This article helps you diagnose and fix availability mismatches between Hospitable and your booking platforms (Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com). It is designed for quick resolution—follow the steps in order to find the cause and fix it.
Use this article if:
The availability in Hospitable is correct, but it doesn't match your availability on Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com (for example, you blocked dates on Hospitable but they are still open on Vrbo).
The availability in Hospitable is incorrect, but is correct on Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com.
Quick fix — try this first!
If your availability on a booking platform doesn't match what you see in your Hospitable calendar, ask Smarty, our AI bot, to perform a force push of your availability. This re-sends all calendar data to the booking platform and may help update your calendar quickly. Try typing: "Can you force push my availability for [property name] for [date or dates]?" in the chat widget.
Step 1: Check the Availability in Hospitable
Before troubleshooting anything else, check the availability on Hospitable by opening your property calendar and clicking on the affected date (or dates).
If the property's availability is correct on Hospitable
If Hospitable's calendar is correct, but it does not match the booking platforms, jump to Step 2.
If your property's availability on Hospitable's calendar is wrong
With your property's calendar still open, click on the date and check the right-side panel for the Availability source.
💡Tip: Hover over the availability source label to see the exact date and time of the last update. This helps you tell at a glance whether the availability data is current or stale.
What to Do Next Based on the Availability Source
Since your availability on Hospitable is incorrect, follow the How to Fix instructions in the table below, based on the availability source shown in the calendar.
This will correct your availability on Hospitable, which will automatically sync with the booking channels.
Availability source | What it means | How to Fix |
Manual | You or a secondary user changed the availability in Hospitable | Manually block or unblock the date in Hospitable to reflect your preferred availability. |
Calendar rule-set (Will show as: Availability window, Turnover days/Preparation time, Advance notice) | A calendar rule-set is controlling this date | Review your property's availability rules in Hospitable. Adjust or disable the rule affecting the date. |
Airbnb or Booking.com | Imported when the listing was first connected (Hospitable does not continuously import availability from Airbnb or Booking.com). | Manually block or unblock the date in Hospitable to reflect your preferred availability. |
Vrbo | Imported when the listing was first connected or from the rolling 4.5-hour sync if Vrbo is the lead listing. | Manually block or unblock the date in Hospitable to reflect your preferred availability.
(Optional: If Vrbo is your lead listing, you can also update your calendar on Vrbo, and we will pull the change in during our 4.5-hour sync). Make sure your Vrbo channel is connected. |
Reservation sync | A booking or iCal blocked or unblocked the date. |
|
Other resources:
Use Change Your Property's Availability for a guide to update availability in your Hospitable calendar.
Use Property: Availability Settings Page if you need to create/set availability rules for your property.
If your availability is now correct on Hospitable, but not on the booking platforms, continue to Step 2.
Step 2: Check Your Booking Rules
Many “availability issues” are actually booking settings—not sync problems. If the date is open in Hospitable but not bookable on the booking platform, a rule may be preventing guests from booking.
These include:
Check-in day restrictions — guests cannot check in on certain days
Check-out day restrictions — guests cannot check out on certain days
Minimum-night stays — a minimum number of nights ' stay is required
These rules make certain date combinations unbookable — the dates are technically available, but no valid booking can be formed that satisfies the rules. The date will appear blocked for guests.
How to check for booking rules
On Hospitable:
You can confirm whether booking rules are blocking your date(s) by opening the Hospitable calendar. Click on the date, then confirm whether your current settings and availability allow guests to book.
In the example in the screenshot, July 1 will be unavailable for guests due to the following:
Minimum night stay setting is longer than the available gap
Check-in is unavailable
(Not shown) If checkouts are unavailable on future dates, it will also contribute to an unavailable date
If any of these settings are interfering with your availability, update your settings on the Hospitable calendar and click save. If they are the result of a rule set, edit or remove the rule set.
Once updated, the changes will be pushed to your booking platforms immediately.
You can also view and edit your Booking rules settings by property by navigating to Property → Availability → Booking rules:
Booking platform notes:
Vrbo:
Updates you make on Hospitable will push to Vrbo, but Hospitable is not the source of truth for Vrbo. Double-check that the settings are not more restrictive and that they have not been updated manually.
Airbnb:
Dates that are unbookable due to check-in/check-out restrictions or minimum-night rules can look identical to dates that are blocked. Both appear greyed out on the calendar. This leads many hosts to believe Hospitable has blocked dates when, in fact, the dates are open — they are just restricted by booking settings.
Airbnb rule sets can be more restrictive. Check your rule sets on their end.
