DDirect Booking Page
← All docs

How to sync your calendar with Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo

Your site can show the same free and booked nights as your OTA listings, and a booking taken on your site can block those nights on the OTAs. This works on every plan, free included, through iCal, the calendar link format that Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and Google Calendar all support.

iCal carries blocked dates only, not prices. If you want nightly prices and card payments on your site, connect your PMS instead. See How to connect your PMS.

Before you start

  • You need the export calendar link of each listing. Every OTA shows it in the calendar settings of the listing, usually under a name like Export calendar or Sync calendars. It ends in .ics.
  • Collect one link per listing you want to pull blocked dates from.

Step 1. Open Availability

  1. Sign in and open your dashboard.
  2. On the property card, click the ⋯ menu and choose Availability.
  3. Pick Use iCal.

Step 2. Paste your calendar links

  1. Paste the first OTA link into the box.
  2. Click + Add another iCal for each further listing and paste its link.
  3. Save.

From now on every night that is booked on any of those listings shows as unavailable on your site. We re-read the links about once an hour.

Step 3. Give the OTAs your unified calendar link

Once you have saved, the Availability window shows Your unified calendar link. It merges every calendar you connected plus the bookings paid on your own site into one feed.

  1. Click Copy next to the link.
  2. In each OTA, open the same calendar settings and look for Import calendar or Connect calendars. Paste the link and give it a name, for example "My website".

Now a booking taken on your site blocks those nights on every OTA too, so you can never be booked twice for the same night.

How fast does it update?

  • Your site re-reads the OTA links about every hour.
  • OTAs re-read your unified link on their own schedule, usually every few hours. Some let you force a refresh from the calendar settings.
  • A booking paid on your site blocks the nights on your own calendar at once.

Something not working?

  • Dates look wrong: check that you pasted the export link of the listing, not the import box. The link should end in .ics.
  • Your site shows a demo calendar: no calendar is connected yet. Add at least one iCal link or connect a PMS.
  • The unified link is missing: it appears only after you have saved at least one calendar.
  • Nights still open on an OTA after a direct booking: the OTA has not re-read your link yet. Confirm the unified link is imported there and wait for its next refresh.