Is it better to sync Airbnb and VRBO together, or to a centralized platform instead?

Alton79
Level 2
Atlanta, GA

Is it better to sync Airbnb and VRBO together, or to a centralized platform instead?

I noticed that whenever I make a change on my Airbnb calendar, it seems to take awhile for it to go into effect on VRBO. I'm not sure what their particular synchronization intervals are, but it's a little longer than I think it should be, and there's no manual way to do this.

 

I'm not using a PMS just yet because I only have one property and it's fairly straight forward to manage thus far, but I'm wondering if it'd be worth it to sorta make integrations a little more seamless.

 

Any thoughts? My questions specifically are:

 

1. Does anyone know how long it takes VRBO to synchronize calendars from Airbnb?

2. Do PMS systems have an integration to where it serves as a centralized integration point, or do they still recommend syncing Airbnb with VRBO directly?

2 Replies 2
Mike-And-Jane0
Top Contributor
England, United Kingdom

@Alton79 I can only answer in principle: Introducing two parties will be difficult but bringing a 3rd to act as an intermediary will just allow lots of finger pointing when it goes wrong. 

Hi @Alton79 

 

Airbnb says they sync every 3 hours....too long to prevent a double booking. Most hosts "refresh" their calendar after every booking because of this and ensure the calendars are updated.

 

Connect Your Calendar to Other Websites

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/99

 

I believe Vrbo's sync interval is much longer. Can't speak to a PMS, but maybe another host can chime in on that. I believe they sync quite often as Airbnb mentions a limit to the sync rate.

 

A word of caution...periodically the calendars stop syncing. Another reason to refresh and check after each booking.