iCal sync broken
Hello,
lately, I've been spending quite a lot of time setting up iCal connections to manage all my listings on BookingCom, on other platform, and also other personal iCals (cleanup, maintenance, ...).
I'm surprised to see that the ONLY problems I've encountered were on BookingCom's one: buttons to remove a wrong iCal connection not working, names of preexisting iCal connection randomly changing when setting up a new one, the user interface that really is disappointing, ... and most importantly I haven't been able to test the trustworthiness of the BookingCom exported data...
I hoped it was a temporary problem (quite urgent and somewhat easy to fix), instead it's been already two weeks...
I see that in this community many had problems. Anyone managed to get an official answer from BookingCom? Are they planning a major overhaul of the iCal system in the immediate future?
Hi
If you search for calendar sync in here you will see the resounding answer is dont use it unless you can guarantee being awake 24/7 to manually sync.
The considered workaround is to get a Channel Manager tool, typically an online software that let's you manage 2 or more OTAs,.
There is a page of them and there features. I have reviewed a few but have yet to try one.
Those I saw usually cost a monthly or annual fee, and vary on cost model of per location to per number of rooms.
Kind regards, merry xmas
Ps: link your property into your profile as it helps us fellow partners as a reference
Booking.com will tell you "the calendar sync happens 3 times a day" and "calendar sync is a manual process" .... they won't admit that it's broken .... same things happen to many of us and we end up getting double bookings .... don't trust the calendar sync, always block manually .....
I do recognise the problems you subscribe.
It used to work well until, I received a double booking (off course I was to blame and not booking.com). That was in December 2019. At that time they introduced a new interface for the Rates & Availability > Calendar.
Some post suggest that a Channel manager will solve your problems. A Channel manager program can create a master calendar that will import and export to every channel you are using.
I do have my own “Master calendar” and I just want to update booking.com (not the other way around). When you add your calendar connection you will be able to skip the “Export calendar” step. If you do so, your calendar connection will never get the status Ok.
At least at this moment (January 2020), your connection will only work when you export the booking.com calendar as well. So do not skip the “Export calendar” step but copy the booking.com ical-link (and safe it for later use). Activate this link in your browser and the booking.com ical-file will be saved in your Download directory. Once you have done this, the “Last exported” date will change (you might have to refresh your browser) and Status will change to Ok (might take some time).
After some days (I think about 7) the status will be no longer OK. To avoid obsolete data Booking.com requires a regular export.
A work-around is, create a .bat file with Notepad with the following lines: (off course you have to replace the booking.com ical-link)
@ECHO OFF
ECHO Export Booking.com calendar.
start https://admin.booking.com/hotel/hoteladmin/ical.html?t=*************************
PAUSE
Save it as KalenderExport.bat (the extension .bat is important)
Test it by opening it in your File Explorer (Double-click the batch file to run it). The “Last exported” status will change again into “a few seconds ago”.
Now you can run this batch file on scheduled as well.
Quick note: It's not necessary to create a folder, but it's recommended to organize your tasks.
Safe and test it.
As I mentioned, it is a work-around. The “Sync calendars” interface is full of bugs and the ical-link can change for no reason. So check regularly if it is still working. For the same reason I should not spent my money for a Channel manager unless you really need it.
Good luck and thanks to the software developers of booking.com, Hugo van der Sluijs,*** in kurort Rathen, Germany.
Here a new version oft the batchfile that will open and also close a prefered (in this case Internet Explorer) browser.
After two weeks of experience I can tell, it this working well and it is a stabile solution. The only disadvantage could be that your computer must be active to run the batch file. But running the batchfile once a week will do.
Please reply or like this post if this item was helpful!!!!!
Talked to booking.com this sync is a third party software. discussions ended in that it is not possible to change (or they don't wan't to touch that broken part) Fact: Export only is not possible to delete (in case something still syncs) - you should delete the sync on other booking platform. From support .... it should be deleted after some time automatically - i created an export not used anywhere but accessed one time via browser to activate. 22 Days still counting. I have deleted the sync on the other platform but it still syncs somehow ..... I should go to the other platform ........ If you try to add import it might get the status ok, but if you now wan't to delete it will get back as previously configured.
A delete to a single calendar export is not available. The button is not available.
.....
It is not possible later to get to the export ics link if you don't copy it to your personal notes.
It seems that deleting a ics sync " not import only or export only " is only possible if you manually access the export manually.
Always make a personal note when creating a sync. Each new sync provides a new link. Save these links.
Summary data leak prevention by simple pressing remove is not possible.
For me i will delete my accomodation end of this year and start again from scratch with my own hosted calendar and the tip here to keep it in sync.
In general this function is buggy buggy buggy and they don't wan't to try to fix this.
"So check regularly if it is still working. For the same reason I should not spent my money for a Channel manager unless you really need it. "