Tuesday noon, June. A family books room 4 on Airbnb for late July. Twenty minutes later, a couple from Germany sees the same room free on Booking.com and books it. You find out in the evening, when you open your email.
That is exactly the case a sync is there to prevent. But "sync" means different things in different systems. In this article we explain what actually travels between your calendar, Booking.com and Airbnb, in which direction and how fast.
Two ways to tie Booking.com and Airbnb together
1. Calendar sync with iCal
Airbnb and Booking.com give you a calendar link (iCal). You paste it into the other channel and the two exchange booked dates. It is free and takes five minutes to set up.
It has two limits. First, it only carries "closed or open". Rates, minimum stay and guest details do not pass. Second, the update is not instant. According to Airbnb's help page, the Airbnb calendar pulls in connected calendars automatically every few hours. In between, the same room can look free on both.
2. A channel manager with a direct connection
A channel manager talks to the channels through their official connection, not through iCal. At Bookmatrix.com this runs through Channex, our partner for the OTA connection. Here the picture changes: two channels do not sync with each other, each channel syncs with one central calendar.
What goes from the calendar to the channels
- Availability. How many rooms of each type are left each day. When the last one sells, the date closes on every channel.
- Rates. The price of each rate plan for each day. You change August once, on the calendar.
- Restrictions. Minimum and maximum stay, closed to arrival or departure, stop sell.
- Time range. Rates and restrictions are sent up to 500 days ahead.
What comes from the channels to the calendar
- New bookings. With the guest, the rooms, the dates and the price. A guest card is created too.
- Modifications. If the guest changes dates on Booking.com, the same reservation is updated, not a second one created.
- Cancellations. The reservation is cancelled and the room opens again on every channel.
- Amounts that add up. The booking total is split into room, climate resilience fee and extras, so the reservation matches what the guest paid.
With the PRO plan, guest messages from the OTAs, Airbnb inquiries included, and reviews come in too. You reply from the same inbox, next to the reservation.
How fast?
Every booking, cancellation or rate change on the calendar is sent to the connected channels within seconds. Take the opening case:
- The family books room 4 on Airbnb.
- The booking arrives on the Bookmatrix.com calendar.
- Availability for that room type drops by one.
- Booking.com, Expedia and your own booking engine get the new availability within seconds.
The couple from Germany, twenty minutes later, sees the room closed. More on why double bookings happen and how they stop is in "Double bookings: why they happen and how they stop for good".
The safety net: what if something does not arrive
Internet connections sometimes drop. That is why two checks run in the background:
- A full resync every 15 minutes. Availability is sent again to every channel, so an update that got lost corrects itself.
- A check for bookings that were not picked up, every 15 minutes. If a booking stayed in Channex and did not reach the calendar, it is imported.
The calendar shows a light with the last sync: green when everything is up to date, red when something needs a look.
How Booking.com and Airbnb are connected
You do not open your own Channex account and you do not pay separately. Your rooms and rate plans in Bookmatrix.com are created in Channex automatically. Then:
- Booking.com: in the extranet you choose Channex as connectivity provider. In Bookmatrix.com you enter the Hotel ID, test the connection and match each Booking.com room and rate to yours.
- Airbnb: we guide you through Airbnb's connection steps and match each listing to the right room.
- Switch on: you turn the channel on, and from then on you only touch the calendar.
All of this usually takes up to 48 hours, with us on the phone at every step. When you connect Booking.com and Airbnb, do not leave the old iCal sync between them running: one place must hold the availability.
What about the other channels?
The same logic applies to Expedia, Agoda, Vrbo, Hotelbeds and the rest. Channex lists 75 OTA channels and 544 connections in total (channex.io/integrations). If you wonder whether a channel manager is worth it with only two channels, read why every hotel needs a channel manager.
Frequently asked questions
How fast does Booking.com close when a booking comes in on Airbnb?
Within seconds of the booking reaching the calendar. As a safety net, availability is sent again to every channel every 15 minutes.
Do rates sync too, or only dates?
Rates too, per rate plan and per day, together with minimum stay, closed to arrival or departure and stop sell. With iCal only booked dates pass.
Can I have a different price on Airbnb and on Booking.com?
Yes. One price list can cover every channel, or you can set a different rate plan and restrictions per channel.
Do Airbnb messages come into Bookmatrix.com?
Yes, with Bookmatrix.com PRO. Availability, rates and bookings sync on every plan.
Want Booking.com and Airbnb on one calendar? Try the free 14-day demo with your own rooms at bookmatrix.com/demo. Or tell us which channels you sell on at bookmatrix.com/form and we will call you on the next working day. You can also call us at +30 2351 151525.