iCal sync for bookings

Channel Managers allow you to synchronise bookings between more than one Booking Service.  You can use our interface to Smoobu to offer inventory on other booking services such as Expedia, booking.com, Airbnb etc.

Cheaper and almost as capable, iCal sync is offered by many booking services.  A good article on iCal vs Channel Managers is at https://suite.booking.com/blog/ical-channel-manager-technology/

We provide an iCal feed that allows Airbnb to check the Booking Service and although this is not real-time (Airbnb only checks every few hours) it removes 99% of enquiries for an already-booked room and saves you entering bookings into Airbnb manually.  We have recently extended this to two-way synchronisation. So whenever a room is clicked on the Booking Matrix, we check Airbnb instantly and update the matrix to prevent a booking getting to step 2. We also check Airbnb and update once an hour so the matrix is usually up-to-date before a room is clicked on.

Many booking services provide iCal sync, including Expedia, booking.com and others, so get in touch if you would like to get bookings from other platforms without creating clashes and more work for yourself.

We’ve also trialled a WordPress plugin that can display bookings (real-time) and take enquiries.  This may be useful if you want public enquiries without allowing direct access to bookings.