A reservation import is a convenient method of transferring historical, current, and future reservations into RMS.

Please Note! RMS is highly configurable. Some Terminology, User Access & Permissions, Images, Labels, and Functions used in these articles may differ from your setup. CLICK HERE to find out more.

Import Information

Information on the requirements for the Reservation Import is available in RMS.

• Reservations can only be imported after Categories, Areas, and Clients have been imported or created in RMS. 
• The import file must be in a comma-delimited .csv format (Field Delimiter) and match the required format, see the template at the bottom of the article.
• If a data field within this file contains commas, it should be surrounded with "double quotes" (Text Delimiter).
• Line returns should be replaced with the pipe character '|' (usually found on the backslash key).    
• Microsoft Excel is able to save using a .csv format that should match these requirements.   
• RMS is able to determine whether the first record is a header record.
• The Arrival and Departure fields require both date and time as YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss format (e.g 2026-JAN-25 14:00:00)
• Following a successful import of reservations, run the Update Housekeeping Schedules Utility once Housekeeping has been configured.

Please Note! On recent builds, the Reservation Import expects an additional column at the end of the file beyond the 66 columns documented in the Field Order table below. If the validator returns the error Record Length MisMatch: Expecting 67 Fields Got 66, add an empty 67th column to each row in the .csv.

Legacy IDs

There are multiple Legacy ID fields available within the reservation import; these IDs are unique identifiers for each record.  Some Legacy IDs are required, while others are optional depending on the desired import.

Important! Each line must have both a Legacy Res ID & a Legacy Guest ID. If both are not supplied then the file will not import.

• Legacy Res IDs are saved to Res Spare Field 10 and used by subsequent imports to look up reservations.
• Legacy Group Res IDs are saved to Res Spare Field 8 and used by subsequent imports to look up reservations.
• Legacy Guest IDs must match those imported during the Guest/Owner Import (Saved to Guest Spare Field 2).
• Legacy Company IDs must match those imported during the Company Import (Saved to Company Spare Field 1).
• If both Legacy Company ID and Company (Name) are provided, Legacy Company ID will be used.
• Legacy Agent IDs must match those imported during the Travel Agent Import (Saved to Travel Agent Spare Field 1).
• If both Legacy Agent ID and Travel Agent (Name) are provided, Legacy Company ID will be used.

Tip! Spare fields can be created in the Labels section of RMS.

Import Field Order

Important! Category & Area entries must match RMS exactly or the file will not import.

Reference Fields

If the reference field has a Y, the import will validate that the description exists in a pre-defined master list in the RMS system. If the description does not exist, one of the following two options will occur;

1. It can be added to the pre-defined master list in the RMS system for future use.
2. The record will not import until the field has been updated to represent a description that already exists in the pre-defined master list.

Please Note! In some cases, the Validate stage will flag a row as failing - for example with the error Specified Rate Type Is Missing From Database - that the Import stage then accepts. If a Validate failure does not appear in the Import Results table after running Import, the row was imported successfully. Always confirm via the Import Validation steps below that all expected rows landed.

Reservation Status Values

The status of the reservation must be imported using one of the following numerical values:

• 0 = Unconfirmed
• 1 = Confirmed
• 2 = Arrived
• 3 = Departed
• 4 = Cancelled
• 5 = Maintenance
• 6 = Quote
• 7 = Stop Sell
• 8 = Owner Occupied
• 9 = No Show
• 10 = Pencil
   

Date Formats

• All date fields must use the DD-MM-YYYY format (25-JAN-2025). 
• The Arrival and Departure fields require both date and time as YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss format (e.g 2026-JAN-25 14:00:00)
• If no time is provided, the RMS default times will be used.

Import Validation

To ensure that your data is clean, consistent, and ready for the Live production environment after it has been validated and imported into the Training environment, follow these steps:

In the side menu of RMS Training, go to Reservations > Reservation Search for data review.

1. Select a 'Search On' field.
2. Input the Search Criteria.
3. Select the 'Search' icon.
4. Select the Reservation Number to open the reservation.

• Review the Guest Details to confirm the correct guest assignment for the reservation.
• Confirm the Reservation Details to ensure the correct arrival & departure dates, category & area, rate type and any additional fields included in the reservation import.
• Examine the Account Details to confirm the correct rate amount.

Tip! Repeat this process with additional reservations to verify that the entire import was successful. Ensure that all necessary data points, such as number of occupants, are correctly populated.

Run the Reservation List Report (Reports > Daily > Reservation List > Group by Arrival Date > Build) as an additional layer of import verification.

Downloadable Import File

The attached import file below contains the required file format for a reservation import. Download the file and review the column headers. Populate the file with the reservation data, ensuring that each reservation field corresponds to the appropriate column.

Next Article: Data Validation & Trial Imports