How to import bookable items from Booking.com, Airbnb, Calendly and other platforms

To bring your rooms, services or rentals into TeleportHQ from another booking platform, export a file there and import it in the Bookings panel: click Import items (the upload icon next to Items) and drop the file. TeleportHQ reads exports from Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo, Expedia, Square, Calendly, Acuity Scheduling and more as they are, shows what it will create, and creates the items with their variants. Upcoming reservations in the file can block their days on your site, so nobody books them twice. No guest details are imported.

Before you start#

• Bookings must be on in your project. See How to add bookings to an existing project.
• Export the file from the other platform first. See "Where to find your export" below.
• The file can be a CSV (also .tsv or .txt), an Excel file (.xlsx, .xlsm or .xls), JSON, or a calendar file (.ics, .ical or .ifb), up to 10 MB. TeleportHQ reads up to 20,000 rows.

Steps#

1. In the editor's left sidebar, click Bookings. If you don't see it, click Plugins, click Bookings, then click Open next to Bookings panel.
2. Next to Items, click the upload icon (tooltip Import items). The Import Items column opens beside the panel.
3. Under Import from a file, drop your file on the box ("Drop a .csv, .xlsx, .json or .ics file here"), or click the box and choose the file. "Reading the file…" shows while TeleportHQ reads it.

4. Check the review (see the next section). To start over with another file, click the × (tooltip Remove file) next to the file name.
5. If the file has upcoming reservations, leave Block the days of the … upcoming reservations ticked to keep those days from being booked on your site, or untick it.
6. Click the import button. It says what it will do, for example Import 4 items, Import 4 items and block 12 reservations or Block 12 reservations. "Creating items… 2 / 4" and then "Blocking reservation days…" show its progress.

When it's done, a line sums it up, for example "4 items created, 1 already on your site, 12 reservations blocking their days. Link the platforms’ calendars from each item (Calendar Sync) to keep new bookings in step."

Check the review before you import#

Nothing is written until you click the import button. The TeleportHQ review shows:

• How the file was read. For example "Airbnb export recognized.", "Columns read by their names." or "The AI matched the columns.", then how many items or reservations were read.
• The items it will create, for example 4 new items · 1 already on your site, each with its price (per night or day) and its number of variants. An item with the same name as one you already have is marked Already on your site and isn't created again.
• Upcoming reservations. The box "Block the days of the 12 upcoming reservations, so they cannot be booked here again. No guest details are imported." Cancelled reservations, no-shows and reservations that ended before today are skipped, and a note says how many.
• Rows that couldn't be read, for example 2 rows could not be read, with the reason for each.

When the columns aren't recognized#

If TeleportHQ doesn't recognize the file, or the review isn't what you expected, click Let AI read the columns. Only the column names and a few sample values are sent to the AI, never the whole file. It uses at least 300 AI tokens. If the Map your file with AI window asks questions, answer the ones you can, or keep Let the AI decide, and click Apply mapping. The review then says "The AI matched the columns."

Import a calendar file (.ics)#

A calendar file holds bookings, not items. The review says, for example, "A calendar with 8 upcoming bookings. They block the days of the item you choose; nobody can book those here."

1. In Item they block, choose the item (Choose an item).
2. Click Block 8 bookings.

Where to find your export#

Below the drop box, Where to find your export lists each platform. Click one to read where its export is. A Calendar sync badge marks the platforms whose calendar you can also link to the item afterwards.

Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, Google Calendar, Guesty, Hostaway, Lodgify and Vrbo have the Calendar sync badge. Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo let only certified channel managers read a listing directly, so TeleportHQ brings your items over with an export, and the calendar link keeps the booked days in step from then on.

Import a list of your own#

You can also import a CSV, Excel or JSON list you made yourself. Use column names such as name, description, category, unit (for example night, day or hour), duration_minutes, price, currency, capacity, min_guests, max_guests, min_length, max_length, location, image_url, gallery_images, variant_name, variant_price and is_active. On a site with several languages, add columns such as es_name and es_description. Other column names work too: TeleportHQ reads them by their names, or with Let AI read the columns.

After the import: keep the days in step#

A file is read once. New bookings and cancellations made on the other platform afterwards don't reach your site until you link that platform's calendar to the item. Open each item, click Calendar Sync and link its calendar. See How to sync an item's calendar.

The days a file blocks show in the item's Calendar Sync column as a link named after the file, for example "Airbnb: earnings.csv", with "Imported from a file · 12 upcoming bookings". Importing the same file again replaces what it blocked instead of blocking it twice. When you link the same platform's calendar to the item, TeleportHQ removes the file's link, because the live calendar holds those reservations. To free the days a file blocked, remove its link in Calendar Sync.

Check that it worked#

The new items appear in the Bookings panel list. Open one to check its price, how it is booked and its capacity, and add photos if the file had none. The blocked days show in each item's Calendar Sync column under Blocked by other calendars.

Troubleshooting#

"Upload a CSV, Excel (.xlsx or .xls), JSON or calendar (.ics) file." TeleportHQ doesn't read that type of file. Export the file again as CSV or Excel.

"This file is larger than 10 MB. Export a shorter date range, or split the file." Export fewer months, or split the file into smaller ones and import each.

"This file has no rows to import." or "Nothing could be read as items or reservations." The file is empty, or its columns weren't recognized. Click Let AI read the columns, or check that you exported the right report.

"Only the first 20,000 rows were read; split the file to import the rest." Split the file and import the rest separately.

"This file is not a calendar (.ics)." The file ends in .ics but holds no calendar. Export it again from the calendar app.

"… What was imported is kept; import again to finish." The import stopped part way. Click the import button again: items already created are found, not created twice.

The prices or lengths are wrong after the import Some platforms leave things out, for example Square exports no service lengths. Open the item and fix it. See How to add a bookable item.

Good to know#

• Guest details are never imported. Reservations only block days: no names, emails or phone numbers come over.
• Items come in bookable. Unless the file marks an item inactive, its Status is Bookable right away. To keep one off your booking pages, set it to Hidden.
• The AI reading costs AI tokens. Let AI read the columns uses at least 300 AI tokens, shown as Bookings Setup in your AI costs. See What uses AI tokens, and how much?.
• Selling products instead? Store products have their own import. See How to import products from a file (including Shopify).