iCalendar import when there are no reservations?

[HotelManager0]

I posted this before but it might have been in the wrong area.

Question is how should the iCalendar .ics file be formatted when there are no dates needing to be imported into Air BnB?

When I set the URL to an iCal file that does not have any dates the system complains the format is not correct. That gives me two options:

1) Don't have the file present unless there is some date (VEVENT)

2) Put a date prior to Today so "something" exists but will not interfere with the needed calendar functionality.

Or?

[Ann72]

@HotelManager0  I use the subscription function for iCal and don't encounter this problem.  Copy the calendar URL from the booking platform, go to iCal -> File -> New Calendar Subscription, and paste the URL into the box.  Next you can give the calendar a name and choose how often it auto-refreshes.

[HotelManager0]

But your linked calendar has active dates?

Mine works fine when I have dates to exclude from Air BnB but the problem is that we have cases where we don't have dates to be excluded in Air BnB. That's when I can't even assign a calendar without the Import feature presenting an error.

[Ann72]

@HotelManager0  Yes, if by active you mean dates with bookings on them.  Everything appears when the calendars refresh.  However, this is a subscription in Apple Calendar.  I'm not sure that's the same thing as an imported calendar.  And a linked calendar is within the Airbnb account, where you link the calendars for two or more of your listings.

[HotelManager0]

To clarify, I’m not linking to a Google calendar or some secondary source. Since I programmed our website I wrote the means to generate an ics (iCalendar) file for each of our Rooms at the hotel.

These are to be linked in the Host area/Listings/Availability/Sync calendars -> Import Calendar
This gives you the opportunity to point via URL to a .ics file which is then supposedly checked every 5 minutes and updates the Rooms availability.

This works fine when there is an active date in the .ics file but can not be assigned if there are no dates in the file as it rejects the url as not being properly formatted.

I think what I will do is add a date event prior to today in each .ics file so there is something to get past the initial validation. Then when a date event does show up (greater than today) it should all work properly.