Calendar Sync Management

Introduction

Calendar Sync in GuestWisely helps you automate availability management and reduce manual work by syncing bookings from sales channels directly into your GuestWisely calendar. This keeps your availability accurate across all channels and helps prevent double bookings.

There are some key features you can use to manage calendar sync:

• One-Way Sync: sends availability from GuestWisely to external channels

• Two-Way Sync: keeps availability updated in both GuestWisely and external platforms

• Refresh Sync: allows manual syncing at any time instead of waiting for automatic updates

By setting up and managing calendar sync correctly, you’ll streamline operations, protect against overbookings and maintain full visibility across all your properties.

One-Way Sync

One-way sync sends your GuestWisely calendar information to your external calendars. It’s best suited for listing sites where instant booking is not enabled because it only exports availability from GuestWisely to the external calendar - it does not import bookings made on those external platforms back into GuestWisely.

For one-way sync, please copy the iCal export link from GuestWisely One-way Sync and paste it into the external platform’s “Import Calendar” section.

If instant booking is enabled on a listing site, a guest could make a reservation directly on that platform. But since one-way sync doesn't bring those bookings back into your GuestWisely calendar, you risk double bookings or inaccurate availability.

For platforms with instant booking, two-way sync or API integration is recommended to ensure that availability and bookings are fully aligned across all systems.

Two-Way Calendar Sync

Two-way sync keeps availability updated between GuestWisely and external platforms. This guide will show you how to set it up using Airbnb as an example.

1. Exporting the Airbnb Calendar

• Log in to Airbnb > Go to Calendar section > Select a listing

• Click Availability

• Under Connect calendars, click Connect to another website

• Copy the link in Step 1

2. Integrating the iCal Link in GuestWisely

• Go to Channel Manager > Calendar Sync 

• Select the property > click Sync New Calendar

• Paste the Airbnb iCal link into IMPORT URL field

• Enter SYNC NAME

• (Optional) Sync Calendar without Booking Data

  • Ticked: Creates calendar blocks only, keeping reports clean.

  • Unticked: Creates tentative bookings.

• Click CONTINUE

• Copy YOUR MASTER LINK

3. Importing into Airbnb

• In Airbnb, under Step 2: Paste your GuestWisely master link

• Enter Calendar name and click Add Calendar

Other channels will have similar processes that should be intuitive now that you’ve seen the Airbnb example.

4. Global Setting

The Global Settings section includes two optional settings that apply to all iCal exports and imports:

1. Hide guest contact and details when I export my GuestWisely calendar.

   • When enabled, guest names and contact information will be hidden from the iCal calendar exported by GuestWisely.

   • This is useful when sharing calendar feeds with third parties while protecting guest privacy.

2. Import from Airbnb both bookings and blocks, not just bookings.

   • When enabled, GuestWisely will import both confirmed bookings and manually created blocks from Airbnb.

   • When disabled, GuestWisely will only import confirmed Airbnb bookings.

For other channels, GuestWisely will import both confirmed bookings and manually created blocks.

Smarter Syncing with Related Properties

To sync availability between GuestWisely properties, we recommend using Related Properties rather than iCal links. This feature provides faster and more reliable synchronization by directly managing availability across related listings. 

Learn more about Related Properties here.

Manage Calendar Sync

The Calendar Sync table provides an overview of all calendars connected to the property and allows you to manage each connection. 

From this table, you can:

1. View whether Sync Calendar without Booking Data is enabled.

2. Check the Last Sync time.

3. Copy the Master Calendar Link

4. Manage channel settings, including Disconnect Channel, Edit Channel Name, and Edit Import URL.

Accepting Calendar Sync Bookings

Bookings synced via iCal appear as Tentative in GuestWisely and are excluded from reports until confirmed. Follow these steps to finalize them:

1. Accept Channel Booking: 
Open the reservation and click on "Accept Channel Booking".

2. Complete Mandatory Information:
Fill in missing details like guest name, email, number of guests and Grand Total (depending on what the iCal feed includes).
At minimum, please review the number of guests and Grand Total.

