How to sync your calendar with Booking.com and Airbnb via iCal

If you rent your apartment through Booking.com, Airbnb and your own erphome.pl page at the same time, you know how easily a double booking happens. iCal sync solves the problem automatically, at no extra cost.

Why sync calendars at all?

Most apartment owners list their property on several platforms at once: Booking.com, Airbnb, Nocowanie.pl and their own reservation page. That means wider reach and more enquiries, but it creates one serious problem. Every platform keeps its own availability calendar, and by default it knows nothing about bookings made anywhere else.

Without sync, the only way to avoid double bookings is to block dates manually on every platform after every new reservation. In practice that means this: a confirmation lands from Airbnb at 22:30, you forget to log in to Booking.com, and in the morning you have two bookings for the same dates and a furious guest whose stay you are about to cancel. iCal sync removes that scenario entirely.

What iCal is and how it works technically

iCal is an open file format (.ics) that describes calendar events. The standard dates back to 1998 and today it is supported by literally every booking platform, property management system and calendar app in the world, from Google Calendar to iOS.

Every platform publishes a unique, private link where the current .ics file with your occupied dates can be downloaded. erphome.pl stores those links and polls them on a cycle, hourly by default. Once the data comes in, the system automatically blocks on your reservation page every date marked as occupied on any connected service. A guest visiting your page sees only genuinely free dates in the calendar and cannot submit a request for dates already booked elsewhere.

This works in one direction only: erphome.pl reads the calendars of external platforms but never writes to them. Your own erphome.pl page in turn exports its own iCal file, which you can plug into Booking.com or Airbnb so those platforms block dates taken by direct bookings. That closes the sync loop.

What you get from iCal sync

• No double bookings. Dates occupied on Booking.com or Airbnb are blocked on your page automatically, with no manual work.
• Time saved. You do not have to log in to every platform after every booking. The system does it for you in the background, around the clock.
• Any number of platforms. You can connect Booking.com, Airbnb, Nocowanie.pl, Tripadvisor and any other service that supports iCal, all at once. There is no channel limit.
• An honest view for the guest. Someone visiting your page sees the real availability, which builds trust and cuts down on "is this date still free?" messages.
• Free. iCal sync is built into every erphome.pl plan at no extra charge.

Limits: what iCal does not solve

iCal is a proven standard, but an old one. It pays to know its limits so you do not end up with a false sense of security:

• A delay of up to an hour. Sync runs on a cycle, not instantly. A booking made on Airbnb at 23:55 will be blocked on your page at 00:55 at the earliest. Inside that window, overbooking is theoretically possible.
• It depends on the external platforms. If the Booking.com server is unavailable when sync runs, the data will not update. erphome.pl records the error and retries on the next cycle.
• Sync is one way. Connecting the Booking.com iCal feed to erphome.pl does not block the dates of your direct bookings on Booking.com. To close the loop you also need to plug the erphome.pl export link into every external platform (covered in a separate article).
• No booking details. iCal carries occupied dates only, with no guest data, amounts or booking source. That is deliberate: its only job is blocking availability.

Overbooking risk: when iCal is not enough

Even with sync, a double booking is still possible in one specific situation: when two guests submit a request for the same dates almost simultaneously, before either booking is confirmed and before sync has had time to update the calendars.

Keep in mind that erphome.pl works on a request model, not instant booking. The guest sends a request and the owner confirms or declines it. That gives you time to check before you confirm. If two requests for the same dates arrive at once, you simply confirm one and decline the other, telling the guest why.

To cut the risk further in high season, follow a few extra rules:

• Use the Sync now button in the panel after every confirmed booking. It shortens the delay window to a minimum.
• Plug the erphome.pl export link into Booking.com and Airbnb so direct bookings are visible on the external platforms too.
• For dates in very high demand (New Year's Eve, the May long weekend) consider blocking them manually on the external platforms right after you confirm a direct booking, rather than waiting for sync.

Step 1: get the iCal link from Booking.com

1. Log in at extranet.booking.com.
2. Go to Property → Calendars → Calendar sync.
3. Click Export calendar and copy the generated .ics link.

Note: the link is unique to your property. Do not share it publicly, because anyone who has it can see your occupied dates.

Step 2: get the iCal link from Airbnb

1. Log in at airbnb.com and go to the host dashboard.
2. Click Calendar and pick the listing.
3. In the top right corner click Availability → Connect calendars.
4. Choose Export calendar and copy the link.

Step 3: add the links in the erphome.pl panel

1. Log in to the Owner panel at erphome.pl.
2. Go to Apartment settings → Integrations → iCal calendars.
3. Click Add calendar, type a name (for example "Booking.com") and paste the link you copied.
4. Save. You can add as many calendars as you like: Booking.com, Airbnb and other platforms together.

Sync runs automatically every hour. You can also click Sync now to pull current data immediately.

How to check that sync is working

The iCal panel shows the date and time of the last sync for each channel. If an error appears (an invalid link, say, or an unavailable platform server), it is displayed right next to the channel. Fix the link, or remove the channel and add it again.

Practical tips

• The link can change. Booking.com and Airbnb sometimes generate a new link after you change property settings. If sync suddenly stops working, check whether the link is still valid and update it in the panel.
• Close the loop both ways. In the apartment settings you will find an iCal Export option. Copy that link and plug it into the calendar on Booking.com and Airbnb, so bookings from your erphome.pl page show up there as well.
• High season means closer attention. In busy weeks, sync manually more often and confirm bookings as quickly as you can.

Set it once, it runs in the background

iCal sync is the simplest and most effective way to manage apartment availability across several platforms at once. You set it up once, it runs in the background, and it dramatically reduces the risk of a double booking. It is not perfect: a delay of up to an hour means there is no hundred percent protection against overbooking. But combined with the request model (rather than instant booking), the risk is minimal in practice. Setup takes about 5 minutes and is entirely free on every erphome.pl plan.