💡 Tip: Try searching for your listing on the platform as a guest. Change the trip length, check-in date, and check-out date. If certain combinations work and others don't, booking settings are the cause. Update them to allow guests to book.
If you've ruled out booking rule restrictions/settings as the cause, and your availability on the booking platform is still incorrect, continue to Step 3.
Step 3: Check Platform-Specific Issues
If the issue persists, go to the relevant platform section below.
How to Resolve Availability Issues Between Hospitable and Vrbo
Vrbo has several platform-specific behaviors and limitations that can affect availability sync. Unlike Airbnb and Booking.com, Hospitable is not always the source of truth for Vrbo.
Changes made directly on Vrbo will override Hospitable's updates
iCals, other tools, or Vrbo settings can modify availability independently
(Not applicable to most hosts) If Vrbo is the lead listing, Hospitable will pull availability from Vrbo every ~4.5 hours.
🔜 This will change with the upcoming Vrbo Official API integration, which will make Hospitable the source of truth for Vrbo as well — just like it already is for Airbnb and Booking.com.
1. Confirm Your Vrbo Channel is Connected
If your Vrbo channel becomes disconnected, Hospitable will be unable to communicate with the listings on your channel, including availability. You should confirm your Vrbo channel is connected from the Channel connections page. A disconnected channel will show a yellow banner.
If your channel is disconnected, follow the steps here to reconnect.
While your Vrbo channel is disconnected, we cannot communicate with the platform at all, so availability cannot be updated. Your availability will update automatically upon reconnection; however, if you have reconnected and you still notice discrepancies on Vrbo's calendar after reconnecting, you can ask Smarty to make a push to get you back in alignment.
Try asking: "Hi Smarty, I recently reconnected my Vrbo channel, but the availability for my property called [property name] on [date] hasn't updated just yet. Can you please run a force push?"
2. Check for Unlisted, Hidden, or Paused Listings
If a Vrbo listing has a status of unlisted, hidden, or paused, Hospitable cannot push pricing updates to it. This is a Vrbo restriction, Hospitable will permanently skip pushes to that listing, and they cannot be retried.
If your Vrbo listing is unlisted, hidden, or paused when we try to update your Vrbo calendar:
The push is skipped and never retried automatically.
Your Vrbo calendar will not reflect any availability changes made in Hospitable.
🚨 Vrbo: Skipped pushes are permanent. If your listing was unlisted, hidden, or paused while an availability push ran, those pushes were skipped and will not retry on their own. After making your listing live again, you must update your availability on Hospitable to force a new push, or ask Smarty, our AI bot, to run an availability push for you. Try asking: "Hi Smarty, I recently made my Vrbo listing live. Can you please run a force push of availability for my property called [property name] for the next 3 months?"
If your listing wasn't live, here's what you should do:
Ensure your Vrbo listing is fully active and published (status = "Listed"). It may take up to 2 hours for this change to appear on Hospitable.
To confirm this is updated on Hospitable, go to Properties > click on your property > check the Vrbo listing's status.
Once re-listed, ask Smarty, our AI bot, for a force push to re-send all calendar data to Vrbo — this is necessary because the skipped pushes are not automatically retried.
3. Check for PMS Conflicts on Vrbo
If you also use a PMS (Property Management System) on Vrbo, Hospitable cannot interact with your Vrbo calendar. If a PMS is detected, your Vrbo listing will be flagged as "managed by another PMS" and Hospitable will be blocked from pushing availability to Vrbo. This is a Vrbo-side restriction.
What you should do:
Check whether your Vrbo channel is connected to a property management software. If Hospitable detects it is, you'll see a "calendar restricted" notice next to the Vrbo channel on the Channel connections page.
If you have another property management software:
You should update your Vrbo availability on their end.
If you want to manage availability on Hospitable, you should disconnect from the other PMS first. Reach out to Vrbo and your PMS for assistance.
Review limitations when connected to another PMS.
4. Check for Calendar Overrides on Vrbo
Availability can be changed directly on Vrbo's calendar or via Vrbo's settings. Since Hospitable is not the source of truth on Vrbo, this can lead to discrepancies.
Check for the following. If they are applied, implement the fix:
If your entire calendar is blocked on Vrbo, or if all dates after a specific date are blocked, check the following:
Booking limits settings in your Vrbo calendar. These include booking windows/advance bookings, which can block all future dates. Hospitable cannot open dates blocked by booking limits.
How to check: Go to your Vrbo calendar > Settings > Availability > Booking Limits.
