Restaurant booking-data migration: a practical 3, 6 and 12-month guide
What to import from a previous booking platform, how to protect consent and how to make historical data useful from day one.
Key takeaways
Import reservation history and consent provenance, not just names and phone numbers.
Normalise duplicates before creating a single guest profile.
Keep an audit trail showing the source and date of every import.
What should be imported
The most useful migration includes reservation date and time, party size, status, cancellation and no-show outcomes, booking source, table or area, guest identifiers, notes, tags and marketing consent. POS spend can be imported separately and matched only when identity confidence is sufficient.
A CSV upload may be suitable for a smaller venue. Provider connections or assisted migration are safer when there are multiple venues, inconsistent fields or a large guest database.
Choosing the history window
Three months gives a fast view of current demand. Six months captures a broader set of operating conditions. Twelve months is preferred when the venue has meaningful seasonality, annual events or weather-sensitive areas. Importing all available history can support long-term guest value, but only when data quality and retention obligations justify it.
Consent and guest identity
A previous booking does not automatically mean a guest has agreed to every future marketing channel. Store the source, scope and timestamp of consent. Keep operational reservation messages separate from promotional communication.
Guest matching should use more than a name alone. Email and mobile number can help, but shared contact details, recycled numbers and typographical errors require a review path.
Validate before forecasting
Check cover totals against the source system, sample cancelled and completed bookings, review timezone handling and confirm that tables map to the correct venue areas. Forecasts should identify how much usable history they rely on and lower confidence when coverage is incomplete.