Sync your calendars with Airbnb, Booking.com and other platforms

If you list the same seasonal rental on several platforms (Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo…) and on SmartLife Properties, a booking made in one place must block the same dates everywhere, otherwise you risk a double booking.

Synchronisation uses the standard iCal format (.ics file), understood by every platform. It works both ways:

• to the platforms: each unit has a calendar address to add in Airbnb, Booking.com…;
• from the platforms: you save the address of their calendar; their busy dates block your unit here.

Included from the Starter plan (Starter, Standard and Premium). On the Free plan, the button explains how to get it: see The plans. It only applies to units in seasonal rental.

Open a seasonal unit's page and click Platforms and calendars in the header (or Platforms in the section bar): the Platforms: calendars, IDs, payments and fees section gathers everything about platforms. It contains: the choice of the unit's platforms, your unit's calendar to give them, then their invoices.

1. In the This unit's calendar block (below the platforms form), click Copy to copy the address.
2. In the platform, look for the calendar import or sync function (sometimes called “Import calendar”, “Add external calendar” or “Sync with another calendar”) and paste the address.
3. Repeat for each platform where the unit is published.

What the calendar contains: only your bookings' dates, marked “Reserved”. No traveller name, email or phone is sent. Cancelled bookings are removed, and dates imported from another platform are not sent back (to avoid looping between platforms).

Keep this address confidential: anyone who knows it sees your booked dates. Generate a new address disables the old one; you then have to replace it in each platform.

In the Platforms where this unit is published form:

1. tick each platform concerned (Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo / Abritel, Google Calendar, other);
2. for each, enter the unit's ID on the platform (it automatically links received invoices) and the address of its iCal calendar:
   • Airbnb: Calendar → Availability → Sync calendars → Export calendar;
   • Booking.com: Rates & availability → Sync calendars → Export calendar;
   • Vrbo, Google Calendar and others: look for “export” or “iCal / .ics address”.
3. click Save platforms: a first sync starts right away, and each calendar's status shows the number of busy periods imported or the reason for failure.

Only https:// addresses are accepted. Unticking a platform removes its calendar and frees the dates it blocked. The unit ID can be entered even without the sync option; the calendar address requires the Starter plan or higher.

• In the unit's calendar: periods busy on another platform are shown as striped grey with a padlock and the platform name (year, month and week views). They cannot be edited here: manage them in the platform. They count in the occupancy rate.
• When adding or editing a stay: a booking that overlaps dates busy on a platform is refused.
• On the unit's public page: the availability calendar shows them as unavailable, without saying which platform they come from.

A stay's departure day stays available for a new arrival, as elsewhere in the calendar.

To see all your seasonal bookings in your personal calendar, open My rentals and click Booking calendar on the rental's card. A subscription link is shown:

• Google Calendar: “Other calendars” (+) → From URL → paste the link;
• Apple Calendar: click “subscribe directly” (webcal:// link) or File → New Calendar Subscription;
• Outlook: Add calendar → Subscribe from web.

Each event carries the unit's name (“Sea studio — Reserved”), and nights occupied on platforms also appear. By default all seasonal units appear, including future ones; untick “All” to choose which. No traveller name appears. Generate a new link disables the old one. Google sometimes takes several hours to refresh a subscription. Starter plan and higher option.

Platforms collect bookings, then send a monthly invoice: nightly sales, commission and “payment service fees”, to deduct from their payout. Record them in the same Platforms section of the unit's page, under the platforms (or let them arrive automatically by email).

1. Click Add a platform invoice.
2. Pick the invoice PDF: for Booking.com, the property ID, invoice number, date, period, sales, commission, fees and due date are read automatically. For other platforms, fill the fields by hand.
3. Check the values then save: the PDF is kept privately and stays viewable from the list.

In the statistics: sales count as collected and commission with fees as expenses, in the invoiced period's month, in the performance chart, the rental dashboard and the accounting report. An invoice in a foreign currency is converted into the rental's currency.