Import your rules from PIE

Where to find it

On the Rules tab of a Cloudbeds property, Import from PIE is a small link beside the Pricing Rules heading. At the end of the setup review, above the button that finishes it, a line reads "Have rules in PIE? Import from PIE", which opens the Rules tab with the import open.

Importing is for anyone who can add rules: a Revenue Manager, General Manager or Hotel Admin. Anyone else can read the list, and adding is refused with "Only a Revenue Manager or above can change this."

Take the screenshot

In Cloudbeds, open PIE and go to Rules and Alerts. Take a screenshot that has the rules table's column headings in it: ACTIVE, NAME, MODE, TYPE, DESCRIPTION, START DATE and END DATE. For your floors and ceilings too, include the Minimum Price and Maximum Price and the PRICE LIMITS BY ACCOMMODATION TYPE table above it.

In the import, drop the screenshot on the box, paste it, or click choose a file. "Reading your screenshot…" shows while MAYA reads it, usually a few seconds. A file that isn't a picture gets "Add a screenshot (an image file).", and a picture your browser can't open gets "That file isn't an image MAYA can read."

A screenshot from a high resolution screen, such as a Mac's, reads best. One from a smaller screen (a Windows laptop at 100%, say) has smaller text, so MAYA reads it closer; anything it may have misread is left unticked for you to check (read Rules and limits to check).

More rules than fit on one screen. Scroll and take another screenshot, and add them all: drop several at once, or click Add a screenshot on the review. A rule that shows in two screenshots counts once (the same name, description, dates, mode and type is the same rule; two rules alike but for their dates stay two). A screenshot scrolled past the headings is read with the headings of an earlier one, when it is the same width.

A rule one screenshot ends part way through and the next one starts with is put back together from its two halves and listed once, unticked, with "Put together from two screenshots. Check it, then tick it." When PIE's "Showing 1 to 9 of 9 entries" is in a screenshot and fewer rules are in the review, it says so, such as "PIE lists 9 rules, and 7 are here. Add a screenshot that shows the rest."

What MAYA reads

The screenshot is read on your computer, in your browser, and never leaves it: it is not uploaded, sent or kept. The first time, your browser loads the reader from MAYA, a few megabytes. Nothing goes to any other company.

From each row of the rules table MAYA reads the name, the MODE (Auto or Manual), the TYPE, the description, the start and end dates, and whether the ACTIVE switch is on (green) or off. From the top of the page it reads the Minimum Price and Maximum Price, and each row of the price limits table: the accommodation type, its MIN and its MAX. It reads each rule's numbers and the price limits twice, the second time closer, and compares the two.

When a screenshot shows rules but none of them could be read, the review says "The rules in one screenshot couldn't be read. Try a sharper or bigger screenshot.", whether or not its floors and ceilings were read.

PIE shows a rule's rounding only inside the rule, not in the list, so rounding is not read or imported. The review says so in a line at the bottom.

The review

Each PIE rule is listed with its name and description, and under it the MAYA rule it becomes, in one sentence such as "Raise the price 10% when sellable occupancy is over 31%, 80 or more days before arrival.", marked On or Off. Untick a rule to leave it out. Lines in amber say what to know before adding it, and a grey line says why a rule is not imported.

Rules and limits to check

A rule or a floor and ceiling MAYA may have misread starts unticked, with a line saying so. Look at it in PIE, and tick it if it reads right, or Edit the rule:

• "Its numbers may be misread. Check them against PIE, then tick it.": a number PIE wouldn't print (PIE writes every one with two decimals, so 1000 % or 55 % was misread), a raise of 100% or more, or a lowering by 100% (which also has to be fixed in the rule builder, below), or the two reads of the rule's numbers that differ.
• "Read as a fixed amount, not a percent. Check it against PIE, then tick it.": an amount with no % and no currency sign, as a dropped % reads the same.
• "Put together from two screenshots. Check it, then tick it.": a rule two screenshots cut between them.
• "This may be misread. Check it against PIE, then tick it.", under a floor and ceiling: read without full confidence, read differently twice, only its MIN or only its MAX read, or more than ten times (or under a tenth of) the rest of PIE's table or what the room type has now.

Edit beside a rule opens it in the rule builder, headed "Change before importing". Change anything the builder has, then click Use in the import to bring it back to the review as changed, or Back to the import to leave it as it was. Nothing is saved until you add the rules.

