Syncing your calendars via iCal is a powerful way to ensure your availability is always up-to-date across different platforms, preventing double bookings. This guide will walk you through the simple two-way process of connecting an external calendar (like Airbnb, Cloudbeds, or Booking.com) with Checkout Flow.
Step 1: Start a New Connection
Navigate to the iCal Connections page from the settings tab in your main dashboard.
Click the Add Connection button.
Step 2: Select Your Platform
From the Connection dropdown menu, select the platform you want to sync with (e.g., Airbnb, Booking.com, Cloudbeds, etc).
If your platform isn't listed, choose Other and enter its name in the field that appears.
Click the Next button to proceed.
Step 3: Export Your Checkout Flow Calendars
This step sends your Checkout Flow bookings to the external platform.
In the Accommodations section, you will see a list of your rooms available for connection (see eligibility criteria).
For each room, click the Create link button in the "Checkout Flow iCal" column. This will generate a unique iCal URL.
Click the Copy icon next to the generated URL.
Log in to your external platform (e.g., Airbnb), find its calendar import section, and paste the copied URL there. You will need to do this for each room.
Step 4: Import Your External Calendars
This step sends the external platform's availability to your Checkout Flow.
In your external platform, find the iCal export or sync section and copy the iCal URL for a specific room.
Return to Checkout Flow and paste this URL into the Paste iCal link here field for the corresponding room in the "Portal iCal" column.
Repeat this for every room you wish to sync. You should see a status indicator confirming the connection for each link.
Step 5: Save and Finish
Once you have set up all your links for both exporting and importing, click the Save button at the bottom of the page.
Your calendars are now connected! Checkout Flow will periodically sync with the external platform to keep your availability aligned. You can monitor the status of your connections from the main iCal Connections page.
*Elegibility Criteria
iCal connections sync availability on a per-room basis. Because of this, only accommodation products with an inventory of one (i.e., individual rooms) can be connected via iCal.
Room types with an inventory greater than 1 (e.g., "Double Room" with 5 units) are not eligible for iCal connections because the single iCal link cannot represent the availability of multiple independent units.
To make these rooms available, you can modify your accommodation products to create a separate product for each individual room.
Setup guides for external platforms
Here are some helpful links:
For further assistance, please contact our support team at hello@tab.travel