ICal Export

Export your Beds24 bookings and unavailable dates as an iCal feed in Settings > Channel Manager > iCal Export, so Google Calendar, other calendar apps and many holiday rental sites can show your availability. You add the Beds24 calendar URL for each room to the other calendar.

Quick Guide

1. In Settings > Channel Manager > iCal Export, choose what to export in Activate and click Save.
2. Copy the calendar URL for the room.
3. Add the URL as a calendar subscription in your calendar app or booking site.

Table of Contents

1. Capabilities and limitations
2. Set up the export
3. Calendar URLs and content
4. Add the calendar
5. URL parameters
6. Troubleshooting
7. Disconnect

Capabilities and limitations

• Beds24 exports bookings and unavailable dates as an iCal feed. For the full list, see Channel Manager Capabilities.
• Only active bookings are exported. Cancelled bookings don't show.
• Price settings that limit availability aren't taken into account.
• Your calendar program updates the calendar. Beds24 can't control how often systems like Google Calendar update.

Set up the export

1. Go to Settings > Channel Manager > iCal Export.
2. In Activate, choose whether to export bookings, blocked dates, or both. All upcoming bookings are included, and blocked dates for one year ahead.
3. Optional: customise the event text in iCal Summary, iCal Property Description and iCal Room Description, see Calendar URLs and content.
4. Click Save and copy the calendar URL for each room.

Calendar URLs and content

Each calendar event has a summary and a description. Both are optional and can contain text and template variables:

• iCal Summary: the summary of each event.
• iCal Property Description and iCal Room Description: the description of each event.

You can choose from four URLs:

URL	What it shows
iCal	Non-personal data only, because the feed is public
Include Property and Room Description	Personal information, plus the iCal Property Description and iCal Room Description
Include Property Description	Personal information, plus the iCal Property Description
Include Room Description	Personal information, plus the iCal Room Description

The last three URLs contain a secret token. Anyone who opens the calendar with a wrong token only sees the non-personal feed.

Change the tokens

If a token is compromised, enter a short word or phrase in Seed and click Save. The three URLs with personal information change. Enter the new URLs in your calendars.

Add the calendar

The export works with any calendar that can import iCal data.

Google Calendar

1. Log in to Google Calendar.
2. In the left column, next to Other calendars, select Add by URL.
3. Enter the Beds24 calendar URL and click Add Calendar.
4. Repeat for each room.

Expected result: The room's bookings show in Google Calendar.

Mac Calendar

1. In Calendar, choose File > New Calendar Subscription.
2. Enter the Beds24 calendar URL and click Subscribe.
3. Enter a name for the calendar and choose a colour.
4. Repeat for each room.

Tip: For a custom URL, use a URL shortener service that lets you customise the link.

URL parameters

Add these parameters to the end of the calendar URL.

Two-way sync without duplicates

Use these when you also import from the same calendar with iCal import, so imported bookings aren't exported again. See also the iCal import options for ignoring duplicates.

Parameter	Effect
&icalimport1=hide	Leaves out bookings imported with iCal Import 1
&icalimport2=hide	Leaves out bookings imported with iCal Import 2
&icalimport3=hide	Leaves out bookings imported with iCal Import 3

Export data

Parameter	Effect
&end=lastnight	Exports the end date as the last night, one day before check-out
&dates=checkin	Shows check-in days only
&dates=checkout	Shows check-out days only
&showtime=true	Adds times to the dates: check-in at 2 PM, check-out at 10 AM by default. Use it only if your software needs dates with times.
&starttime=hh:mm	Event start time with &showtime=true, for example 16:00
&endtime=hh:mm	Event end time with &showtime=true, for example 11:00
&timezone=Europe/London	Sets the time zone, if your calendar needs one. Use a valid iCal time zone from the TZ column of the list of tz database time zones.
&hiderequest=true	Leaves out bookings with the status Request
&hideblack=true	Leaves out bookings with the status Black
&showinquiry=true	Includes bookings with the status Inquiry, which are left out by default
&includerooms=true	Includes bookings from other rooms, as set in the room dependency Include Bookings From
&unavaildates=365	Number of days ahead to export, 0–750. The default is 365.
&nourl=true	Hides the link to the booking. &nourl=1 also works.
&back=7	Includes bookings from this many days ago, 0–30

Troubleshooting

Issue	Likely cause	Resolution
The check-out date shows as available	Some calendars set dates, especially the check-out date, to midnight	Add &showtime=true to the URL.

For more iCal issues, see How to setup iCal.

Disconnect

1. Set Export = Disable and click Save.
2. Remove the URL from your calendar.

Related Articles

• ICal import
• How to setup iCal
• Template Variables