Guide · Updated
How to switch booking system without losing customers.
Moving booking system feels risky because your future bookings, regular customers and prepaid balances all live in the old one. With the right order of steps you can switch without double-booking anyone or losing a cent of credit.
1. Check what you can export, before you need it
Log in to your current system and look for an export or download option for customers, future bookings, and any passes, credits, memberships or gift vouchers. Some systems export only customers; some charge for larger exports. Read your contract for notice periods and auto-renewal dates so you’re not billed for another year.
2. Make a list of what must survive the move
- Customers and their contact consent
- Future bookings, with date, time and place
- Unused credits, passes and gift voucher balances, by currency
- Active memberships and when each renews
- Your cancellation and refund terms
3. Map and check before anything goes live
Bring the export into the new system in a staging area first. Every row should either import cleanly, be deliberately left out, or be flagged for a decision. Check that totals match: the number of future bookings, and the value of outstanding credit. A difference you can’t explain is a reason to stop, not to go live.
4. Pick a quiet cut-over moment
Stop new sales in the old system, take a final export, check the differences since your first one, then switch your booking links. Changing the link on your website doesn’t stop the old system selling, so close sales there too.
5. Don’t charge anyone twice
Recurring memberships are billed by whichever system holds the payment mandate. Card details and direct debit mandates usually can’t be moved between providers, so plan when each member moves over and make sure only one system ever charges them.
6. Tell your customers simply
One short message is enough: what’s changing, the new booking link, that their booking and credit are safe, and who to contact. Send it after the switch, not before.
7. Keep the old export
Store the final export somewhere safe and private for your records, and delete it when you no longer need it.
Moving to Olladay
Olladay is designed to review an export with you before anything goes live: every row is staged, flagged for review, or left out on purpose, and a staged run can be rolled back if nothing has been used yet. We don’t promise a fixed time, because it depends on what your current system exports. Tell us what you use today.