You list the apartment on Booking.com and Airbnb at once, then keep checking both panels so you do not sell the same dates twice. I know the feeling from my own place. The good news: you can connect them so the calendars watch each other. The tool for that is iCal, and below I show exactly how to set it up.
What iCal sync does
iCal is a calendar file format. Every portal publishes the address of such a file with its occupied dates, and accepts addresses from other portals. When someone books dates on Airbnb, those dates appear as occupied in the Airbnb iCal file. Booking.com downloads that file and blocks the same days on its side.
It works both ways if you swap addresses between the two portals. One condition: sync is not instant. Portals refresh the files every few hours, so some time passes between a booking on one and the block on the other. I will come back to that at the end, because it is the most important trap.
Step 1: copy the iCal address from Airbnb
Log in to Airbnb and open the listing.
- Open the Calendar tab for the apartment.
- On the right find Availability settings, and within it the Calendar sync section.
- Click Export calendar. Airbnb will show a long address starting with https://www.airbnb.com/calendar/ical/.
- Copy the whole thing. That is the file with the occupied dates from your Airbnb.
Step 2: paste that address into Booking.com
Now you are telling Booking.com when the apartment is taken on Airbnb.
- Log in to the Booking.com panel (the extranet).
- Go to Calendar and pricing, then Calendar sync (sometimes labelled Calendar import).
- Click Add calendar, name it "Airbnb" and paste the address you copied.
- Save. Booking.com will download the file and block the dates taken on Airbnb.
Step 3: copy the iCal address from Booking.com
In the same place in the extranet, Booking.com publishes its own export address.
- In the sync section find Export calendar for the room in question.
- Copy the Booking.com iCal address.
Step 4: paste the Booking.com address into Airbnb
This closes the loop.
- Go back to Airbnb, to the same Calendar sync section.
- Click Import calendar, name it "Booking" and paste the address from Booking.com.
- Save.
From now on both portals exchange occupied dates. A booking on Booking.com will block those dates on Airbnb, and the other way round.
Step 5: check that the connection really works
The most common mistake is assuming that because you pasted the addresses, it works. Half of all sync problems come from a typo in an address, or from someone pasting an export address where an import address belongs. Run a simple test:
- On Airbnb, manually block one specific day two weeks out.
- Wait a few hours (that is roughly one refresh cycle) and check the calendar in Booking.com.
- If that day has turned occupied, the connection works in that direction. Repeat the test the other way.
After the test, remove the block. Better to spend half a day checking than to learn your sync is broken from a furious guest at the door.
How to think about the refresh delay
Portals do not check each other's calendars in real time. They fetch the iCal file on their own cycle: Booking.com every few hours, Airbnb similarly. That means real time passes between a booking on one portal and the block on the other, sometimes several hours.
For most dates that does not matter. The problem starts with hot dates: a long weekend, New Year's Eve, the peak of the summer. Then two people can land on the same free dates on two portals within the same hour, before either has refreshed. No manual iCal connection helps here. What helps is more frequent refreshing and one calendar in charge.
Where this arrangement falls apart
Connecting two portals is only half the road. Check these three things before you relax:
| Problem | What happens |
|---|---|
| Refresh delay | Booking.com and Airbnb fetch the files every 2 to 4 hours, sometimes less often. Inside that window someone can book the same dates on the other portal. |
| Bookings from outside the portals | A guest calls, writes on Instagram or books through your own page. That booking goes into no iCal file, so the dates do not get blocked. |
| A third and fourth channel | Once Nocowanie.pl, your own page and email are in the mix, swapping addresses between every pair of portals becomes a web where mistakes are easy. |
One calendar instead of many connections
The more sales channels you have, the worse an everyone-to-everyone exchange of addresses scales. With three portals you already have six connections to watch. It is simpler to have one central calendar, into which you plug every portal, and from which you export one address to each of them.
That is exactly how erphome.pl works. You get your own reservation page with one calendar. You paste the iCal addresses from Booking.com and Airbnb into it, and export the erphome.pl page back to both portals. The system fetches calendars every hour, that is, more often than most portals refresh against each other. A booking made directly on your page blocks the dates at source immediately, so bookings from outside the portals stop being a problem.
With two apartments the advantage becomes clearer still. Instead of running a separate web of connections for each flat, you have one panel where each apartment has its calendar and its set of iCal addresses. Add a flat, paste its addresses once, done.
Frequently asked questions about iCal sync
Does iCal carry prices and descriptions?
No. iCal syncs occupied and free dates only. Prices, descriptions and photos are set separately on each channel.
What if I paste the wrong address?
Sync simply will not work, and the portal will not always report an error. That is why you should always run the manual block test described above.
How often should it refresh?
With a manual connection you have no influence over the portal's cycle. With a central calendar that fetches data every hour, the window for a mistake is far smaller.
Do I have to install anything?
No. iCal works through ordinary web addresses. There is nothing to download to your computer.
Is iCal free?
Yes. Exporting and importing a calendar over iCal is built into the portals and costs nothing. You pay only when you want a tool that ties everything together in one place and refreshes more often than the portals do themselves.
Four steps and one test
Connecting Booking.com to Airbnb over iCal takes four steps: export the address from one portal, import it into the other, and repeat in reverse. Then run a manual block test to be sure the connection works. Keep the refresh delay in mind, and the bookings that arrive outside the portals, because those two do the most damage.
If you want one calendar that watches every channel and refreshes hourly, open a free erphome.pl account. You get 14 days to try it without a card, two apartments included, and your own commission-free reservation page. Paste the iCal addresses once and you can stop watching the dates by hand.
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