3. Confirm the Booking
Choose one of the following options:

• Process: Review before confirming

• Save: Confirm without emailing the guest

• Save & Notify: Confirm and send the guest a confirmation email

Important: Once you confirm the booking, the link with the original source is removed. Any future changes or cancellations must be updated manually in GuestWisely.

Additional tips:

• Multiple Rates Tables: Utilize the feature on your Rates & Seasons pages to create additional rates tables, accessible when confirming calendar sync bookings. Note that this only works with the Standard Rate table. View the full tutorial here.
  
  

• Default Taxes and Services:
  Enable the iCal Booking toggle under Taxes and Services to automatically apply the property's default taxes and services to bookings imported via iCal.

iCal Sync Timing and Troubleshooting

Sync Timing and Instant Sync Option

GuestWisely imports availability updates from connected iCal calendars every 60 minutes. You can also use Refresh Sync to trigger an immediate import, especially after the initial setup.

Resolving Missing Data

If bookings from the channel are not appearing in GuestWisely:

1. Start by refreshing the data: 

Click Refresh Sync to update the iCal booking information. 

If the booking still doesn’t show up, the issue may lie with the iCal feed itself.

2. Verify Booking Data in iCal URL: 

You can use an online iCal verification tool (link here) or  import the iCal URL into a Google Calendar (or similar) and see if the reservation blocks the calendar during the correct dates.

1. Copy the URL link for external platform

2. In Google Calendar, click “+” to add other calendar

3. Select “From URL”

4. Paste URL

5. Add Calendar

3. Issue Resolution: 
If the booking data isn’t in the iCal feed, contact the sales channel to ask about delays in their feed. 

You can also try updating the iCal URL in GuestWisely to trigger a refresh. If the data is present in the iCal feed but still not syncing, reach out to GuestWisely support for further assistance (support@guestwisely.io).

If bookings from GuestWisely are not appearing on the channel:

Keep in mind that each channel determines how often it imports external iCal calendars. These intervals vary by channel and are outside GuestWisely's control.

1. Use the channel's refresh sync option, if available.

2. Verify that the correct GuestWisely iCal URL has been added to the channel.

3. Check the GuestWisely iCal URL directly to confirm whether the booking is present.

• If the booking is not present in the GuestWisely iCal feed, please contact GuestWisely Support.

• If the booking is present in the GuestWisely iCal feed but does not appear on the channel, please contact the channel support team. 

Unknown blocks from iCal

GuestWisely uses the iCal standard for calendar sync, primarily focusing on sharing availability with platforms like Airbnb. However, iCal itself might not display all the details or booking settings you have defined within GuestWisely.

To prevent booking conflicts caused by unknown blocks from iCal, here are some key points to ensure smooth calendar synchronization:

• Single Source of Availability: Manage your Booking Notice, Booking Window, Minimum Stay and other availability settings directly within GuestWisely.
  Avoid duplicating these settings in any connected OTA calendar like Airbnb. GuestWisely should be the source of truth for your availability. If you see unknown blocks, first review your property settings. External platforms may automatically block dates that do not meet restrictions such as Booking Notice, Booking Window or Minimum Stay requirements.

• Centralized Connection: Avoid linking sales channel calendars (e.g., Airbnb, Booking.com) to each other. Instead, connect them directly to GuestWisely, which serves as the central hub to sync availability, maintain accuracy and minimize double bookings.

• Include Pricing: Ensure your listings on OTAs include pricing for the affected period. Lack of pricing information on a connected platform can lead to blocked availability on the platform and on your GuestWisely calendar.

If unknown blocks still appear, review your iCal settings or try resetting the sync with GuestWisely.

Best-Practice Advice

While the window between syncs is short, iCal is not a real-time synching solution. While such cases are very rare, multiple booking requests for the overlapping dates may occur between synching instances.

For this reason, caution is advised when using multiple commission-based channels for the same property, especially where bookings can not be declined. Ideally, you should have suitable alternative properties available to accommodate guests in the event of an overbooking.

Otherwise, you should consider using our Channel Manager solution instead. Unlike Calendar Sync, which is free with your subscription, the Channel Manager is a paid option. It also brings added inherent complexities, but it does sync calendars in real-time and offers many other benefits.