If you are a vacation rental owner who sells on multiple platforms like AirBnB, Agoda, VRBO, LetsGoHoliday.my and etc, you will need to manage the allotment on each platforms to avoid double-booking. Double-booking happens when you have sold a unit on a platform say on AirBnB BUT you have forgotten to stop-selling or close-the-room on other platforms (e.g Airbnb). Your customer will not be happy if they found out that the room they booked has already been taken; worst still, they have to file refund and you will need to deal with the charges involve for double-booking cases (Yes, certain platforms charge for double-booking cases).
The need to manually “stop selling” on each platforms is over with the use of iCal technology. iCal stands for iCalendar, it’s a computer file format used to store calendar information. You may refer to this article compiled by my colleague about iCal here.
Steps to Export iCal for Your Property from Softinn Extranet
- Login to Softinn Extranet. Then, click on “Calendar” from the dashboard.
- Choose the unit (in case you have more than one units in an account). In the print screen taken below, unit “Standard King Room” is chosen.
- Click on “Export Calendar (iCal)” the green color button to generate the iCal link.
- The link provided (stated as Url) is the iCal from Softinn Extranet. You may copy and paste the link other OTAs or download the iCal. In case you lost the link, you can always come back to the same page and click on “Export Calendar” again to get the link.
The iCal link provided above were tested working for the platforms mentioned below or it should works on any platform that support iCal technology.
- AirBnB
- Google Calendar
- Booking.com –> (Update (31.Jan.2019): Booking.com do not allow syncing with other OTA platform)
- Agoda –> (Update (31.Jan.2019): Agoda do not allow syncing with other OTA platform)
- TripAdvisor
- FlipKey
You can refer to this guide to learn how to import iCal on Softinn Extranet.
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