Under the rules, Floors and ceilings lists the limits the import would set (read Floors and ceilings). The button says what it adds, such as Add 5 rules and 3 limits.

A property can have 40 rules on. When the rules that would be added on take you past that, the review says, for example, "That makes 43 rules on, and a property can have 40. Untick 3 to fit.", and the button waits until they fit. Rules that were off in PIE don't count. If rules were switched on elsewhere meanwhile, the same line shows in red when you click Add, and nothing is added.

How each PIE rule becomes a MAYA rule

PIE writes every occupancy rule the same way, and each part becomes a part of a MAYA rule:

PIE measures occupancy over the whole property unless a rule says otherwise, so a MAYA rule from it reads and changes the room types that count as rooms, the same ones + Add a rule starts with. A description that names room types, for each one on its own or together, becomes rules on those room types, matched by name. Read Sellable occupancy for how MAYA counts.

Each rule keeps PIE's name, and is added with its undo box ticked, as every new rule is. With the box ticked, a raise comes off when occupancy falls back under the mark.

Manual rules. A rule on Manual in PIE only suggested rates. In MAYA it changes prices, so its review line says so. While your property is in simulation, nothing is sent to Cloudbeds either way.

On and off. A rule whose switch was on in PIE is added on, and one that was off is added off, ready to switch on from the rules list. When the switch could not be seen, the rule is added off and the review says so.

Rules stack the same way

When several of PIE's rules are true for a night, PIE applies each one to the rate the ones before it left: a percent multiplies, an amount adds. Imported rules are standard rules (no booking speed or pickup count condition), and standard rules don't compete: every one that is true applies, percents multiply, amounts add, and the floor and ceiling apply once, at the end. So each PIE rule becomes one MAYA rule with the same condition and amount, and the price comes out the same for every occupancy and every day before arrival.

The one case that can differ: a percent rule and an amount rule true on the same night. The order matters there ($100 raised 10% and then $20 is $130, but $20 and then 10% is $132). PIE applies them in the order they were triggered, which the list doesn't show, and MAYA applies imported rules in the order PIE listed them. The review marks such an amount rule with "With a % rule on the same night the price can differ a little from PIE's rate, as PIE applies them in the order they were triggered."

These rules add to the MAYA rules you already have on, your starter rules included, and stack with them the same way. Read Putting the price together.

A window bounded at both ends

A MAYA rule has one booking window condition, so a PIE window with both a start and an end inside the nights MAYA prices, such as "14-60 days in advance", becomes two rules. The first makes the change from 14 days before arrival on. The second, named for the first with ", beyond 60 days", takes it back off more than 60 days before arrival. Together they change only 14 to 60 days before arrival.

An amount comes back off exactly: $20 up, then $20 down. A percent comes off to 4 places: 10% up is taken back off by lowering 9.0909%, which can leave a price a cent different from PIE's, and the review says so on that rule.

What is not imported

Each of these is listed with a short reason and no tick:

• Restriction rules, such as a minimum stay: "Not imported: MAYA doesn't set restrictions." Keep them in PIE or Cloudbeds.
• Compset rules: "Not imported: MAYA doesn't price from competitors' rates."
• Any other kind of rule, and "equal to" an exact occupancy, which MAYA can't match.
• A description that could not be read, including an Occupancy rule's that doesn't read as PIE writes it: "Couldn't read its description. Add it yourself in the rule builder."
• Dates that could not be read.

A few are listed without a tick until you look at them:

• A row cut off at the edge of a screenshot, top or bottom: "Cut off at the edge of the screenshot. Add a screenshot that shows it whole, or finish it in the rule builder." Add one that shows it, and the whole read takes its place. When enough of the row was read to make a rule, you can instead click Edit and finish it; when it wasn't, there is no Edit, so add a screenshot that shows the row whole or build it with + Add a rule. A row the edge cut through is always listed, even when none of it could be read (then as "PIE rule 4", say), so no rule goes missing without a word.
• Room types to pick: a rule that names room types MAYA has no match for, or measures only some room types without naming them. Click Edit and pick them.
• A lowering by 100% or more: "A rule can't lower a price by 100% or more. Fix the amount in the rule builder." MAYA refuses such a rule wherever one is saved. PIE can't lower by 100% either, so it was most likely misread: click Edit, type the percent PIE shows, and Use in the import.
• Dates read month first when they could be either way round, such as 03/04/2027, and dates that have passed. Check them, then tick the rule.

