Regardless of which OTA - big or small - that you are distributing your properties on, you can import your bookings into Hospitable using an iCal link.
How to import an external iCal link into Hospitable
Unlike when you connect supported channels such as Airbnb, Booking.com, or Vrbo, iCal imports are not managed on the Channel Connections page!
Instead, individual listing iCal links need to be exported from the listing on the external booking platform and imported into the corresponding property on Hospitable.
Step 1: Find your export iCal link
Find the export iCal link on your booking platform and copy it.
This is stored in different places on different platforms. Search for an option like "Export Calendar" or "iCal Feed" on your listings on the external booking platform.
Once you've found it, copy the link.
Step 2: Import the external iCal into your Hospitable property
To import the external iCal link into your Hospitable property:
Go to Hospitable > Properties
Select the property you wish to import the external iCal into.
Below the listings on the property, find the "Add External iCal" button and click it.
Paste the iCal link's URL into the URL field.
Give the iCal a Nickname, which you will recognise it by, such as the name of the booking platform it is imported from.
Add a Host First and Last name.
Click Add Feed
How the iCal sync works
Hospitable checks your imported iCal feed every 20 minutes for updates made available by the owner of the feed. When Hospitable finds a new booking, it imports it and blocks the corresponding dates on your property's calendar.
What Hospitable imports from an iCal feed
The information available for an iCal booking depends on what the source provides in its feed. Hospitable can import:
Booking dates, which appear on your Hospitable calendar and block availability.
Guest email addresses, when provided. If a guest email is available, automated messaging can work for the booking.
Reservation financials, when provided. Financial information is not always included in an iCal feed.
Tasks and team notifications work as normal for iCal-imported bookings.
📓 The information available in an iCal feed is controlled by its source. Some booking details, including guest email addresses and reservation financials, may not be provided.
What the iCal import does not do
Importing an iCal feed into Hospitable is one-way. Hospitable pulls bookings and updates from the imported feed, but does not push information back to that channel.
For example, if you import an iCal feed from Hipcamp, Hospitable pulls Hipcamp bookings from that feed. For Hipcamp to receive bookings from other OTAs or Hospitable Manual and Direct bookings, you also need to export Hospitable's iCal feed to Hipcamp.
Read more about how to export your Hospitable property iCal here: Property Reservations iCal
Edit an iCal-imported booking manually
You can manually edit an imported booking if information such as the guest details, email address, or reservation financials is missing or needs to be updated.
Go to your calendar in Hospitable.
Find and select the iCal-imported booking.
Select the option to edit the booking in the pop-up.
Add or update the relevant booking details.
Manually adding missing financial details allows Hospitable to use those details for reservation financials and metrics.]
Which channels are supported for iCal imports?
Hospitable supports any external iCal feed, except for Hospitable's own iCals.
In cases where you cannot yet use our full API connection with Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, or Agoda, we support iCals from those platforms as well!
Among other channels used by Hospitable hosts are:
Tripadvisor
Expedia
HipCamp
Hopper
Houfy
Misterb&b
... and many others!
Troubleshooting
I've added my iCal to Hospitable. Why aren't my reservations showing on the calendar?
If your reservations are not appearing on your calendar, try adding your iCal to another calendar service (such as your email's calendar) to see if the reservations show up there. If there are not reservations there, either, then the iCal itself is the issue. Reach out to the platform's support team to troubleshoot.
Does the iCal import past reservations?
No. Past bookings (with a check-out yesterday or earlier) are not imported via iCal.