Channel manager
Keep Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo in step with your rooms
StayOye’s channel manager keeps your rooms on Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and other booking sites in step with your StayOye calendar using iCal calendar sync. Nights sold in StayOye close on the other sites, and nights booked on those sites are blocked in StayOye, which refuses any booking that would clash. Direct API connections to the big booking sites will be added after partner approval; today the channel manager works through iCal and is included on the Professional plan (Rs 10,000/month) and above.
Your apartment in DHA Lahore is on Airbnb and Booking.com, and your cousin takes bookings on WhatsApp. One calendar should know about all of them. StayOye’s channel manager links your rooms to the sites you list on, so a night sold in one place closes in the others.
Airbnb
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↓ Airbnb booking (3 nights) → blocked in StayOye · read every 60 min
StayOye
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↓ Booked nights close on Booking.com · read on its own schedule
Booking.com
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Airbnb booking
Blocked in StayOye
Walk-in sold in StayOye
Closed on other sites
⛔ Clash refused — alert sent
Booked nights move between sites through calendar links. Clashes are refused, not double-sold.
What it does today — plainly
Works today with iCal
Airbnb, Booking.com (where eligible), Vrbo, Agoda (homes and apartments) and any site that accepts an .ics calendar link.
Clashes are refused
A synced booking can never be placed on a night that is already taken.
Not instant
StayOye checks each site every 60 minutes by default (you can choose 15 minutes to 24 hours). The other sites read your calendar on their own schedule, often every few hours.
What is iCal?
iCal in plain words
iCal is a calendar link — it ends in .ics — that almost every booking site supports. It shares only which nights are taken. No guest names, no prices, no phone numbers.
Syncing works in two directions, and you need both:
Export (StayOye ➜ booking site): StayOye gives you a private link for each room. Paste it into Airbnb, Booking.com or Vrbo, and they close the nights you’ve sold.
Import (booking site ➜ StayOye): copy the site’s own calendar link and paste it into StayOye. Its booked nights become blocks on that room here.
Why an Airbnb booking shows up as a block
An iCal link only says “these nights are taken”. StayOye won’t invent a guest or a price, so it blocks the room. If you want the guest on your front desk and in your accounts, add the reservation yourself — the nights are already protected.
Your calendar
StayOye
Room 2B · private export link (.ics)
Export link →
← Import link
Booking site
Airbnb
Listing calendar
Import · Export
Step by step
Set it up in about ten minutes per room
Before you start (all sites): open Channels in StayOye, choose the property, click Add connection, pick iCal and save. One iCal connection holds all the links for that property.
Airbnb
1. In StayOye, create an Export link for the room that matches your Airbnb listing and copy it.
2. On Airbnb (as host), open the listing’s Availability / Calendar settings.
3. Choose Connect calendars ➜ Import calendar. Paste the StayOye link, name it “StayOye” and save.
4. In the same place, choose Export calendar and copy Airbnb’s link.
5. Back in StayOye, add an Import feed for the same room, paste Airbnb’s link and click Import now.
Tip: Airbnb refreshes imported calendars on its own timetable — typically every few hours. If you take a last-minute booking elsewhere, close that night on Airbnb by hand too.
Booking.com
1. In StayOye, create an Export link for the room and copy it.
2. In the Booking.com Extranet, open Rates & Availability ➜ Sync calendars.
3. Add a calendar connection: paste the StayOye link, and copy Booking.com’s own export link.
4. Back in StayOye, add an Import feed for the same room with Booking.com’s link, then click Import now.
Good to know: Booking.com offers calendar sync only for some properties — mainly homes, apartments and single-unit listings. Hotels with several rooms of one type usually can’t use it. If you don’t see Sync calendars, your listing isn’t eligible for iCal; that case needs a direct connection, which is coming after partner approval.
Vrbo
1. In StayOye, create an Export link for the room and copy it.
2. On Vrbo, open the property’s Calendar ➜ Import & export.
3. Import: paste the StayOye link and name it. Export: copy Vrbo’s link.
4. In StayOye, add an Import feed for the same room with Vrbo’s link and click Import now.
Others
Agoda: supports iCal for homes and apartments.
Any site with “iCal”, “calendar sync” or “import calendar” in its settings can read your StayOye export link, and you can import its .ics link back.
Google Calendar: add a StayOye export link under Other calendars ➜ From URL to see booked nights on your phone (view only).
Expedia: generally doesn’t offer iCal for hotels — that needs a direct connection.
Room-type tip: listing a whole room type as one listing? Use a room-type export link. It shows a night as taken only when every room of that type is sold.
