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Beds24 sync

How calendars stay in step

One night is for sale in three places. A guest books it on Booking.com. How soon do Airbnb and your own site find out, and what happens until they do?

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The same night is shown on three calendars: your website, Booking.com and Airbnb. A guest books it on Booking.com. By iCal each calendar re-reads the others only on its own schedule: the website after about an hour, Airbnb after a few hours. Meanwhile Airbnb still shows the night as free, so a second guest books it there: one bed, two guests, one cancelled, a possible penalty and a bad review. By Beds24, a channel manager that all three calendars are wired to, the booking reaches the website and Airbnb within minutes, so the second guest finds the night already taken.

Step 1 of 9iCal · hours

One night, three calendars: your website, Booking.com and Airbnb. On all of them it is free.

Step 2 of 9iCal · hours

A guest books that night on Booking.com. There it is now taken.

Step 3 of 9iCal · hours

By iCal, each calendar re-reads the others only on its own schedule. The website checks hourly and closes the night after about an hour. Airbnb checks less often, every few hours, so it still shows the night as free.

Step 4 of 9iCal · hours

Airbnb does not know about the sale yet, so a second guest books the same night there too.

Step 5 of 9iCal · hours

Airbnb re-reads the calendar only now, hours later. One bed, two guests: one must be cancelled, the platform may charge a penalty, and the guest may leave a bad review.

Step 6 of 9Beds24 · minutes

Beds24 is a channel manager: one hub that all three calendars are wired to. They no longer wait for one another to check; each tells the hub about its bookings.

Step 7 of 9Beds24 · minutes

The same sale on Booking.com. Beds24 receives it and within minutes closes the night on the website and on Airbnb.

Step 8 of 9Beds24 · minutes

When the second guest turns up, Airbnb already shows the night as taken. They cannot book it.

Step 9 of 9Beds24 · minutes

That is what Beds24 is for: calendars that agree in minutes, not hours, and a double booking becomes very unlikely.

iCal

Hours

Each calendar looks at the others from time to time, on its own schedule: your site hourly, Booking.com and Airbnb every few hours. Until then a sold night can still show as free.

A second guest books the same night. One of them is cancelled, you apologise, and the platform may penalise you.

Beds24

Minutes

Beds24 is a go-between that your site, Booking.com and Airbnb are all connected to. When a booking appears anywhere, it tells the others, and the night closes everywhere within minutes. Bookings made on your own site travel the same way.

Everyone agrees within minutes. The second guest finds the night already taken.

The times in the picture illustrate the lag; they are not a measurement. Booking.com and Airbnb publish no fixed interval for fetching other calendars; it is usually a few hours, and it cannot be hurried.

Setting it up: the cost and the steps

What it costs, and what happens between deciding and the first booking that agrees within minutes.

Set-up: €99 once, for any number of objects. From 10 objects: +€99.
Upkeep: €4.99 a month, for any number of objects: I watch that the sync works and fix it when it stops. Beds24’s fee is not in it; no VAT is added to my prices.
Beds24: €20.09 a month, paid to Beds24 directly and in advance: one object with Booking.com and Airbnb, VAT included. Each further one: +€4.48. Beds24 sets this price.

You tell me what you have
How many objects, and which channels sell them. If iCal is enough, I will say so: Beds24 is only worth it when you run a tight calendar.
The Beds24 account is in your name
You open a Beds24 account in your own name: the first 14 days are free, then it is paid in advance by topping up the account’s balance. You give me access, and I set up your object, its rooms and their rules. If we ever stop working together, the account, its bookings and its channel connections stay yours.
You approve the channels
Booking.com and Airbnb only let the account holder connect a channel manager, so this step is yours, in your own accounts. I will show you where to click.
The site is connected
The site gets access to Beds24: its bookings close those dates on the channels at once, and the channels’ bookings come back to the site within minutes.
iCal is switched off
The old iCal links are removed, so the same dates are never kept in step by two routes at once.
A test booking
One in each direction: from the site to the channels, and from a channel to the site. Only when both arrive is the sync counted as working.

Only with a site I build. Channels beyond Booking.com and Airbnb are quoted on request.

Do you run a tight calendar?

Tell me how many properties you have and which channels sell them. I will tell you whether iCal is enough or Beds24 is worth it.

You will hear back within one working day.

Hours

Minutes

You tell me what you have

The Beds24 account is in your name

You approve the channels

The site is connected

iCal is switched off

A test booking