Switching from Cubilis to another PMS: how to move without losing bookings

Short answer: you can switch from Cubilis to another PMS or channel manager without losing bookings if you keep the right order. First pull a reservation export from Cubilis, have it imported into your new system, only then switch your channels such as Booking.com, and finally check your calendar. Booking.com accepts only one channel manager at a time per property: the moment you switch, Cubilis stops sending rates and availability.

Looking for the Cubilis login itself? That is with Cubilis (Lighthouse); this article is about moving to another system.

Cubilis and Lighthouse: some context

Cubilis is the channel manager of Belgian company Stardekk. In February 2024 Stardekk was acquired by Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight), which is why you see both names. For your switch it makes little difference: you work with the data in your own Cubilis account, and you can export that yourself.

Why operators switch varies. Some want everything on one screen: reservations, invoices, guest messages and channels, instead of a channel manager next to a separate booking system. For others it is about the pricing structure, or about selling more directly through their own website. Whatever the reason, the mechanics of the switch stay the same.

The three risks of a switch

A PMS migration almost always goes wrong in the same three places:

1. Bookings falling through the cracks. A reservation arrives in the old system after you made the export, but before the channels were switched.
2. Duplicate bookings. The same reservation appears twice in your calendar, once from the import and once via the new channel connection.
3. Overbookings. During the switch no system sends availability to the channels, or two systems send it at once.

The plan below is built to avoid all three.

Step 1: make your reservation export as late as possible

Log in to Cubilis, open your reservation list, pick the period and download it as an Excel file (.xlsx). Include at least all future reservations. If you also want your history in the new system (useful for statistics and returning guests), choose a wider period, for example from 1 January.

Make that export as close to the switch as possible. The smaller the window between export and switch, the smaller the chance that a booking lands only in Cubilis.

Step 2: map your room names

Send a short list with the export: which accommodation name in Cubilis belongs to which room in your new system. That seems unnecessary until you discover you renamed a room at some point. If the export contains an old name, no system can attach that row to the right room automatically. The list solves it in one go.

Step 3: import and check

A good import does three things:

• Everything comes across: Booking.com reservations, bookings from your own website and manually entered reservations. Cancelled bookings arrive as cancelled, so your figures add up.
• No emails to guests: an import is not a new booking. Your guests should not notice your move.
• Safely repeatable: importing the same export twice, or a fresh export over the first one later, must not create duplicates.

Then open your calendar and check a few upcoming reservations: right room, right dates, right price.

Step 4: switch your channels

Only now do you switch. On Booking.com you choose the new connection in the extranet; from that moment Cubilis stops sending anything. How that works in practice is explained in what an extranet is and what you still do there yourself. Do the same for Airbnb, Expedia and your other channels.

Does a Booking.com reservation arrive a second time via the new connection after the switch? A solid system recognises it by its reservation code and merges it instead of creating a duplicate.

Step 5: catch the last bookings

Did something still land in Cubilis between your export and the switch, a direct booking for example? Make a second, fresh export and have it imported over the first one. Because the import is repeatable, only the new reservations are added.

Cancel your Cubilis subscription only when everything is in your new system and you have checked it. The export itself changes nothing in your Cubilis account.

How it works in BedFlow PMS

Moving from Cubilis to BedFlow PMS? Email your export and the room list to support. We run the import for you and report exactly what was read in and what was not, and why. The import works as described above: repeatable, no guest emails, and merging on reservation code. Imported bookings do not have a proforma yet; you create one with a single click when you want to send the guest a payment link.

The full step-by-step plan is in the guide Migrating from Cubilis (Lighthouse). Want to understand first which connections you actually need? Read which connections a PMS and channel manager need. What it costs is on our pricing page.

In short

• Order: export, room list, import, check, switch channels, second export.
• Make the export as late as possible and switch soon after.
• A good import is repeatable, sends no emails and recognises duplicates by reservation code.
• Cancel your old subscription only once you have checked everything.

Still unsure? Try BedFlow PMS free for 30 days, no card details needed, and see your own rooms and reservations in the new system before you switch anything.