers, booking engines, and more – ensures smooth data flow and system synchronization.

Final Audit and Go-Live Prep

Before launch, a thorough checklist confirms all elements are in place. The aim is to ensure your first day live is flawless, with no disruption to bookings, payments, or guest experience.

How AI is Transforming the Onboarding Process

A major innovation in PMS deployment is how AI is helping reduce manual setup time – particularly in data formatting and migration.

For instance, tasks like formatting menus that used to take hours can now be completed in minutes using AI. The Mews team is also experimenting with scraping hotel websites to auto-generate accurate room descriptions, often achieving 95% accuracy compared to outdated OTA listings.

Other exciting possibilities being explored include using recorded sales conversations to pre-fill configuration data. Or analyzing Tripadvisor reviews to identify what guests truly love – potentially to enhance room descriptions or tailor upsell strategies. All these innovations align with the Mews goal of faster, less maintenance onboarding.

How Long Does Onboarding Take?

The timeline varies based on your goals and available resources. Some hotels have been fully operational on Mews within a week, while others take several months. On average, moving from contract signing to full operation takes around two months.

This figure can be deceiving though. Mews is built to move fast, but the timelines are very dependent on how quickly a hotel team wants to proceed and how much time they can dedicate to the transition.

A Mews Bonus Tip: Show Up with Your Goals

Going live shouldn’t be the only goal. Migrating to a modern, cloud-native system unlocks many benefits – but these come when you set clear objectives.

Are you focused on efficiency? Do you want to reduce time spent on check-ins, check-outs, or payment reconciliation? Or are you aiming to elevate the guest journey and reimagine your lobby space?

Consider your revenue goals too. Maximizing unused spaces, boosting upsells and upgrades, and leveraging technology to unlock new income streams will help shape your setup.

Here’s a simple example. A luxury hotel in Scotland frequently saw their guests getting lost on the way due to its location. By setting up automated emails, they now send clear directions and arrival information to customers, improving the guest experience and reducing confusion.

Come into the process with pain points you want to solve, and you’ll be able to build them into your onboarding.

What The Future Looks Like

Onboarding is already faster, smarter and more intuitive with Mews – but the future holds even greater promise. Manisha references the old hospitality analogy of onboarding being similar to heart surgery:

“You know, it’s like a triple bypass. You spend hours on the surgery table, and then it’s six to twelve weeks of recovery. It sounds really painful. I would like to think about how we can go from thinking you need a bypass to you getting a [comparatively simple] stent replacement.”

In other words, something that lets you get up and running in a day or two. The heart of your hotel will be better for it, and everything still runs smoothly. This will be possible, but only if we embrace automation and AI to make the process more responsive than it is now.

Ready to Start Your Journey?

Whether you’re considering making the switch or already planning your migration, having the right information – and the right partner – makes all the difference. Mews offers a comprehensive guide designed to help hoteliers confidently navigate the transition from a legacy PMS to a cloud-native platform.

Get the guide