Airbnb and Vrbo calendar not syncing? How to fix it

You get a booking on Vrbo, and the same dates are still open on Airbnb. Or a guest books Airbnb for nights you'd already sold elsewhere. Or your cleaner turns up not knowing about a stay. When your Airbnb and Vrbo calendar is not syncing, the cost lands fast: a double booking, a cancellation, or a guest arriving to an uncleaned home.

In my experience it's pretty rare, and when it has happened at my place, removing the iCal link, adding it again and saving has usually fixed it. But before you do that, it helps to know whether anything is actually broken. Often it isn't. The sync just hasn't run yet.

This guide covers how calendar sync works between Airbnb and Vrbo, how to tell a slow refresh from a real fault, the common causes, and the things that never sync no matter how well it's set up.

How does Airbnb and Vrbo calendar sync work?

Each platform gives you an iCal link: a web address ending in .ics that publishes your booked and blocked dates. You paste one platform's export link into the other platform's import setting, and the other platform checks that link from time to time and blocks the dates it finds.

Three things follow from that:

• It isn't live. Each platform checks the other's link on its own schedule.
• It only carries availability. Dates are booked or blocked. Prices, guest details and messages don't travel. Hostaway's iCal support guide describes it the same way: availability only, not rates or content.
• It runs in two directions, set up separately. Airbnb's link goes into Vrbo, and Vrbo's link goes into Airbnb. If you only did one, sync only works one way.

Is your calendar broken, or just not refreshed yet?

Check this first, because it's the most common "sync problem" that isn't one.

According to Airbnb's help center, your Airbnb calendar automatically updates every 3 hours, pulling in the calendars you've connected. Each connected calendar shows when it last updated, and you can press Refresh to check sooner. Airbnb also says it can only request updates from another website so many times. If you hit that limit, you wait for the next automatic update.

Vrbo checks Airbnb's link on its own schedule, which it doesn't publish, so the gap can run the other way too.

So if a booking came in an hour ago, an open date on the other platform may simply mean the next check hasn't happened. A booking that was made in the morning and still isn't blocked by evening is a real problem.

To check on Airbnb:

1. Go to Calendar and select the listing.
2. Click Availability.
3. Under Connect calendars, click Connect to another website.
4. Look at the last updated time on your imported Vrbo calendar, then click Refresh Calendar.

If it refreshes and the dates appear, the sync works and was just behind. If it refreshes and nothing changes, keep going.

Why isn't your Airbnb calendar syncing with Vrbo?

When the sync really has stopped, it's almost always one of these.

1. The wrong link in the wrong place. Each platform needs the other platform's export link. A common slip is pasting your Airbnb export link back into Airbnb, or copying the export link for a different listing. Open the imported calendar on each side and check the link really comes from the other platform and the right property.

2. The link isn't an .ics link. Airbnb's help center says imported links must end in .ics, and other URLs won't work. Copying the address of a calendar page from your browser bar, rather than the export link, is the usual cause.

3. Sync only set up in one direction. Vrbo bookings block Airbnb, but Airbnb bookings never reach Vrbo, or the reverse. Check that both platforms have the other's link imported.

4. Manual blocks behaving differently from bookings. Airbnb says nights booked on a connected calendar are blocked automatically, but nights you block yourself on another calendar "may or may not" be blocked on Airbnb, and that includes preparation time and advance notice settings. If the dates that didn't sync are ones you blocked by hand, that's likely why. Block them on each platform directly.

5. A link that has stopped working. Calendar links can die. On one Booking.com listing GleamSync was monitoring, closing the listing didn't produce an empty calendar: the export link simply stopped responding, and it never came back. If you close, relist or change a listing on any platform, assume its old link may be dead and re-copy it.

6. Dates too far out. Airbnb imports up to 2 years of data. A booking or block further ahead than that won't come across.

How do you fix a calendar that won't sync?

Work through it in this order. Each step is quick, and the first ones fix most cases.

