iCal vs API sync: why double bookings happen

A double booking usually starts with a calendar that hasn't caught up. Which kind of connection you use decides how long that gap lasts.

iCal links

Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo can each export your calendar as an iCal link and import another site's link. It's free and takes a few minutes to set up. Each site fetches the other's calendar on its own schedule rather than the moment something changes, and you can't control that interval. If a guest books on Booking.com and another guest books the same night on Airbnb before Airbnb next reads the feed, you have two bookings for one night.

iCal also carries only availability. Prices, minimum stays and guest messages stay separate on each site.

API connections

A channel manager connects to each booking site through that site's own interface for software partners. When a booking lands on one channel, the software closes those dates on the others straight away. Most also push prices and minimum stays and pull guest messages into one inbox.

Every plan in our calculator offers direct connections to Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo, including Hospitable's free Essentials plan.

Which you need

With one channel you need neither. With two channels and low occupancy, iCal is workable if you check your calendars often. Once you're busy on two or more channels, a direct connection is worth paying for, because one double booking means a cancellation, a refund and a hit to your listing.

Before you sign up, ask the vendor which channels it connects to directly and which it links by iCal. Some tools use direct connections for the big sites and iCal for smaller ones.