How to migrate from your PMS (channel manager) to Nowistay

This guide explains how to migrate from any PMS or channel manager (such as Smoobu, Lodgify, Guesty, Hostaway, SuperHote, Hospitable, OwnerRez, or others) to Nowistay. The process is similar regardless of which PMS you're coming from.

Since OTAs like Airbnb and Booking.com only allow one channel manager at a time, you'll need to disconnect your channels from your current PMS before connecting them to Nowistay.

If you're migrating from Beds24 specifically, we have a dedicated step-by-step guide with exact menu paths and screenshots: How to switch from Beds24 to Nowistay.

Why switch to Nowistay?

• AI co-host — Nowistay's AI autonomously handles all your guest messages 24/7 on Airbnb, Booking.com and WhatsApp. No manual replies needed.
• Simpler, modern interface — clean and intuitive UX with the same channel management reliability you expect.
• Centralized calendar and pricing — manage availability and rates across all platforms from a single visual calendar.
• Team management & cleaning automation — automatic cleaning task creation on checkout, assign cleaning teams, checklists with photo reports, task tracking.
• ChatGPT & Claude connectors (MCP) — connect your properties to AI assistants for advanced management workflows. Learn more.
• Automated guest communication — scheduled emails and WhatsApp with AI responses.
• Smart lock automation — automatic code generation with Nuki, TTLock, and igloohome.
• Welcome guide — a digital guest handbook with AI-powered responses.
• Direct booking — widget for your website with Stripe payment integration.
• Dynamic pricing — PriceLabs integration for automated rate optimization.

Before you start

Prepare the following before starting the migration:

• Note your current PMS settings — especially your pricing, minimum/maximum stay rules, check-in and check-out times for each property.
• Export or screenshot your automated messages — if you have email templates or auto-messages in your current PMS, save them so you can recreate them in Nowistay.
• Check for pending bookings — make sure all current and upcoming bookings are confirmed and noted. They remain on the OTA platforms and will sync to Nowistay once connected.
• Have your Airbnb owner credentials ready — you'll need the account that owns the listings (not a co-host account).
• Have your Booking.com extranet access ready — you'll need it to disconnect and reconnect the channel manager.
• Create a Nowistay account — sign up at app.nowistay.com if you don't have one yet.

Things to know before migrating

Connecting Nowistay as your channel manager triggers a few automatic changes on Airbnb:

• Fee model change — Airbnb may switch your account to the host-only fee model (15–15.5%). Use Nowistay's Rate Adjustment feature to increase your Airbnb rate and keep the same net revenue.
• Calendar managed from Nowistay — prices and availability are now set from the Nowistay calendar.
• Instant booking — may be activated automatically.
• iCal links removed — Nowistay's real-time API sync replaces iCal.
• Some Airbnb settings become read-only — Smart Pricing, promotions, and stay rules should now be managed in Nowistay.
• All listings affected — changes apply to your entire Airbnb account.

None of these changes affect your revenue or guest experience negatively. For details: What changes when you connect Nowistay as your channel manager.

Step 1: Disconnect Airbnb from your current PMS

You need to unlink your Airbnb listings from your current PMS before connecting them to Nowistay. The exact steps depend on your PMS, but the general process is:

1. Log into your current PMS and find the Airbnb channel or integration settings.
2. Look for a "Disconnect", "Unlink", or "Remove" option for each Airbnb listing.
3. Disconnect all listings you want to migrate to Nowistay.

Alternative method: You can also disconnect from the Airbnb side. Log into your Airbnb account, go to Account > Privacy and Sharing > Services, and remove your PMS app.

Important: When you disconnect from a channel manager, Airbnb may reset some values to defaults:

• Minimum stay reset to 1 night
• "Closed to arrival" and "Closed to departure" restrictions removed
• Maximum stay reset to 1,125 nights

You'll reconfigure these in Nowistay after connecting.