How to fix: Go to your Vrbo calendar > Settings > Availability > Booking Limits > Click on the restriction > Edit or Remove (for advance booking, set to "no restrictions". The dates should open on Vrbo. Once the block is removed, Hospitable will be able to push availability to Vrbo in the future.
A calendar block created during the listing creation flow on Vrbo:
How to check: If dates are blocked on Vrbo and have not been removed during Hospitable's pushes, it's likely the block was created during the listing's creation. Hospitable cannot remove these hard blocks.
How to fix: Go to your Vrbo calendar > click on the blocked dates > manually remove the block. Once the block is removed, Hospitable will be able to push availability to Vrbo in the future.
If only some dates are blocked on Vrbo, check the following:
A manual change on the Vrbo calendar (if you don't remember making changes, ask your team if they have made changes directly on Vrbo's calendar).
Editing availability directly in Vrbo can cause mismatches. Always make changes in Hospitable when possible.
How to fix: Update the calendar on Hospitable or Vrbo directly. To avoid mismatches in the future, update your availability directly on Hospitable instead.
iCals imported into your Vrbo calendar: To avoid availability issues, you should not import any other iCals into Vrbo (including Airbnb). If you'd like to use a backup iCal, use Hospitable's reservations iCal.
How to check: Vrbo calendar > Settings > Availability > Connect Calendars.
How to fix: Vrbo calendar > Settings > Availability > Connect Calendars > Click on Manage Imported and then Delete.
⚠️ Important: Removing blocks on Vrbo may result in some dates opening when you want them to be closed. Removing blocks on Vrbo does not trigger an availabilty push from Hospitable.
You can fix this in three ways:
Update your availability on Hospitable to force a new push for specific dates.
Manually block dates in your Vrbo calendar.
Ask Smarty, our AI bot, to run an availability push for you. Try asking: "Hi Smarty, I recently made my Vrbo listing live. Can you please run a force push of availability for my property called [property name] for the next 3 months?"
5. Rate Limits
Because Hospitable has not yet released its official integration with Vrbo, we use Vrbo's public API, which is subject to rate limits. This means Vrbo can temporarily block our pushes in rare instances if we send too much data at once. For channels with many listings, a new listing, or when many changes are made at once, Vrbo can reject those updates due to the rate limits it enforces.
When rate limits are hit, pushes are queued and retried, but there can be significant delays.
Issue 1: Rate Limit Issues on Newly Connected Listings
My Vrbo calendar isn't updating after connecting to Hospitable
This most commonly affects newly created Vrbo listings, since the initial sync requires pushing a large amount of calendar data.
What happens: Vrbo responds with a rate-limit error and blocks further pushes until the limit resets. Hospitable will retry, but subsequent attempts may also be blocked until Vrbo clears the rate limit.
Issue 2: Rate Limit Issues and Sync Delays on All Other Listings
Vrbo imposes rate limits on how frequently calendar data can be pushed. If you make many changes at once, some updates may be rejected by Vrbo during our initial sync. As long as your listing remains live, we'll re-attempt pushes for all failed dates on a rolling basis, until Vrbo confirms the push was successful.
How to Resolve Rate Limit Issues:
Check your Vrbo calendar directly. If availability appears incorrect, update it manually on Vrbo to protect yourself from unwanted bookings while the sync catches up.
Ask Smarty, our AI bot, for a targeted force push. A force push for a specific, narrow date range is more likely to succeed than a push for the full calendar. For example, you can ask Smarty: Please force push availability for the next 3 months for my property called [property name].
⚠️ Important: Do not leave your Vrbo calendar with incorrect availability while the sync is in progress. If your availability is incorrect on Vrbo, update it directly on the Vrbo calendar as a temporary measure to avoid unwanted bookings.
6. Merge & Match
If you manage listings across multiple channels (e.g., Airbnb and Vrbo), make sure they are properly merged into a single property in Hospitable. If your Vrbo listing exists as a separate, unmerged property, availability changes made to your main property will not reach Vrbo.
How to check:
Go to Hospitable → Properties
Verify that your Vrbo listing appears under the same property as your Airbnb listing (if applicable).
If they’re separate, merge them.
Once merged, we'll push calendar data to Vrbo.
Vrbo: Calendar Availability Troubleshooting Checklist
Complete the following steps to ensure your availability is accurate on Vrbo.
Confirm whether the dates are blocked vs. unbookable (booking rules/restrictions).
Confirm Vrbo is connected and the listing is Listed/active (unlisted/hidden/paused listings can cause skipped pushes).
