Link the calendars of Booking.com and Airbnb – an example – the live test
Booking.com and Airbnb are among the largest portals for vacation rentals.
Many landlords are already active there. And again and again, we hear from these landlords that they are afraid to connect both with a channel manager. “Too complicated”, “too dangerous”, “too time-consuming” are the terms we hear over and over again. This is different from Smoobu, we want to prove it with the following test.
I am stopping the time I need to link my calendar from Booking.com to that from Airbnb. I start with the registration and stop the time when everything works and the real-time synchronization between Booking.com and Airbnb is active.
1. Register with Smoobu.com
Start, 00:00
On your marks, get set, go! I go to www.smoobu.com and click “Start free trial“. Enter the E-mail address and your password twice.
Finished. After 25 seconds I see the cockpit. Super easy.
2. Create properties
00:25
I am adding my properties into Smoobu now. To do so I click on “Settings – Properties”. Typing the name and click on “Create property”.
That’s it. Wow. Smoobu needs nothing but the name.
3. Connect Airbnb to Smoobu
01:46
Now let’s connect the first booking portal. To do this I go to “Settings – Booking Portals”. I find Airbnb and click on “Connect portal”. Click on “Connect account”. I am automatically forwarded to Airbnb. Here I am still logged in, so I only have to allow Smoobu to access to my Airbnb data and confirm the connection. Almost done.
Smoobu does not know “House Konstantin” is called “Beautiful Semi-Detached House” on Airbnb. So I need to map the two. Clicking on “Please select” gives me a list of my properties on Airbnb. I click on “Please select” and select the corresponding Airbnb unit. If the Airbnb listing does not appear yet, a quick click on “reload” should help.
Finished with booking portal number 1. Linking Airbnb did not take 2 minutes. The bookings have already been imported. That was very easy!
4. Link Booking.com with Smoobu
03:33
Again I go to “Settings – Booking Portals”. This time I search for “Booking.com” and again I click on “Connect Portal”. The manual is slightly longer at first glance, but the steps are super easy to follow. First, I go to my Booking.com extranet. Click on account and then on channel manager.
Click on “Connect my Channel Manager”, search for “Smoobu GmbH” add the select full connection.
Accept the terms and confirm. Now a new page opens: “Confirmation of the provider pending”.
OK, I am done on Booking.com extranet. For me time to continue in Smoobu. Here I enter my hotel ID and click on “Save”. Again I see my flat below and again I can may booking.com units with my Smoobu property. Save again. All bookings will be imported immediately.
Finished. Both calendars sync after not even 6 minutes
05:51
In less than 6 minutes I have a working synchronization between Booking.com and Airbnb. All bookings from the two portals have been transferred and are now nicely arranged in my Smoobu cockpit. If the calendar in one of the booking portals had not been maintained before, then Smoobu has also synchronized these days, so I can not get a double booking anymore.
This manual is of course only for Smoobu. Smoobu is fully focused on owners of vacation rentals/apartments. This makes the software very easy to use. Most other interface partners come from the hotel sector. Booking.com connection may take 2 weeks and an Airbnb connection is often not possible. So if you are an owner of one or more apartments and want to be represented on the two world’s most important portals do not wait to test Smoobu, no obligations, no credit card required and connect your calendars.
Of course, Smoobu also connects to almost all other major platforms such as Expedia, VRBO, Agoda, etc. etc.