1. Refresh and wait one cycle. Use Refresh Calendar on Airbnb, as above. Give Vrbo a few hours to pick up changes from Airbnb.
2. Check every link. On each platform, confirm the imported link comes from the other platform, ends in .ics and belongs to the right listing.
3. Remove the imported calendar and add it again. On Airbnb, choose the imported calendar, click Edit, then Disconnect Calendar. Copy a fresh export link from Vrbo, add it back, and save. Do the same in the other direction on Vrbo. Airbnb notes you can't pause an imported calendar, so disconnecting and reconnecting is the reset. This is the fix that has usually worked for me.
4. Test it. Block one night far in the future on Vrbo, refresh on Airbnb, and check it appears. Then unblock it, and do the same test the other way.
5. Fix any double booking straight away. While you sort the link out, block upcoming dates by hand on whichever platform didn't pick them up. A few minutes of manual blocking is cheaper than a cancellation.

If the test still fails after a fresh link, contact the support team of the platform that isn't importing. By then you'll be able to tell them exactly which link, which direction and which dates.

What doesn't sync, even when everything works?

Some things are simply not in the calendar link, however well it's set up.

Prices, guest details and messages. iCal carries dates. Change your nightly rate on Airbnb and Vrbo won't know.

Booking.com's details. Booking.com's export link marks dates as "CLOSED - Not available" and nothing more. From that link alone, a guest's stay and a date you blocked yourself look identical.

Bookings a platform imported from somewhere else. This one catches hosts out. From running Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com sync at my own place, each platform's export link only carries stays booked on that platform. When Airbnb imports your Vrbo booking and blocks the dates, it doesn't then publish that Vrbo booking in its own export link. If it did, every booking would bounce back and forth between platforms forever.

For blocking dates, that's exactly what you want. For your cleaner, it's a gap.

Why can your cleaner miss a booking when your calendars sync fine?

Because your cleaner is probably looking at only one of your calendars.

Plenty of hosts give their cleaner their Airbnb calendar link, or add it to a shared Google Calendar. That calendar shows Airbnb stays only. Your Vrbo and Booking.com guests block the dates on Airbnb, but they aren't in the link your cleaner follows. Your platforms are perfectly in sync, and your cleaner still has no idea a Vrbo guest checks out on Saturday.

The fix is for whoever tells your cleaner about turnovers to read every platform's own calendar link, not just one. Our guide to sharing your Airbnb calendar with your cleaner covers the manual options.

GleamSync, a vacation rental cleaning coordination tool, does this automatically. It reads the iCal feeds from your Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com listings separately, works out the turnover between each checkout and the next check-in, and notifies your cleaner by email, SMS or WhatsApp when a booking is added, moved or cancelled. Your cleaner doesn't need an account. It reads the same calendar links as your platforms do, so it isn't instant either. Late changes still need a quick message from you.

Frequently asked questions

How often does Airbnb sync with Vrbo?

According to Airbnb's help center, Airbnb updates connected calendars automatically every 3 hours, and you can press Refresh to check sooner a limited number of times. Vrbo checks Airbnb's calendar link on its own schedule, which it doesn't publish.

Why did I get a double booking even though my calendars are synced?

Usually because both bookings arrived before either platform had checked the other's calendar again. Sync runs every few hours rather than instantly. It can also happen when a link is wrong or has stopped working, so check both directions.

Can I force Airbnb to sync my Vrbo calendar right now?

Yes. On Airbnb, go to Calendar, then Availability, then Connect to another website, choose your Vrbo calendar and click Refresh Calendar. Airbnb limits how often you can do this, so use it when you need it.

Does iCal calendar sync update my prices?

No. iCal sync only shares which dates are booked or blocked. Prices, minimum stays and guest details have to be set on each platform separately, or through a channel manager.

Why does my Booking.com calendar show "CLOSED - Not available"?

That's how Booking.com publishes unavailable dates in its calendar link. It doesn't say whether the dates are a guest's stay or a block you set, so a calendar reading that link can't tell the two apart.

Related reading

• How to sync your Airbnb and Vrbo calendars
• What is iCal sync?
• How to share your Airbnb calendar with your cleaner
• Why you should block direct bookings on Vrbo, not Airbnb
• Why back-to-back Airbnb turnovers go wrong

Synced calendars still leave your cleaner guessing

Your platforms can block each other's dates and your cleaner can still miss a Vrbo or Booking.com turnover. GleamSync reads each of your Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com calendars and tells your cleaner about every booking, change and cancellation by email, SMS or WhatsApp, with no account needed on their end. It costs $8 a month per property.

See how it works