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Connecting Airbnb and Booking.com

Connect your Airbnb and Booking.com accounts so each linked unit's nightly prices, availability and bookings sync both ways with VIVIN. How the two ways of syncing differ, and what stays locked on synced bookings, is explained in Airbnb & Booking.com.

Before you start​

  • Plan: any plan. VIVIN holds the channel connection for you: you never type an Airbnb or Booking.com password in VIVIN.
  • Permissions, in Settings → Users → Role Permissions (Super Admin and Admin have all of them by default):
    • Account Settings → Module and Account Settings → Integrations to open Settings → Integrations.
    • Utilities → Edit Connections to connect an account, add hotel IDs and import bookings.
    • Listings → Edit to turn on Short term and to link units in Channel Manager.
  • You need your Airbnb host login, or access to the Booking.com extranet for each property you will link.
  • Each unit you link exists in Listings (see Onboarding a new property).

Steps​

1. Connect the channel account​

Settings → Integrations → Platform Integrations

Airbnb:

  1. Click Add, choose Airbnb, optionally fill in Display Name and click Add Integration.
  2. Click Connect Airbnb and approve access on the Airbnb page.
  3. Back in VIVIN, click Finish connection.

Booking.com:

  1. In the Booking.com extranet, open Property → Connectivity provider and connect "Channex", VIVIN's connectivity provider, for each property you will link.
  2. In VIVIN, click Add, choose Booking.com, optionally fill in Display Name and click Add Integration.
  3. On the card, click Connect channel. In Booking.com hotel IDs, paste the hotel IDs, one per line or separated by commas, and click Add. Each hotel ID is normally one unit in VIVIN.

Result: the Airbnb card shows Connected with your host ID. The Booking.com card lists each hotel ID as "Not allocated yet" until you link it to a unit. To add more IDs later, click Add hotel ID.

2. Add the platform under Booking Platforms​

Settings → Integrations

Click Add and pick Airbnb, then Booking.com, under Booking platforms, unless they are already there. See Booking platforms.

Result: Sales → Channel Manager has an Airbnb and a Booking.com column. Platforms that are not added get no column.

3. Set the nightly prices of each unit​

Portfolio → Listings, then the unit, Short term section

  1. Turn on the switch in the Short term header, then click the pencil.
  2. Set Price per night, Min stay (nights), Max stay (nights) and Sale window (days). Under Airbnb only settings, set the Airbnb discounts, fees and lead time if you use them.
  3. Click Update.

Result: the badge reads Sync pending, then Synced with channel once the unit is linked. Monthly rents and contracts do not change. To price particular nights, use Nightly calendar (see Listings).

Business → Sales → Channel Manager

  1. Click the unit's cell in the Airbnb or Booking.com column.
  2. Choose Full integration and pick the channel's listing (for Booking.com, the unit's hotel ID).
  3. Click Save.

Result: the cell shows the listing's name, and on the Booking.com card the hotel ID reads "Allocated to" the unit. Prices and availability now flow from VIVIN to the channel, and the channel's bookings come into VIVIN.

5. Import the bookings the channels already hold​

Settings → Integrations, the channel's card

  1. Link every unit first: bookings of unlinked units are left behind.
  2. Click Import bookings, then Import.

Result: the current and upcoming bookings appear in Bookings as they arrive, with the channel in the Platform column. The import keeps working for up to 10 minutes, so there is no need to click again. Past stays are not imported.

Without a channel account, or to only copy the channel's blocked dates into VIVIN, link the unit with its calendar instead.

  1. On the channel, find the listing's calendar links. On Airbnb they are under Availability settings: set Availability window to 24 months in advance, then open Connect calendars → Connect to another website.
  2. In Sales → Channel Manager, click the unit's cell, paste the channel's private calendar link and click Integrate. With a channel account connected, choose Calendar link (iCal) first, paste the link and click Save.
  3. Copy VIVIN's link and add it on the channel as an imported calendar named "Vivin Calendar".
  4. Click Sync to import the blocked dates straight away.

Result: the cell reads Connected ("Calendar link" when a channel account is connected), and the channel's blocked dates appear on the unit calendar as blocks. They are not bookings, and prices do not sync.

Done when​

  • Every unit you sell on a channel shows its listing in Channel Manager.
  • Each unit's Short term badge reads Synced with channel.
  • The channels' current and upcoming bookings are in Bookings.

Troubleshooting​

  • The listing picker is empty. VIVIN fetches a new account's listings the first time you open the window. Close it and reopen it after a minute.
  • A booking was not imported. The unit was already booked for those dates in VIVIN, for example by a booking added by hand, and you get a notification. Remove the other booking, then import again.
  • Prices or availability do not change on the channel. Short term is off on the unit, or its badge shows Sync error. Turn Short term on and save the section again.
  • "No hotel ID could be added — see the details below." The details name each refused ID. Check that "Channex" is the connectivity provider of that property in the Booking.com extranet.
  • "Could not connect the Airbnb account." Click Reopen Airbnb authorization on the card, approve again on Airbnb, then click Finish connection.

Tips​

  • Booking.com sends imported bookings without the guest's email, phone and address. Add them on the tenant if you need to contact the guest.
  • A unit uses one way per channel: switching to Full integration deletes the unit's calendar link and the dates it imported for that channel.
  • To stop selling a unit on a channel, set its cell to No integration in Channel Manager.