Floors and ceilings

Each room type with a row of its own in PRICE LIMITS BY ACCOMMODATION TYPE gets that row's MIN as its floor and MAX as its ceiling. Names are matched case and spacing aside, so "Tree House - ADA" in PIE matches "tree house-ada" in MAYA. Every other room type gets PIE's Minimum Price and Maximum Price, when they are in the screenshot.

The review lists only the room types whose limits would change, each with today's floor and ceiling and what PIE's limits would make them, today's first, such as "Floor $80 → $100 · Ceiling $600 → $500" under "Garden Room". They start ticked, as they are your own limits, unless one may be misread: then it starts unticked with "This may be misread. Check it against PIE, then tick it." (read Rules and limits to check). Untick one to keep what it has. A pair whose minimum is above its maximum can't be set and has no tick, and a name with no room type in MAYA is listed under them.

The limits are set when you click Add, just before the rules are added. They hold every price on every night, as floors and ceilings always do, so they can change prices by themselves. The rules change no price when they are added (read Adding them), so these are the days the import changes. While the review is open, a line above the button says how many, such as "The new floors and ceilings change prices on 12 days.", worked out on your bookings and rules as they are now, and again when you tick or untick a limit. With no day to change there is no line, and when the days can't be worked out it reads "The new floors and ceilings can change prices by themselves."

If the rules then can't be added, the import says the limits were set, such as "Set 3 floors and ceilings, but the rules couldn't be added.", with each rule's reason and Try again. Read Floors and ceilings.

Adding them

Click Add, which says what it adds, such as Add 5 rules and 3 limits. There is no window to choose in, as there is for a rule you build yourself.

Rules that were on in PIE. PIE has already changed your rates in Cloudbeds on the nights these rules match today. Changing those nights again in MAYA would apply each rule twice. So above the button a line reads "PIE has already adjusted the nights these rules match today, so MAYA leaves those as they are and acts on changes from now on.", and its ? says more.

Each of these rules is added on, as if you had clicked Skip price adjustments in the window every other rule goes through: the nights it would change today, worked out when you click Add (or every night it could change, when they can't be), are left as they are until the rule stops being true there and becomes true again. Read Skip price adjustments.

Rules that were off in PIE are added off, ready to switch on from the rules list. Switching one on later opens the window there, with Apply price adjustments and Skip price adjustments, as for any rule.

Afterwards the import says what it did, such as "Added 5 rules (4 on, 1 off) and set 3 floors and ceilings.", and the rules appear in the list. A rule that could not be added is named with the reason, and Try again adds it without adding the others twice.

One person can press Add or Try again 10 times on a property in 10 minutes. Past that the import says "That's a lot of imports at once. Give it a minute and try again." and adds nothing until the wait is over.

What MAYA can't take back

MAYA doesn't have PIE's history, so after you switch from PIE it can't take back adjustments PIE already made. Your rates in Cloudbeds keep every change PIE made to them, and MAYA reads each night's rate as it finds it. For example, a night PIE raised stays raised in Cloudbeds after PIE is off, and MAYA reads that as the night's normal rate: its rules raise or lower the price from there.

If you want a clean start, reset your rates in Cloudbeds when you switch PIE off. MAYA reads your rates again within about an hour.

Once you are live

PIE and MAYA should not both change the same rates in Cloudbeds. In simulation MAYA sends nothing, so they can run side by side while you watch. Before you go live, turn your PIE rules off in Cloudbeds, or, if PIE has to stay on, choose MAYA's price wins in Settings so MAYA sends its own price again when a rate it sent is changed. Switching PIE off leaves the rates it changed as they are (read What MAYA can't take back). Read Settings and Going live.

While you simulate with PIE still on, PIE keeps raising rates in Cloudbeds as its rules become true, and MAYA's copies of those rules raise the same nights on its calendar. When you go live, Start from your current Cloudbeds rates keeps the rates PIE last left and has every rule wait on each night until it stops being true there and becomes true again, so on a night where a rule is already true, MAYA does not add its raise on top of PIE's. Read Start from your current rates or send MAYA's prices.