How does Smoobu keep my calendars in sync?

Smoobu holds one central calendar per property and matches every connected channel to it. When a guest books on Booking.com, Airbnb, or any other connected channel, Smoobu imports the booking and blocks those dates on your other channels, so the same nights cannot be sold twice (an overbooking). On directly connected channels such as Booking.com and Airbnb, that update lands within a few minutes; channels connected by iCal calendar links pick it up on their own fetch schedule, which can take hours. Availability and prices flow out from Smoobu; bookings flow in. Two things do not happen on their own: importing bookings you took elsewhere, and the very first price push.

Your Smoobu calendar is the single source of truth

Most major channels, including Booking.com, Airbnb, and the other direct connections, are two-way connections. Bookings and cancellations made on the channel flow into Smoobu, where they appear in your Bookings list and on the Calendar with the channel shown as the source. In the other direction, Smoobu pushes availability and prices out to those channels. Channels connected by iCal exchange availability only, one direction per calendar link, and receive no prices. A new booking or a manual blocked period in Smoobu makes those dates unavailable on every connected channel, on direct connections usually within a few minutes.

This is why anything that should affect your availability needs to live in Smoobu. Once a channel is connected, block or open dates in Smoobu, not on the channel. Smoobu then keeps all your channels showing the same picture.

Photos, descriptions, and other listing content stay on each channel

Smoobu synchronizes bookings, availability, and prices. It does not synchronize listing content. Photos, descriptions, and amenities live on each channel separately: a new photo you upload on Booking.com stays on Booking.com, and Smoobu does not copy it to Airbnb. Update your listing content on each channel directly. For where prices and other settings are managed once you are connected, see .

Enter existing bookings and blocked periods before you connect

Smoobu can only protect dates it knows about. When you connect a channel, Smoobu imports that channel's own real bookings (and only some channels import existing bookings at all). No channel connection imports bookings you took elsewhere: direct bookings, phone bookings, owner stays, or blocked periods you placed on the channel's calendar. Enter every one of these into Smoobu yourself, before you connect or immediately after. Dates missing from Smoobu stay open for sale on your channels, and that is the most common cause of an overbooking right after connecting.

Some imported bookings can also look odd at first, for example showing an Overbooking status or 1 guest. My imported bookings look wrong (Overbooking / 1 guest): did something break? explains what is expected there.

Prices move when you tell Smoobu to push them

Availability pushes out automatically. Prices follow two extra rules.

Connecting and mapping a channel does not push your prices to it. Prices you set before the connection need a one-time manual push: go to Pricing > Settings > Percentage adjustment and click Overwrite Prices. This applies to every channel that syncs prices, not just the first one you connect.

After that first push, day-to-day price edits in Pricing are saved on the page but only reach your channels when you click Synchronize now in Pricing. Edit first, then synchronize.

Common questions

How fast do changes reach my channels?

On direct connections, usually within a few minutes, in both directions. Channels connected by iCal fetch your calendar on their own schedule: some fetch within minutes, others hourly to daily. The channel's own connect guide gives its numbers (for example ), and explains the mechanism.

I changed a price and the channel still shows the old one

Click Synchronize now in Pricing. Prices you set before connecting the channel need the one-time Overwrite Prices push described above.

Related articles

• Why Booking.com connects per property, but Airbnb once per account
• How do I connect Airbnb to Smoobu?
• My imported bookings look wrong (Overbooking / 1 guest): did something break?

Still stuck?

If this didn't answer your question, the Smoobu team is happy to help. In Smoobu, open the Help menu to open a ticket or book a call slot, or use the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner for a quick question during business hours.