Glossary

What Is iCal Sync for Booking Apps?

iCal sync is bidirectional calendar synchronization using the iCalendar protocol — connecting booking platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Google Calendar to your own system.

iCal (RFC 5545) is the standard protocol for sharing calendar data. Every major booking platform exports and imports .ics files.

Why booking apps need it: Without iCal sync, you get double-bookings — the worst possible outcome for a property manager or service business.

How bidirectional sync works:

  1. Export: Your system generates a .ics feed URL for each property
  2. Import: You poll each platform's .ics feed on a schedule
  3. Merge: Blocked dates from all sources merge into a unified availability calendar
  4. Block: When a booking comes in on any platform, all others get the date blocked

This is exactly what I built in BookBed — bidirectional iCal sync across Airbnb and Booking.com, eliminating double-bookings.

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