How to Connect Your Airbnb Calendar to Vrbo | Channel Management

What is Double Booking?

A double booking is when two different guests book your property for the same day/time or when two different bookings overlap, forcing you to cancel one booking. A double booking is quite likely if you list your property on more than one online booking platform such as Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com which of course is necessary if you are to maximize your occupancy and revenue.

Why Should You Connect Your Airbnb and Vrbo Calendars?

If you list your vacation rental on both Airbnb and Vrbo, it is paramount that you connect your calendars to sync your bookings from both platforms and prevent double booking. This is a key aspect of channel management.

How to Connect Your Airbnb Calendar to Vrbo?

1. Import your Airbnb Calendar into VRBO

One of the most basic ways to connect your calendars is to import your Airbnb calendar into VRBO, which you can do because they both support the iCalendar (iCal) format. Do note that this takes at least a few hours to sync at minimum and often much longer.

To export your Airbnb calendar into Vrbo:

1. Go to Listings on your Airbnb dashboard and select the listing you want

2. Go to Pricing and availability > Calendar sync

3. Click Export calendar

4. In the Export calendar window, copy the link

5. Go to your Vrbo account and select the listing

6. Click Calendars in the left navigation menu, then click Reservation

7. Click the Import/Export icon and click Import Calendar

8. Name your calendar (for example, Airbnb) and choose a color

9. Paste your Airbnb calendar link

10. Make sure the calendar is set to block your calendar availability

11. Click Import Calendar

2. Import your Vrbo calendar into Airbnb

Importing your Vrbo calendar into Airbnb is one of the most basic ways to connect your calendars and prevent double bookings. This is possible because both calendars support the iCal format. It however takes at least a few hours for the two calendars to sync.

To export your Vrbo calendar into Airbnb:

1. Go to your Vrbo account and select the listing you want

2. Click Calendars in the left navigation menu, then click Reservation

3. Click the Import/Export icon and click Export Calendar

4. In the Export calendar window, copy the link

5. Go to Listing and select the listing you want

6. Go to Pricing and availability > Calendar sync

7. Click Import calendar

8. Copy the link into the Calendar address field

9. Name the calendar (for example, Vrbo)

10. Click Import calendar

3. Use Hostaway’s Channel Manager

The best way to sync your calendars across Airbnb, Vrbo and multiple other platforms is a channel manager like Hostaway’s that provides a reliable and robust 2-way API connection to all major OTAs. All reservation data including pricing, availability, minimum night requirements, etc are updated in real-time so double bookings and other pitfalls of listing on more than one booking platform are completely avoided.

Hostaway’s channel manager provides the most advanced calendar in the industry inclusive of a unified view of all listings, reservations, channels, and locations. The intuitive UX is easy to use while built-in flexibility allows for personalized views and customization.