Syncing Booking.com & Airbnb with your hotel calendar
Automatically import bookings from OTAs into your availability calendar – no manual double-entry, no double bookings.
Anyone who lists their hotel or guesthouse on Booking.com, Airbnb or other booking platforms knows the problem: a reservation comes in and you have to manually enter it into your own calendar as well. Forget to do it – or notice too late – and the room is double-booked. A guest turns up at the door with no room available.
The solution is iCal synchronisation: almost all major booking platforms offer an iCal link that lets external calendars automatically receive booking data. Stay-Board reads these links on a regular schedule and adds new reservations automatically.
What is an iCal feed?
iCal (also known as .ics or iCalendar) is an open standard for calendar data. Every Booking.com or Airbnb listing has its own iCal export link. Anyone who connects this link to another application automatically sees all booking data there – including new reservations and cancellations.
The advantage over a full channel manager: you don't need an expensive third-party system. iCal links are freely available and work with virtually all OTAs.
Getting your iCal link from Booking.com
Booking.com provides a separate iCal link for each room. Here's how to find it:
- Log in to the Booking.com Extranet (extranet.booking.com).
- Go to Rooms → select the room you want.
- Click on Availability or look for the Sync calendar / Export iCal tab.
- Copy the iCal link shown (starts with
https://admin.booking.com/hotel/hoteladmin/ical.html?...).
Each room has its own link – connect each room separately to keep the assignment in your booking calendar correct.
Getting your iCal link from Airbnb
- Log in to Airbnb and go to your listing.
- Click on Calendar and then Availability.
- Scroll down to Sync calendars and choose Export calendar.
- Copy the iCal link (ends in
.ics).
Other platforms
The same process works with all OTAs that offer an iCal export – including Expedia, TripAdvisor, Vrbo and many more. Look in the calendar or availability settings for terms like "Export calendar", "iCal", ".ics link" or "Sync".
Setting up a channel connection in Stay-Board
Once you have copied the iCal link, set up the connection in Stay-Board in just a few steps:
How does the automatic sync work?
Stay-Board reads every configured iCal link three times a day – at 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00. New bookings are added directly to the availability calendar. Cancellations are detected and removed automatically. You can also trigger a manual sync at any time if you need an immediate update.
Stay-Board also checks for overlaps: if a period is already occupied by another booking, the imported booking is skipped and you get a note in the sync log.
Avoiding double bookings
The most common cause of double bookings is a time gap: between a booking arriving on the platform and being manually entered into your own calendar, the room can be booked again. With automatic channel connections, this window shrinks to a few hours at most – the next scheduled sync picks up the booking.
For maximum safety, it helps to manage all booking channels through Stay-Board and to enter direct bookings directly in the system. That way Stay-Board always has a complete picture and can detect any overlaps.
Keeping an eye on sync status
In the channel connections overview you can see for each connection when the last sync ran and how many bookings were imported. Errors – such as an invalid iCal link – are also shown so you can react quickly.
Frequently asked questions
Are cancellations automatically removed?
Yes. When a booking is cancelled on the platform, it disappears from Stay-Board on the next sync. You don't need to delete anything manually.
Can I connect several rooms from the same platform?
Yes – each connection is a separate entry with its own iCal link and room assignment. You can create a separate connection for each room on Booking.com and Airbnb.
What happens if the iCal link is unreachable?
Stay-Board logs the error and shows it in the sync status. Existing bookings remain untouched – no new ones are imported until the link is working again.
Is channel connection included in all plans?
Channel connections are an optional module for €5 per month per hotel and can be added at any time. All other Stay-Board features are unaffected.
More about pricing and modules on the Pricing page. For housekeeping tips, see the Housekeeping guide.
Set up channel connections directly in Stay-Board
Connect Booking.com, Airbnb and other platforms in minutes – bookings land automatically in your availability calendar. The module can be added for €5/month per hotel.
Start for free