iCal Calendar Sync

Two-way calendar sync between your Prometora marketplace and Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and any other platform that supports the iCal standard. Prevents double bookings when sellers list the same property in multiple places.

The Short Version

Each listing on your marketplace gets a unique export URL sellers paste into Airbnb/VRBO, and an import field where they paste their Airbnb/VRBO calendar URL back. Bookings flow both ways automatically — your marketplace polls external feeds every 2 hours, and your bookings appear instantly on the export side. Available on the Per Night pricing model only.

How It Works

Export — Your Marketplace → Other Platforms

Each listing has a public .ics feed at a unique, token-protected URL. Sellers copy this URL and paste it into Airbnb, VRBO, or any other platform that accepts external calendar imports. When a booking is made on your marketplace, those dates show up on the other platforms within minutes (each platform polls at its own cadence).

Import — Other Platforms → Your Marketplace

Sellers paste their Airbnb/VRBO/Booking.com calendar URL into the listing settings. Prometora fetches each external feed every 2 hours and blocks those dates on your booking calendar. Sellers can add multiple import URLs per listing — useful if the property is also listed on more than one external platform.

Sync Cadence

Imports run on a 2-hour cron — there can be up to a 2-hour lag between an external booking happening and that date being blocked on your marketplace. To eliminate the double-booking risk in that window, see the recommendation below.

Recommended: Manual Booking Approval

Because import sync has up to a 2-hour delay, we strongly recommend keeping manual booking approval turned on (instead of instant booking) for any listing that's also active on Airbnb or VRBO.

With manual approval, the host has the chance to check both calendars before confirming — closing the sync gap completely.

Setup — Marketplace Owner

Enable iCal sync once per listing type. Available only on the Per Night pricing model (the same model that powers nightly stays, vacation rentals, glamping, etc.).

Go to Store Settings → Listing Form.
Pick the listing type (e.g., "Stays" or "Homes") and confirm the pricing model is Per Night.
Toggle iCal Calendar Sync on.
Save. Sellers will now see a Calendar Sync section when editing listings of that type.

Setup — Seller

Once you've enabled the toggle for the listing type, this is what sellers do per listing.

Open the listing in their seller dashboard and scroll to the Calendar Sync section.
Copy the Export URL at the top.
Paste it into the import-calendar field on Airbnb, VRBO, or Booking.com (see per-platform steps below).
Copy the calendar URL from Airbnb/VRBO and paste it into the Import field.
Add additional import URLs if the property is on more than one external platform.
Save the listing.

Once both URLs are in place, the listing is fully sync'd in both directions.

Per-Platform Setup

Airbnb

In your Airbnb hosting dashboard, open the listing and go to Pricing & availability → Sync calendars.

Export to Prometora: copy the "Export calendar" URL — paste this into your Prometora listing's Import field.
Import from Prometora: click "Connect another website" and paste your Prometora Export URL.

VRBO

In the VRBO owner dashboard, open the listing and go to Calendar → Reservation manager → Import/export calendars.

Export to Prometora: copy your VRBO calendar URL — paste it into the Prometora Import field.
Import from Prometora: add a new external calendar with your Prometora Export URL.

Booking.com

In the Booking.com extranet, go to Rates & Availability → Sync calendars (iCal).

Export to Prometora: copy the iCal export URL — paste into Prometora's Import field.
Import from Prometora: add your Prometora Export URL as a new linked calendar.

Other iCal-compatible platforms (Tripadvisor, Hostfully, Hostaway, OwnerRez, etc.) follow the same pattern — find the "Import / Export calendar" section and exchange URLs.

What Syncs (and What Doesn't)

Syncs

Booked dates (your bookings → external)
Blocked dates (external → your marketplace)
Multi-platform: connect more than one external calendar per listing
Manual blocks the seller adds on either side

Doesn't Sync

Nightly rates / pricing — iCal carries no pricing data
Guest details (names, emails) — privacy by design
Reviews or messages
Cancellation status — only the booked/blocked window is shared

Prometora is the source of truth for rates on your own marketplace. To match your Airbnb pricing, update both sides manually.

Troubleshooting

External bookings aren't showing up

Confirm the URL the seller pasted ends in .ics or returns an iCal feed — not a regular VRBO/Airbnb listing URL.
Wait up to 2 hours for the next sync run before assuming something is broken.
Check the listing's Calendar Sync panel for the "last synced" timestamp and any error messages.

Marketplace bookings aren't appearing on Airbnb/VRBO

Confirm the seller pasted the Prometora Export URL (not the listing's public URL) into the external platform.
Each external platform polls on its own schedule — Airbnb is typically every few hours.
Try opening the Export URL in a browser to confirm it returns a valid .ics feed.

Calendar Sync section is missing for a seller

Confirm iCal Calendar Sync is toggled on for that listing type in Store Settings → Listing Form.
The pricing model on the listing type must be Per Night — iCal sync isn't shown for fixed-price or hourly listings.

Listing Form All Listings Page