Connecting your two biggest channels to Smoobu feels different on purpose. Booking.com wants a connection set up for each property you manage there, while Airbnb asks you to approve Smoobu once and then covers every listing on your Airbnb account. Neither is broken, and neither depends on how many properties you have in Smoobu. Knowing which model you are in saves you from repeating steps that are not needed, or skipping ones that are.
Booking.com links a channel manager per property
On Booking.com, the link to a channel manager (a service like Smoobu that manages your calendar and prices across channels) is set on each property, not on your account. Booking.com's Extranet calls your channel manager the connectivity provider; both names mean the same thing. For every Booking.com property you want in Smoobu, two things have to happen: in the Booking.com Extranet you set Smoobu as that property's connectivity provider, and in Smoobu you enter that property's Property ID (or Hotel ID), labelled the Hotel ID in the Booking.com Extranet because Booking.com historically listed only hotels. The ID is usually 7 or 8 digits; a 10-digit number is a Room ID, not the one Smoobu needs. A property does not appear in Smoobu's mapping step until its connectivity-provider setup in the Extranet is done.
With several Booking.com properties, Smoobu's guided connection is built to handle them all as one batch rather than one property at a time, and each property joins the mapping step as soon as its own Extranet setup is done. You do not run the whole setup once per property, but each property still needs its own Extranet setup and its own ID; for the exact order of steps, see connect-booking-com.
Airbnb authorizes Smoobu once for the whole account
Airbnb works at account level. You click Connect Accounts in Smoobu, log in on Airbnb's site once, and approve the connection. That single authorization covers every listing under your Airbnb host account, and it does not expire: it stays valid until you disconnect in Smoobu or remove Smoobu's access on Airbnb. The approval must come from the listing owner's Airbnb account; a co-host account cannot authorize the connection.
After authorizing, the remaining work happens in Smoobu: you map each Smoobu property to its Airbnb listing, one to one.
What this means as your setup grows
The asymmetry shows up again when you grow. A new Booking.com property repeats the per-property steps: set Smoobu as its connectivity provider in the Extranet, add its Property ID (or Hotel ID) in Smoobu, and map it. A new Airbnb listing on your already-connected account needs no new approval, because the existing authorization covers the account; you map the listing in Smoobu (the mapping list has a Reload button to re-fetch your Airbnb listings). Only a second Airbnb account means authorizing again, since the approval is per account.
On both channels, every Booking.com property and every Airbnb listing maps to its own Smoobu property. Make sure you have as many Smoobu properties as Booking.com properties and Airbnb listings you want to connect.
Common questions
Do the names on the two sides have to match?
No. Mapping is a manual choice you make in Smoobu, so "Cozy Apt 2BR" on the channel can map to "Apartment Berlin Mitte" in Smoobu. Similar names just make mistakes less likely.
Does the Airbnb authorization expire?
No. Once granted, it stays valid until you disconnect in Smoobu or remove Smoobu's access in your Airbnb account settings. There is no periodic re-approval.
I have more than one Airbnb account. Do I authorize each one?
Yes. The approval is per Airbnb account, so each account logs in and approves once, via the Add New Account button on the Airbnb channel's edit page.
Related articles
- connect-booking-com
- How do I connect Airbnb to Smoobu?
- how-sync-works
- who-controls-what-after-connecting
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.
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