Sync timing, honestly
How fast does it sync?
iCal is not instant, and we’d rather tell you now than after a clash. A booking made on two sites within the gap between reads can still clash. For your busiest rooms, keep the import interval short, and during season rush in Murree or Eid weekends, close last-minute nights by hand on the other sites as well.
When direct connections arrive: a direct connection sends availability instantly and brings full bookings — guest, price and commission — straight into Reservations. In StayOye these show as “Requires partner credentials — not yet available” today. They will switch on once StackExpert completes each site’s partner approval. Until then, iCal is the way.
60 min
StayOye ➜ reads other sites every 60 minutes by default. Set it anywhere from 15 minutes to 24 hours per connection. Click Import now any time.
Few hours
Other sites ➜ read StayOye on their own schedule, which StayOye can’t control — often every few hours.
The gap
Between a booking on one site and the next read. Close last-minute nights by hand on busy dates.
Critical
Room 3A · example
Synced booking clashes with an existing stay
Booking.com import tried to place 14–16 Dec. These nights are already taken. Nothing was double-sold.
14 Dec
15 Dec
Conflict protection
A clash is refused, never double-sold
If a synced booking lands on a night that’s already taken, StayOye refuses it and raises a critical alert and a notification. The Health Center shows the problem too.
Fixing a clash
1. Open the alert to see which nights clash.
2. Free a room — move the other guest or end a block.
3. Open the connection’s Activity tab and click Retry. StayOye places it once the night is free.
4. For iCal, fix the clash on the other site too, so both calendars match.
Health Center
See every connection’s health at a glance
The Health Center shows each connection’s last sync, last booking and any errors. On the phone app, open More ➜ Channels to see sync status, every sync job with its result, OTA bookings (filter to Conflicts only) and one-tap Retry — wherever you are.
Airbnb – Room 2B
Healthy
Last sync · 12 min ago
Last booking · yesterday
Booking.com – Room 3A
Delayed
Last sync · 2 h ago
Last booking · 3 days ago
Vrbo – Room 5C
Error
Feed link not reachable · Retry
Last booking · last week
Commission tracking
Know what each channel really costs
Set the commission % for each channel. It’s recorded on bookings and shown in channel reports, so you can see how much of your room revenue goes to booking sites — and owner statements deduct OTA commission automatically.
See the direct booking websiteBooking via a site at 15%
Rs 30,000 stay
Commission Rs 4,500
Direct booking on your own page
Rs 30,000 stay
Commission Rs 0
Illustrative example.
Privacy & control
Safe links, simple controls
Export links show only which nights are taken — no guest names, phones or references.
Shared a link by mistake? Click Regenerate. The old link stops working at once.
Pause a connection to stop its links and syncing until you resume. Deleting an import feed releases the nights it blocked.
Available on Professional (Rs 10,000/month) and Enterprise. The number of channel connections depends on your plan (Professional includes 3). One iCal connection per property holds all its room links.
FAQ
Channel manager questions
Is there a channel manager for Airbnb and Booking.com in Pakistan?
Yes. StayOye, made in Pakistan, syncs your room calendars with Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and other sites through iCal links, on the Professional plan (Rs 10,000/month) and above. Direct API connections will be added after partner approval.
How do I stop double bookings between Airbnb and Booking.com?
Connect both sites to StayOye with iCal. Nights booked on one site become blocks in StayOye and close on the other site through your export link. StayOye refuses any booking that lands on a taken night. Because the sites read calendars every few hours, also close last-minute nights by hand.
Is StayOye’s calendar sync instant?
No. StayOye reads each site every 60 minutes by default (15 minutes to 24 hours, your choice), and each site reads StayOye on its own schedule, often every few hours.
Is StayOye directly connected to Booking.com or Airbnb’s API?
Not yet. Direct connections will switch on once StackExpert completes each site’s partner approval. Today, sync works through iCal calendar links.
Why do Airbnb bookings appear as blocks and not reservations?
An iCal link only says which nights are taken — no guest or price. StayOye blocks the nights so they can’t be sold, and you can add the reservation yourself if you want it in front desk and accounts.
My hotel doesn’t see “Sync calendars” on Booking.com. What now?
Booking.com offers iCal mainly for homes, apartments and single-unit listings. If your listing isn’t eligible, it will need the direct connection that is coming after partner approval. Running apartments? See StayOye for serviced apartments.
One calendar for every site you sell on
Calendar sync is included on Professional and Enterprise. Try StayOye free for 14 days — no card needed.