ICal import

Importing Bookings or Blocking dates using an external iCal or google calendar

Capabilities

Beds24.com can import bookings from up to 3 iCal calendars per room.

Select if the end date of an event is the last night of the booking or the checkout day.

Each full day or multi day event in your iCal calendar will be imported as a booking.

Changes to dates can be imported.

If a booking that was previously imported is missing from a future import, the booking status will be changed to Cancelled.

Importing changes or cancellations can be disabled for individual bookings or the entire calendar.

The event summary is imported as the guest name.

The event description is imported as the guest comment.

The full event information from the iCal is stored in the api message field of the booking.

The calendar will normally be checked multiple times per hour.

Many holiday rental sites support Ical more Information

The iCal export channel can be setup to ignore bookings imported using an iCal import channel, this allows two way connections to be made to google or similar calendars without creating duplicate bookings.

Limitations

The iCal calendar must be available on the internet for Beds24 to poll and must be set for public access. Some calendars like google allow public access (sharing) to be set on an event basis and only public events can be imported.

Bookings must be defined as full day events on the days you want to block.

Only the information specified in the Capabilities section above can be imported from the iCal.

What you will need

The URL of the iCal calendar to import from.

Setup

Enter the calendar URL you want to import.

Select whether the calendar specifies the end of the booking by last night or check-out date.

Duplicates

If you import bookings from a calendar that is also using ical export, (2 way connection) you will probably create duplicate bookings as they are passed back and forth between the systems.

Duplicates can be avoided by setting the import type to one of the "Ignore Duplicates" options.

Duplicates are defined as any booking in the same room for the same dates, it does not consider guest name or other fields because these can be changed by the external system.

Modifications

Booking modifications and cancellations can be imported or ignored.

A booking will be considered cancelled if it is no longer in the iCal

Additionally an email notification to the host can be sent when iCal cancellations occur.

Modifications to the check-in, check-out and guest name fields are supported.