My Airbnb Calendar Is Not Syncing With Booking.com: 6 Causes and How to Fix Them

If you are reading this, it is probably because you just found a Booking.com reservation on a date already taken on Airbnb, or the other way around. Don't panic. In 90% of cases, the problem can be identified in 5 minutes.

Here are the 6 most common causes of iCal desync between Airbnb and Booking.com, and how to fix them one by one.

First, understand why iCal is fragile by design

Before the fixes, an important reminder. iCal sync between Airbnb and Booking.com is not instant. Here is how it works:

1. Airbnb publishes your calendar as an .ics file available at a URL.
2. Booking.com reads that file every 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on its load.
3. Booking.com updates its own calendar accordingly.

The consequence: in the window between two "polls", a new Airbnb reservation does not show up on Booking.com yet. That is arithmetic, not an outage.

The 6 most common causes (and their fixes)

1. The Airbnb iCal link was regenerated

Symptom: Booking.com has not seen any reservation for X days, not even the old ones.

Cause: Airbnb regenerated your iCal calendar URL (rare, but it happens after certain settings changes or for security reasons). The URL Booking.com uses points to a calendar that no longer exists.

Fix:

1. Go to Airbnb → Settings → Calendar → Sync → "Export calendar"
2. Copy the new .ics URL
3. Go to Booking.com → Rates & Availability → Sync → Edit the Airbnb iCal link
4. Paste the new URL and save
5. Wait 30 minutes to 2 hours for the next poll

2. The URL uses webcal:// instead of https://

Symptom: Booking.com rejects the URL or syncs nothing.

Cause: Some Airbnb setups give you the URL in the webcal://... format. Booking.com expects an https:// URL.

Fix: replace the webcal:// prefix with https:// in the URL and paste it into Booking.com again. The file content is identical, only the protocol changes.

3. Booking.com is cached (normal delay)

Symptom: a new Airbnb reservation does not show up on Booking.com right away.

Cause: Booking.com's polling has not run since the new reservation. Normal delay: 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Fix: wait. If the delay goes past 2 hours, move on to the next fix.

4. A manual Airbnb block did not come through

Symptom: you blocked a date on Airbnb (vacation, maintenance), but Booking.com still offers that date.

Possible cause(s):

• The block was not saved on the Airbnb side (rare, but possible with an unstable connection)
• Booking.com's polling has not run since the block
• The iCal link on the Booking.com side points to the wrong URL

Fix:

1. Check that the date is actually blocked on Airbnb (reopen it, close it again, save explicitly)
2. Wait 2 hours for polling
3. If nothing comes through, recreate the iCal link on the Booking.com side (fix 1)

5. A reservation was cancelled but the status did not change

Symptom: a date is blocked on Booking.com following a cancelled Airbnb reservation.

Cause: Airbnb did update its calendar, but Booking.com's iCal has not refreshed yet. It is the usual polling delay.

Fix: wait 30 minutes to 2 hours. If the date is still blocked after 24 hours, recreate the iCal link.

6. The account was temporarily suspended

Symptom: no sync for several days, with no explicit error message.

Cause: Airbnb or Booking.com has temporarily frozen your account (identity verification, a booking dispute, a quality check). The iCal calendar keeps being generated but the sync is frozen.

Fix: check the notifications in Airbnb and Booking.com. Contact support if needed. There is no technical fix until the account is reactivated.

The systematic troubleshooting method

If you do not know where the problem comes from, go through these steps in order:

1. Test the Airbnb iCal URL in a browser. You should see a readable .ics file (plain text listing the reservations). If it returns nothing, the URL is broken.
2. Check the URL format: https:// and not webcal://.
3. Recreate the iCal link on the Booking.com side (delete it, then recreate it with the current URL).
4. Wait 2 hours for polling.
5. Check the notifications in Airbnb and Booking.com.
6. Run the reverse test: create a fake Booking.com reservation and check that it comes through on Airbnb.

If the problem persists after this procedure, it is probably a sign that it is time to change approach.

The real solution: switch to a direct API connection

iCal is designed as a free, acceptable solution for 1 property on 2 platforms. From 2 properties or 3 platforms, it becomes a permanent risk.

Professional channel managers (Smoobu, Lodgify, Amenitiz, BedLink, Beds24) use the official APIs of Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo. In practice:

• Sync in under 30 seconds (vs 30 minutes to 2 hours with iCal)
• No link to maintain, no URL that can expire
• 99.9% reliability (vs about 95% with iCal according to users)
• Far fewer double bookings

Cost: from €15.50/month (Beds24, one rental) to about €88/month for 3 properties (Lodgify Professional), depending on the solution and the number of properties. At BedLink, €51/month for 3 properties, setup included at no extra charge. Prices checked on August 17, 2026 on the official pages.

And if I want you to set everything up for me?

That is exactly what BedLink does. We migrate you from iCal to direct API sync on Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and 60+ other platforms. We set up the mapping, test it, and switch it on. You end up with a system that no longer breaks down.

Going further

• To understand why iCal structurally causes double bookings: Airbnb AND Booking.com at the Same Time: How to Really Avoid Double Bookings
• For the comparison of channel managers on the market: best channel manager 2026
• For the details of the service with setup included: setup included page

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Simon Laurent, founder of BedLink. I replace fragile iCal links with direct API connections for owners across France. No double bookings, no calendar that refuses to update.