Check Vrbo-side blockers: other PMS/calendar restricted, booking limits/advance booking, manual overrides, imported iCals.
Confirm the Vrbo listing is merged to the correct property in Hospitable.
Account for Vrbo behaviors: rate-limit delays
(Rare) If Vrbo is lead listing and changes were made on Vrbo, inbound sync can take up to ~4.5 hours.
Ask Smarty for a force push (target a limited date range, like the next 3 months).
Note: If Vrbo is the Lead Listing
Manual updates to your Hospitable calendar are always pushed to all listings immediately, regardless of your lead listing
If Vrbo is your lead listing and changes are made on your Vrbo calendar, these will be picked up during our regular 4.5-hour syncs and applied. If you recently made a change on your Vrbo calendar, it can take up to 4.5 hours for us to detect that change and display it on the Hospitable calendar.
There is no way for hosts to manually speed up this sync.
How to Resolve Availability Issues Between Hospitable and Airbnb
Airbnb availability issues are most commonly caused by booking rules or platform-side overrides.
1. Check Connection Type
The type of connection between Hospitable and Airbnb determines whether availability can be synced.
Full connection (PMS scope): With this connection, Hospitable is the source of truth. It pushes pricing, availability, and listing data directly to Airbnb. Hospitable will override availability on Airbnb. Hosts cannot manually change their availability on the Airbnb calendar.
Limited connection: Hospitable cannot push any calendar data to Airbnb, or sync it in from Airbnb. You will need to fully manage your calendar on Airbnb (or on your PMS), with no sync between Hospitable and Airbnb.
An Airbnb channel connection can be limited because:
If your Airbnb listing is on a limited connection, availability changes in Hospitable will not appear on Airbnb. You will need to upgrade to a full connection for the availability sync to work. Learn more here.
💡 How to check your connection type:
Open your Hospitable account.
Navigate to the Channel connection page.
Look for the connection type indicator badge:
It will say "PMS" (full connection).
Even if your channel is on a PMS connection, you may be missing the listing admin for some of the listings you co-host. In this case, you will see a red button to "Invite host".
"Calendar restricted" (limited).
2. Airbnb Rule-Sets Overriding Hospitable
If availability on Airbnb does not match Hospitable, and changes pushed from Hospitable seem to be ignored or reverted, an Airbnb rule set may be the culprit.
Airbnb has its own Rule-Sets (sometimes called "Seasonal Rules" or "Trip Length" rules) that can override PMS-pushed availability and settings. These rules live entirely on Airbnb's side and Hospitable cannot see or modify them.
How to check and resolve:
Log in to Airbnb directly.
Navigate to the multi-listing calendar on Airbnb
Remove or adjust any rule-sets that conflict with what you have set in Hospitable.
After clearing conflicting rules on Airbnb, trigger a manual sync from Hospitable.
⚠️Important: Airbnb rule-sets take precedence over PMS pushes. Even if Hospitable sends the correct availability, Airbnb will apply its own rules on top. Always check for conflicting rule-sets on Airbnb when troubleshooting.
3. iCal Imports Still Active on Airbnb
If random blocks appear on Airbnb that don't exist in Hospitable (the blocks may come and go unpredictably), it's possible an iCal is still imported on the Airbnb listing, injecting availability blocks from an external source.
When a listing is connected to a PMS, all imported iCal links should be automatically removed from Airbnb. However, there is a known Airbnb issue — even after connecting a PMS, previously imported iCals may remain active and continue to push blocks.
How to check and resolve:
Log in to Airbnb directly.
Navigate to the listing → Availability → Linked calendars (or iCal).
Remove any iCal imports present. Any imported iCals on Airbnb can cause issues.
Once removed, update your availability to trigger a new push to Airbnb by:
Update your availability on Hospitable to force a new push, or
Ask Smarty, our AI bot, to run an availability push for you. Try asking: "Hi Smarty, I recently made my Vrbo listing live. Can you please run a force push of availability for my property called [property name] for the next 3 months?"
💡Tip: This is easy to miss because hosts often set up iCal links before connecting to Hospitable and then forget about them. Make sure to review your Airbnb calendar after connecting to Hospitable and manually remove any imported iCal links that you find there.
Airbnb: Calendar Availability Troubleshooting Checklist
Complete the following steps to ensure your availability is accurate on Airbnb.
Confirm whether the dates are actually blocked or just unbookable (check-in/check-out restrictions, min-night stays).
Confirm your Airbnb connection type allows pushes.
PMS scope = full connection (Hospitable is source of truth; pushes availability).
