Calendar sync with booking portals: avoid double bookings

You prevent double bookings by making every calendar where your property is listed (your own website, Booking.com, megaubytovanie.sk, hauzi.sk and others) send its booked dates to all the others. The simplest way to do this is with iCal links, which are supported by Booking.com and by Slovak portals such as megaubytovanie.sk and hauzi.sk. You do need to know, however, that syncing is not instant: portals read external calendars at intervals they set themselves, Booking.com for example every two hours. Between two updates there is therefore a short window, and it is worth covering it with the right booking settings on your website.

Why double bookings happen

The largest portal, Booking.com, describes it simply: a double booking (overbooking) happens when more than one booking is made for the same room or unit on the same night. Most often this is because availability is not aligned across channels, or because the calendar is not set up accurately. On top of that, bookings on Booking.com are confirmed instantly, so if a date is open on the portal, a guest will simply book it.

A double booking is not just an inconvenience. Under its rules, Booking.com charges commission on it and also asks the property to cover the cost of relocating the guest. It waives the commission only for new properties (less than 30 days on the portal) or if you have had fewer than five such cases in the last 12 months.

What is iCal?

iCal (iCalendar) is an open format for exchanging calendar data, described in the internet standard RFC 5545. In practice it means a link (a URL, often ending in .ics) where one system publishes booked dates and another system reads them regularly. Each connection works in two directions:

• export: your calendar publishes booked dates at a link, which you paste into another system,
• import: your calendar reads another system's link and blocks the booked dates from it.

Via iCal, Booking.com transfers only booked or closed dates, not prices or conditions. You set those separately on each channel.

How to connect your calendar with Booking.com

The steps according to Booking.com's help pages:

Importing a calendar from your website or another portal into Booking.com

1. Log in to the extranet.
2. Click Rates & Availability and then Sync calendars.
3. Next to the room or unit, click Add calendar connection and paste the link to the external calendar.
4. Name the connection (for example "Website") and click Next step, then Done.

Exporting the Booking.com calendar

On the Sync calendars page, copy the Booking.com iCal link and paste it into the settings of the other system (your website or a portal). When exporting, you choose whether to send only booked dates or closed dates as well.

Connection status

The list of connections shows a status for each. Okay means everything is working. Import only and Export only mean only one direction is working. Service error means there is a problem with the link or the settings. It is worth checking the connections every now and then.

Who can use syncing

Booking.com does not offer it to everyone. The property must be open for bookings, you must have permission to manage rates and availability in the extranet, the property may have no more than 20 room types, each room type no more than one unit, and you must not use a connectivity provider (channel manager). A typical chalet, apartment or several separate chalets meet these conditions; a guesthouse with five identical rooms under one room type does not.

Every channel must see all the others

Connecting your website with just one portal is not enough if you also list on others. The goal is for a booking from any channel to reach all the others. In practice there are two options:

• everyone with everyone: each portal imports the calendars of all the others; with three or more channels that means a lot of links, and it is easy to forget one,
• one master calendar: your website imports the calendars of all the portals, and the portals import your website's calendar, which also contains the bookings from the other portals. When you add a new portal, you only have to set up one connection.

How to reduce the risk between updates

In peak season, two hours between imports is plenty of time for two guests to book the same dates. These help:

• Website bookings as requests. If a guest sends a request on your website and the dates are only written into the calendar once you confirm, you have time to check whether a portal booking has come in meanwhile.
• Manual import after an important change. When you accept a booking by phone or via your website, you can click Import now in the Booking.com extranet instead of waiting for the automatic import.
• Booking requests on the portal too. In its help on double bookings, Booking.com mentions the Request to Book feature for properties that are eligible for it.
• Manually blocking dates agreed outside any system (family, maintenance) straight away in the master calendar.
• Regularly checking connection status, so you spot a broken link before a guest does.

Setup checklist

1. List every channel where your property is offered, including those you only use occasionally.
2. For each channel, note its export iCal link and where the import link goes.
3. Connect each unit separately; if you have several chalets, do not mix up their links.
4. Once connected, run a test: block a date on your website and, after the next import, check that it is blocked on the portals as well.
5. Check the other direction: a date blocked on a portal must appear in your website calendar.
6. Treat the links like passwords; anyone who knows them can see your occupancy.
7. When you stop using a channel, remove its connection too, so old blocks do not linger in your calendar.

When iCal is not enough

If your property does not meet the syncing conditions, for example you have several identical units under one room type, Booking.com recommends considering a connectivity provider (channel manager). If you have one unit per room type, as with a chalet, cottage or apartment, iCal is the simpler route: set it up in both directions and confirm website bookings yourself.

What to do if it happens anyway

1. Find out immediately which booking came first.
2. Contact the other guest as soon as possible and offer a solution (different dates, alternative accommodation nearby).
3. If the booking came from Booking.com, contact their support; their help pages recommend this for double bookings.
4. Find the cause: a missing connection, a link in error status, dates not blocked manually.

How SFERIN handles it

The calendar on a SFERIN website syncs in both directions with Booking.com, megaubytovanie.sk, hauzi.sk and other portals via iCal, and a booking from the website is only written into the calendar once you confirm it. We set up the calendar sync for you and it is included in the website price from €249. You will find the details on the channel sync page, and what booking looks like from the guest's point of view on the booking system page.