How to sync an item's calendar with Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo or Google Calendar (iCal)

TeleportHQ's Calendar Sync keeps a bookable item's dates in step with the same room or rental on Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia, Google Calendar, Outlook or another platform, both ways, through iCal calendar addresses. Open the saved item, click Calendar Sync under More for this item, click Link a calendar and paste the other platform's calendar address: its bookings then block the item on your site. Once your site is published, copy This site’s calendar address into that platform's import calendar setting, so bookings made on your site block the days there too.

Before you start#

• Save the item first. Until then, the Calendar Sync row says "Save the item first, then link its calendars on other platforms." See How to add a bookable item.
• To share your bookings with another platform, your site must be published. Your site's calendar address appears only after publishing. See How to publish a web app.
• A site with a password can't share its calendars: the other platforms can't read them until the password is removed. On the TeleportHQ trial, every publish puts your site behind a password, so sharing works once the workspace subscribes and you remove the password. Reading the other platforms' calendars works either way.
• Keep the other platform's calendar settings open in another tab. Each platform shows its own calendar address (often called "Export calendar") and has a place for yours ("Import calendar").

1. Open Calendar Sync#

1. In the editor's left sidebar, click Bookings, then click the item's card.
2. At the bottom of the form, under More for this item, click Calendar Sync ("Keep its dates in step with Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo or Google Calendar."). The Calendar Sync column opens beside the form.
3. Read How calendar sync works at the top, if you like. Hide it with its close button; the How calendar sync works link brings it back.
4. Click Link a calendar (or Link another calendar when the item has links already).

2. Link the other platform's calendar#

1. In Platform, choose Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia, Google Calendar, Outlook or Another platform.
2. In Name, keep the platform's name or type your own, for example Airbnb – Sea View. It's how the link is listed (up to 100 characters).
3. Leave Block the days booked there on. In the calendar address box (for example Airbnb calendar address), paste the address the other platform shows. It starts with https://, http:// or webcal://, and usually ends in .ics. The hint under the box says where to find it.
4. Leave Share this item’s bookings with it on, so the days booked on your site are blocked there too.
5. If the item has variants with rooms of their own, choose the rooms in Rooms it follows. A room type on Booking.com usually has its own calendar.
6. If the item (or the rooms) has more than one place, set Places one of its bookings takes: "One booking there is usually one room, one unit." It starts at 1.
7. Click Add link. TeleportHQ saves the link and reads the calendar right away. A line says, for example, "1 calendar read."

3. Give the other platform your site's address#

1. Publish your site, if you haven't. Before that, the link's card says "Publish the site to get its address."
2. On the link's card, under This site’s calendar address for Airbnb (or your platform), click Copy. It reads Copied.
3. On the other platform, paste the address where it imports calendars. The hint under the address says where, for example "Same place → Import calendar: paste this site’s address and name it after this site."

The other platform only sees "Not available" on the days the item is fully booked or closed: never a name, an email or a price.

Where each platform keeps its calendar address#

How often TeleportHQ reads the other calendar#

TeleportHQ reads a linked calendar at most every 15 minutes, whenever a customer looks at the item on your site, and right away when you click Sync now at the top of the Calendar Sync column (it reads Reading… meanwhile). Every booking it finds takes the item's place on those days, so nobody can book them on your site.

A short gap remains between the two sides. Between a booking on one platform and the other reading it, the same days could be booked on both. Every platform that offers calendar sync works this way: it's how iCal works.

Check that it worked#

• The link's card shows when it was last read and what it found, for example "Read 5 minutes ago · 3 upcoming bookings", or "Not read yet".
• Blocked by other calendars lists the upcoming bookings read from the linked calendars, with their dates and the link's name: "Nobody can book these here."
• On the other platform, the days booked on your site show as blocked once it has read your address (see its timing in the table above).

Change, remove or renew a link#

• Edit: click the pencil (tooltip Edit) on the card, change the link and click Save link.
• Remove: click the trash icon (tooltip Remove). The Remove Calendar Link window says the days its bookings block on your site become free again, and asks you to remove your site's address from the other platform's settings too. Click Remove Link.
• New address: under your site's address, click New address if the address leaked. The old one stops working, and the message says "New address made. Paste it into Airbnb again: the old one no longer works."

Troubleshooting#

"Paste the calendar address the other platform shows (it usually ends in .ics)." Block the days booked there is on, but the address box is empty. Paste the address, or switch the option off.

"This is not a calendar address: it must start with https://, http:// or webcal://." You pasted something else, such as the listing's page address. Copy the export calendar link from the platform's calendar settings.

"This is this site’s own calendar address. Paste the address of the other platform’s calendar here." You pasted your site's address back in. Paste the other platform's address in TeleportHQ, and your site's address on the other platform.

"Another link of this item already reads this calendar." Each calendar is linked to an item once. Edit the existing link instead.

"An item can have at most 10 calendar links." Remove a link you no longer use first. Files you imported count as links too.

"Every kind of this item has rooms of its own: choose the rooms this calendar is for." Each variant of the item has its own units, so choose one in Rooms it follows.

The card says "Could not be read: …" TeleportHQ couldn't read the other calendar, and the days it blocked stay blocked. The reason follows, for example:

• "The calendar address could not be reached." Check the address, and that the calendar is still shared on the other platform.
• "This calendar address is not allowed: it must be a public http(s) address."
• "The calendar is larger than 5 MB."
• "The address did not answer with a calendar (iCal)."

"A calendar took too long to read and was not written. Press “Sync now” to read it again." Click Sync now.

"Nothing to read now: no link reads its calendar, or a read is already under way. Try again in two minutes." Wait two minutes and click Sync now again.

"The site has a password: the other platforms cannot read its calendars until the site is public, which on a trial takes a subscription." On Pro or Premium, click Remove under Password Protection in the Publish window to share your bookings. On the trial, the password can't be removed: sharing works after the workspace subscribes. See How to password-protect your site.

"The rooms it follows are no longer offered: it blocks the whole item. Edit it to choose other rooms." The variant the link followed was removed. Edit the link and choose other rooms in Rooms it follows.

The same days were booked on both platforms That's the short gap between two reads. Cancel one of the bookings. See How to find and manage bookings in Growth.

Good to know#

• Limits: up to 10 calendar links per item. TeleportHQ reads a calendar of up to 5 MB and up to 2,000 upcoming bookings in it.
• Removing a link frees its days. The days a calendar that can't be read blocked stay blocked until it's read again or removed.
• Platform rules: Booking.com syncs calendars only for properties with at most 20 room types, one unit each, and no channel manager. Vrbo imports at most 5 calendars per property, and none while a property manager tool syncs it. Expedia offers calendar sync to vacation rentals and small properties only.
• Google Calendar: every all-day event blocks its days, even one Google shows as free; a timed event blocks only when it's busy. Link a calendar of bookings, not your holidays.
• Imported files show in Calendar Sync too, as "Imported from a file". Linking the same platform's calendar replaces them. See How to import bookable items.
• Your site's address is the link's only key. Anyone with it can see which days are taken (not who booked). Use New address if it leaked.
• Closed days block those days on the other platform too: your site's address marks every day the item is fully booked or closed. See How to set opening hours, start times and closed days for bookings.
• Switching off Share this item’s bookings with it makes your site's address show an empty calendar, so the other platform lets those days go.