Airbnb iCal

Airbnb Ical

This page is about the menu  (SETTINGS) CHANNEL MANAGER > AIRBNB ICAL and explains how the connection iCal conection with Airbnb works and how to set it up.

Contents

1 Capabilities

• Beds24.com can export inventory.
• Beds24.com can import bookings. Airbnb only sends blocked dates and the last four digits of the guests phone number. Personal information like guests name and Email address and the price are not provided.
• Beds24.com can import booking modifications.
• Beds24.com can import booking cancellations.

For details please click here

We have a certified API connection which is more reliable than iCal and provides detailed information about bookings. If you can we recommend using API connection. For more information click here and here.

2 Limitations

• Prices cannot be exported and must be set in the Airbnb system.
• Check-in/Check-out dates cannot be sent.
• AirBnB initiate the inventory update of their calendar, we cannot control how often they update their calendar.
• Past bookings are not imported.
• Bookings are only auto cancelled if they are still in the original room. If you are using virtual rooms make sure you set bookings to remain in the original virtual room and for the dependent room to "include them" in itself for availability calculations.
• Airbnb only sends blocked dates and the last four digits of the guests phone number. Personal information like guests name and Email address and the price are not provided.
• If you have set up a minimum price in the room settings this value will display in the "Price" field of the booking.
• Host notifications are not sent for bookings imported via iCal.

3 What you will need

You need to save the Beds24 "Airbnb Import Calendar (Inventory)" URL into the Airbnb Calendar Import Tool so Airbnb update their calendar from Beds24.

You need to save Airbnb's Export Calendar URL into the Beds24 "Airbnb Export Calendar (Bookings)" setting so Beds24 can import Airbnb bookings.

4 Before you connect

Availability

Even though prices are not sent you need valid prices in Beds24 so we can send availability.

Rooms and room types

If you have room types with a quantity greater one in other channels we recommend you use the Airbnb XML interface (SETTINGS-CHANNEL MANAGER-AIRBNB XML). If you want to use iCal you have to set up virtual roooms

Auto Emails

If you want to send Auto Action Emails to Airbnb guests you will need to use the Email address you use for your Airbnb account as outgoing EMail (SETTINGS-ACCOUNT-OUTGOING EMAIL)

5 Setup

5.1 Export Inventory to Airbnb

We have no control over how often Airbnb update calendars. It can be as slow as once per day. 
Please open an issue with Airbnb and request a more frequent update. 
Consider setting Airbnb to requests rather than confirmed bookings if they cannot increase the rate they update your calendar.

Tick the Inventory checkbox to make your Beds24 availability calendar available to Airbnb and save.

• Log into Airbnb and go to Manage Listing and Calendar.

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• Go to "Sync with other Calendars" (usually a link under the calendar)

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• Click on "Calendar Import".

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• Copy the "Airbnb Import Calendar (Inventory)" URL from the Airbnb Channel Manager page in Beds24.

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• Paste the Beds24 Calendar URL where requested in Airbnb.

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Format of an important warning

If you did not tick the "Inventory" checkbox in Beds24 Airbnb will return an error. In this case go back to Beds24 and tick "Inventory".

• Make sure the connection is activated

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5.2 Import Bookings to Beds24

Format of an important warning

Starting December 1 2019 Airbnb will send very limited information about bookings via iCal, possibly limited to only the date range.

Use the Airbnb XML connection instead to get full booking information and other advantages.

To import bookings tick the Bookings check box and save.

• Log into Airbnb and go to Manage Listing and Calendar.

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• Go to "Sync with other Calendars" (usually a link under the calendar)

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• Copy the URL listed for "Export Calendar"

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• Make sure the connection is activated

• Paste the Airbnb Export Calendar URL into the "Airbnb Export Calendar (Bookings)" setting on the Airbnb Channel Manager settings page in Beds24 and save.

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6 Common Errors

The calendar address isn’t in ICAL format
*check that  "Inventory"  is ticked. 
*double check the link is correct. 

No Availability in Airbnb
You need prices in Beds24 and in the Airbnb extranet.  If you added prices in the Airbnb extranet but still do not see the same availability as in your Beds24 calendar you could try the following: Untick "Inventory" and "Bookings" in the channel manager settings. Once your Airbnb calendar is blank set prices. Reconnect Beds24 and use the calendar update function in Airbnb to push an update through.

Airbnb does not seem to connect
In Airbnb.com go to 'Reservation preferences', open 'Availability window' and select 'All future dates'. Any other option does not allow the calendars to sync.

7 Notes

Airbnb only sends bookings with dates up to one year in advance. If you have bookings for future dates these can not be imported.

Airbnb does not send the price. Bookings will be assigned the minimum room price when no price is supplied by the channel. If you do not want this, set the min room price setting in SETTINGS->PROPERTIES->ROOMS->SETUP back to zero.

8 Disconnect

• Unticking "Inventory" and "Bookings" will stop the synchronisation for a room.
• Log into your Airbnb extranet and delete the Beds24 URL.