Step 2: Disconnect Booking.com from your current PMS

To disconnect Booking.com, you need to deactivate the channel manager connection from the Booking.com extranet:

1. Log into your Booking.com extranet.
2. Click the Account icon in the top right-hand corner.
3. Select and open the dashboard of the property.
4. Select "Connectivity provider" from the drop-down menu.
5. Click the "Deactivate" button to cancel the connection to your current PMS.

Important: This only disconnects the channel manager link. Your property, listings and bookings on Booking.com remain intact.

Step 3: Connect your property to Nowistay

Now that your OTA channels are disconnected from your previous PMS, let's connect them to Nowistay. Choose the option that matches your situation:

Option A: You already have a property on Nowistay with a direct OTA or third-party PMS configuration

If your property is already on Nowistay — connected via a direct Airbnb/Booking.com integration, a third-party PMS connector (Beds24, Smoobu, Lodgify), or any other synchronization method — you don't need to add a new property. Simply switch the synchronization method:

1. Go to your property list in Nowistay.
2. Click on the property you want to migrate, then the menu button "...".
3. Click "Synchronization".
4. Click "Modify synchronization method".
5. Select "I don't have a PMS" then click "Activate Nowistay Integration".
6. Approve and connect your Airbnb account, then select the property from the proposed list to map it.
7. If you previously had a co-host on Airbnb or a contact on Booking.com for the old integration, you can now remove them — they are no longer needed.

Your existing assistant configuration, welcome guide, and settings will be preserved. Only the synchronization method changes.

For a detailed walkthrough: How to migrate from a direct integration to the Nowistay PMS integration.

Then continue to Step 4 to connect Booking.com.

Option B: You are new to Nowistay

1. Go to your property list in Nowistay and click "Add a property".

2. The setup wizard asks: "Do you use channel manager (PMS) software?" — Select "No, I don't use a PMS" (since you just disconnected your previous one).

3. Next: "Do you list on Airbnb?" — Click "Yes, import from Airbnb".

4. You'll be redirected to Airbnb — log in with your owner account and click "Allow" to authorize the connection.

5. Back in Nowistay, select which Airbnb listing(s) to import and click "Import".

Your property is created automatically with all your Airbnb data: name, photos, description, pricing, and more.

For a detailed walkthrough: Connect Airbnb to Nowistay

Step 4: Connect Booking.com to Nowistay

After connecting your property (via Option A or B), add Booking.com as an additional channel:

1. Go to your property in Nowistay and open the Synchronization section.
2. Under the Nowistay integration, click "Add a booking platform (OTA)".
3. Select Booking.com.
4. Activate the "Channex.io" connectivity provider on your Booking.com extranet:
   • Go to your Booking.com extranet > Account > Channel Manager
   • Search for "Channex.io" and activate it
5. Back in Nowistay, enter your Hotel ID (found in the Booking.com extranet header, next to your property name).

6. If your property has multiple room types, select the one to sync.
7. Click "Connect".

For a detailed walkthrough: Connect Booking.com to Nowistay

Step 5: Set up your Welcome Guide

Nowistay will guide you to create a Welcome Guide — a digital guest handbook that the AI uses to answer questions.

• Guide creation wizard (recommended) — let the AI generate content from your Airbnb listing and PDF documents.
• Copy from an existing guide — duplicate a guide from another property.
• Create from scratch — build your guide manually.

Step 6: Your AI assistant is ready

Once your property and welcome guide are set up, your AI co-host activates automatically. It will:

• Respond to all guest messages on Airbnb, Booking.com and WhatsApp
• Handle booking inquiries from the very first message
• Use your welcome guide to provide accurate answers
• Work 24/7 without any action needed from you

Step 7: Verify your calendar and availability settings

This is critical. Right after connecting your OTA channels, check your calendar immediately. Some settings may have been reset during the disconnection from your previous PMS.