Limited connection = Hospitable cannot push or import availability; manage availability directly in Airbnb/PMS.
Confirm the Airbnb listing admin is connected to your Hospitable account.
Missing listing admin will prevent Hospitable from updating a co-hosted listing.
Check for Airbnb rule-sets overriding Hospitable.
Remove/adjust conflicting rule-sets on Airbnb’s side (multi-listing calendar).
Check for iCal imports still active on Airbnb.
Known Airbnb issue: imported iCals may remain even after PMS connection.
Remove any imported iCals in Airbnb (listing → Availability → Linked calendars/iCal).
Check for another PMS.
If another PMS is connected, Airbnb will be calendar restricted.
Ask Smarty for a force push (limit date range; e.g., next 3 months, then repeat once reflected).
How to Resolve Availability Issues Between Hospitable and Booking.com
Booking.com Rate Plans
Booking.com allows hosts to offer different pricing and cancellation options using rate plans.
While multiple rate plans can exist on a listing, Hospitable can only sync availability with one rate plan per listing. This is known as the parent rate plan.
If additional rate plans are created and not configured correctly, availability changes made in Hospitable may only apply to the parent rate plan, while other rate plans remain open. This can lead to double bookings.
Types of Rate Plan Issues
Multiple Parent Rate Plans
You can have more than one parent rate plan, but Hospitable can only manage one.
How to check:
Parent rate plans appear with a white background in the Booking.com Extranet calendar
Only one parent rate plan can be managed by Hospitable
Any additional parent rate plans will not receive availability updates
This can cause situations like:
One parent rate plan (managed by Hospitable) is blocked
Another parent rate plan (not managed) remains open → guests can still book
The screenshot below shows a listing with two parent rate plans:
The first one (green) is managed by Hospitable.
The second one (blue) is not managed by Hospitable, and will not be blocked when the host blocks dates on Hospitable.
What to do:
Remove any extra parent rate plans that are not managed by Hospitable
Multiple Child Rate Plans
Child rate plans can inherit pricing and availability from the parent rate plan.
However, if they are not configured correctly, they may:
Ignore availability updates from Hospitable
Remain bookable even when the parent rate plan is blocked
“Not XML” Rate Plans
A child rate plan is correctly linked to the parent if it shows a “Not XML” badge in the Booking.com calendar.
Has “Not XML” badge → correctly follows parent availability
No badge → not linked properly and will not follow Hospitable updates
What to do:
Review all child rate plans
Ensure they display the “Not XML” badge
How to Set Up a Child Rate Plan to Follow the Parent
Here is how to set the child rate plan so that it takes pricing and availability from the parent:
Go to your Booking.com Extranet
Select your listing
Go to Rates & Availability
Select Rate plans
Click the down arrow on the child rate plan
Select 'Edit'
Click 'Edit' next to 'Price'
Tick the one which says 'Based on one of my current rate plans'
Make sure to select the parent rate plan
Click 'Save'
Click 'Apply changes'
Booking.com: Calendar Availability Troubleshooting Checklist
Complete the following steps to ensure your availability is accurate on Booking.com.
Confirm whether the dates are actually blocked or just unbookable (booking rules/restrictions can make dates appear blocked).
Confirm your Booking.com channel is connected (Booking.com lists connect on a per-listing basis, not a per-account basis).
Check Booking.com rate plans (availability sync only applies to one parent rate plan per listing).
Multiple parent rate plans (white background in Extranet calendar): only one can be managed by Hospitable; remove extra parent rate plans not managed by Hospitable.
Child rate plans: confirm they properly inherit from the parent.
Look for the “Not XML” badge (means correctly linked to parent availability).
If missing, edit the child rate plan to base pricing/availability on the parent rate plan.
Ask Smarty for a force push (limit date range; e.g., next 3 months, then repeat once reflected).
Good to Know
Making Changes in the Right Place
Always make availability changes in Hospitable — not directly on the platform. Changes made directly on a platform may be overwritten by the next Hospitable sync, or they may create conflicts that are difficult to diagnose.
Sync Timing
After making a change in Hospitable, allow a few minutes for the push to reach the platform and for the platform to process it. During high-traffic periods, syncs may take longer.
When to Contact Support
If you have worked through the relevant platform checklist above and the issue persists, contact Hospitable support with:
The property name and affected property or listing.
The specific dates and what you expected vs. what you see.
Screenshots of both the Hospitable calendar and the platform calendar.
Any recent changes you have made.
Confirmation that you have completed the checklist for the relevant platform.
This information helps our team diagnose the issue quickly and avoid back-and-forth.