I only have three units, so I need to use the channel bridge for syncing with vrbo.
I'm ready to add one of my units on airbnb, will the ical links that do the calendar syncing allow me to somehow block vrbo if a new rental happens on airbnb, or the reverse where I block airbnb if one rents on vrbo?
Or am I stuck needing to do this manually, which means if a booking happens when I'm on a plane or away from a computer I can get double booked?
there is a setting on these sites that allows you to sync with other sites to avoid this. But it might be iCal, but should eliminate most problems. I think Booking.com has it too.
Yep, iCal is what you want here -- that will auto block off the calendars. We update every 30 minutes, channels tend to update several times a day but don't publish their schedules.
Each channel API integration also has its own separate method of updating calendars automatically, and those are up to the minute.
So should we use iCal or channel bridge to avoid double bookings? I’ve been getting alot of double bookings on airbnb from booking.com and it recently caused me to have an account restriction on airbnb. I only have 2 listings. This should not be hapoening.
Hi Jessica:
I created a ticket and wrote you directly & we will help you get your API connections setup optimally.
Ideally, your listings will be API synced to all the channels, so then there would not be any double bookings expected.
I am getting double bookings, consistently a few a year. This is a horrible situation for hosts to deal with as platforms are aggressive if you have a double booking. Calendar software issues are not a good reason. I have 10 units. It was recommended i switch from iCal to api. I attempted to do this. It is a huge process. Entailed lots of zoom meetings with owner rez and vrbo. A complicated process if you are not fluid in calendar software. Lots of emails to answer with questions. In the end it was determined I could only use 1 bank account with vrbo to make it happen. So I am stuck with I cal. For some reason. Airbnb did not need to be involved. Their calendars appear to work fine with owner rez. Vrbo calendars create issues. Some reservations dont even show up on the master owner rez calendar. I was told they have gone to a different channel, so wont show up. I think if you are a small operator you are probably lucky, and will be fine, however we run a high occupancy pretty much. year round with our properties. Anyone else experiencing this? Work around? Another master calendar to avoid this?