Check your calendar

1. Go to Calendars in the left sidebar.
2. Review each property carefully:
   • Nightly rates — verify prices are correct. Click any date to adjust.
   • Availability — make sure dates are open (green) or closed (red) as expected.
   • Minimum stay — may have been reset to 1 night. Set your rules by clicking a date range and enabling "Minimum Stay".
   • Maximum stay — may have been reset to 1,125 nights. Adjust via "Advanced settings" in the calendar.

For a detailed guide: How to manage availability and prices from the calendar

Configure Airbnb availability settings

Go to your property's Synchronization > "Channel settings" next to Airbnb > "Airbnb Availability" tab and verify:

• Advance notice — how much lead time before a guest can book.
• Preparation time — blocked nights between bookings for cleaning.
• Availability window — how far ahead guests can book.
• Max nights — maximum reservation length.
• Allowed check-in / check-out days — restrict weekdays for arrival/departure.

Set up Rate Adjustment for Airbnb

If Airbnb switched your account to the host-only fee model (15–15.5%), compensate by adding a rate adjustment:

1. Synchronization > "Channel settings" next to Airbnb > "Rate Adjustment" tab.
2. Enter a positive percentage (e.g., +15%).
3. Click "Save".

Your calendar shows the base rate, but Airbnb receives the adjusted rate. Guests always see the total price, so zero impact on bookings.

For details: Airbnb availability settings

Step 8: Recreate your automated messages

If you had automated emails in your previous PMS (booking confirmation, check-in instructions, checkout reminders), recreate them in Nowistay:

1. Go to Automations > "Guest Messages" > click the message icon.
2. Click "+ Add message" or "Generate with AI" to auto-create a set of templates.
3. For each template, set:
   • Trigger event: Booking Confirmed, Check-in, or Check-out
   • Timing: hours before/after (e.g., -48 = 2 days before check-in)
   • Subject and Message body: copy-paste from your old PMS and replace the variables

Replace your PMS variables with Nowistay variables

Most PMS systems use some form of dynamic placeholders. Nowistay uses the {{variable}} syntax. Here are the available variables:

Guest: {{guest_first_name}}, {{guest_last_name}}, {{guest_full_name}}, {{guest_count}}

Dates: {{arrival_date}}, {{departure_date}}, {{number_of_nights}}, {{arrival_day_name}}, {{arrival_month_name}}

Times: {{check_in_time}}, {{check_out_time}}

Property: {{property_name}}, {{property_address}}, {{welcome_guide_url}}

Booking: {{reservation_number}}, {{booking_channel}}, {{booking_amount}}, {{currency}}

Smart locks: {{smartlock_code}}, {{nuki_code}}

Other: {{host_first_name}}, {{whatsapp_link}}, {{identity_check_link}}

Conditions

You can restrict templates by source channel (Airbnb only, Booking.com only, Direct, or all), booking status, minimum stay, or smart lock code availability.

Multilingual templates

Nowistay auto-detects the guest's language and sends the matching version. Add translations for up to 15 languages, or use "Translate from default" for AI-powered translation.

For a detailed guide: How to set up automated guest emails

Step 9: Replace your booking widget (optional)

If you used your PMS's booking widget on your website, replace it with Nowistay's Direct Booking widget:

1. Go to Integrations > "Direct Booking" > "Configure".
2. Connect your Stripe account for payments.
3. Configure: payment mode (full or split), primary color, font, terms URL.
4. Add taxes if needed.
5. Select your property and language, then copy the embed code.
6. On your website, remove the old PMS widget code and paste the Nowistay code.

The widget is responsive and works on WordPress, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, or plain HTML.

For a detailed guide: How to set up direct booking on your website

What happens to my data?

• Your existing bookings on Airbnb and Booking.com remain untouched — they live on the OTA platforms.
• Future bookings will sync through Nowistay.
• You can keep your old PMS account active for reference during the transition.
• Once everything works in Nowistay, you can cancel your previous PMS subscription.

Need help?

If you run into any issues during the migration, don't hesitate to contact our support team. We're here to help you make the switch as smooth as possible.