Guest Data Import Checklist for New CRM Setup

Before You Import — Data Audit

Importing guest data into a new CRM is a high-stakes operation. Get it right and your team starts with a clean, complete database from day one. Get it wrong and you inherit a mess of duplicates, missing fields, and broken relationships that takes months to fix.

The import itself is the easy part. The preparation is what determines success.

Identify Source Systems and File Formats

Start by listing every system that currently holds guest data. Common sources include:

• Previous CRM or property management system (PMS)
• Booking engine databases
• Excel or Google Sheets maintained by departments
• Email marketing platforms
• Paper records that need manual entry

For each source, document the file format (CSV, Excel, database export) and the fields available. Not every source will have the same fields — your marketing tool might have emails but no phone numbers, while your PMS has room history but no preferences.

Clean Duplicates and Incomplete Records

Before importing, clean the data. Duplicate records are the most common problem. A single guest might appear as "John Smith," "J. Smith," and "john.smith@email.com" across three systems. Use email address as a primary deduplication key, with name and phone as secondary matches.

Remove records that are genuinely incomplete — entries with no name and no email serve no purpose. But be careful: a record with only an email address might still be valuable for marketing. Define your minimum viable record before you start deleting.

Field Mapping Essentials

Contact Details, Nationality, Preferences

Map source fields to destination fields explicitly. Your old system's "Phone1" might become "Primary Phone." The "Country" field in one system needs to map to "Nationality" in the new CRM. Do not assume fields will match automatically — they rarely do.

Create a mapping spreadsheet that lists every source field, its destination field, and any transformation required (for example, date format from MM/DD/YYYY to YYYY-MM-DD).

Lifecycle Data and Visit History

If your old system tracked visit counts, last visit dates, or loyalty tiers, map these carefully. Lifecycle data is what makes your CRM intelligent from day one. Without it, every imported guest looks like a first-timer.

TacTech.ai's Guest & Customer Management supports CSV and Excel imports with field mapping and automatic deduplication, so you can migrate existing customer records without manual re-entry.

Step-by-Step Import Process

1. Export data from each source system into CSV or Excel format
2. Clean each file — remove duplicates, standardize formats, fill missing fields where possible
3. Map fields from source to destination using your mapping spreadsheet
4. Test import with a small sample (50-100 records) and verify results
5. Review the test batch for accuracy — check names, emails, phone formats, dates
6. Full import once the test batch is validated
7. Merge sources if importing from multiple systems, with deduplication at each merge step

Post-Import Validation and Testing

After the full import, run these checks:

• Record count — does the total match your expected count minus duplicates?
• Field completeness — what percentage of records have email? Phone? Preferences?
• Relationship integrity — are bookings linked to the correct guest profiles?
• Search test — can you find specific guests by name, email, and phone?
• Staff verification — ask front desk staff to look up 10 known guests and confirm the data looks correct

Document any issues found and resolve them before going live. A clean launch builds staff confidence in the new system.

How do I avoid duplicate records during CRM migration? Use email address as a primary deduplication key during import. Run deduplication on your source data before importing, then use the CRM's built-in deduplication during the import process for a second pass.

What file formats work for CRM data import? Most CRM systems accept CSV and Excel (XLSX) files. CSV is recommended for large datasets because it is simpler and less prone to formatting issues.

Need help planning your data migration? Contact our team for a guided walkthrough.