Hotelbeds without iCal: sync its bookings with Airbnb and Booking.com
Hotelbeds sends its bookings by e-mail only. Here is how to put them in your calendar automatically, block the other platforms, and know when to close Hotelbeds.
Hotelbeds (HBX Group) does not give properties an iCal link. Its bookings reach you by e-mail and in the Partner Portal, and its availability can only be changed in the Partner Portal or through a connected channel manager. So a Hotelbeds booking does not block your dates on Airbnb or Booking.com, and a booking taken on Airbnb does not close Hotelbeds.
Why it leads to overbookings
Guest houses and small hotels usually sell Hotelbeds rooms from an allotment: Hotelbeds may sell any room still shown as available, at any time, without asking. If that room was booked on Booking.com an hour earlier, you have two guests for one room.
Copying each Hotelbeds e-mail into your other calendars by hand works until the day you are travelling, asleep or busy at the front desk.
Turn the Hotelbeds e-mails into bookings
iCalSync reads the notifications Hotelbeds sends (New Booking, Modification, Cancellation, from reconfirmations@hotelbeds.com) and turns each one into a stay in the right room:
- Give Hotelbeds your iCalSync address. In the Partner Portal, open Property info → Contacts and add it as a bookings contact. Or set up an automatic forward of the Hotelbeds e-mails from your own mailbox.
- Enter your Hotelbeds hotel code (the number after
/hotel/in the Partner Portal link of any booking e-mail). It is filled in by itself with the first e-mail. - Link each Hotelbeds room type to your rooms, for example “DOUBLE / room double Standard” to your four double rooms. A booking goes into the first of them free on every night.
From then on, a new booking appears in the planning and goes out in your export links: Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia close those dates on their own. A modification moves the stay (Hotelbeds sends the whole booking again); a cancellation frees the room everywhere. If no room of that type is left, the stay is still created and flagged as a double booking at once.
The other direction: closing Hotelbeds
No iCal tool can write to Hotelbeds: only a channel manager connected to it can. What iCalSync does is tell you exactly when to act. As soon as every room of your house is taken on some nights, you receive a “fully booked” alert, and another one when a room frees up again. In the Partner Portal, Inventory → Bulk Actions → Availability lets you set the number of rooms still for sale on those dates in one go.
What is never stored
Hotelbeds puts no card data in its e-mails: virtual card (VCC) details are only shown in the Partner Portal. iCalSync keeps what it needs for the planning (reference, lead guest, dates, rooms, board, guests) and deletes the e-mail itself after 30 days. Your Hotelbeds bookings can be exported to Excel at any time, with their reference.
Hotelbeds and HBX Group are trademarks of their owners. iCalSync is an independent tool, not affiliated with them.
Frequently asked questions
Does Hotelbeds offer an iCal link?
Not to properties that manage their availability themselves: Hotelbeds bookings arrive by e-mail and in the Partner Portal, and availability is changed in the Partner Portal or through a connected channel manager.
Can iCalSync close my rooms on Hotelbeds automatically?
No. Only a channel manager connected to Hotelbeds can change its availability. iCalSync blocks the other platforms automatically and alerts you when your property is fully booked, so you know when to change the availability in the Partner Portal.
What happens when Hotelbeds modifies or cancels a booking?
Hotelbeds sends a new e-mail. A modification replaces the stay with the booking as it now stands (dates and number of rooms), keeping the rooms already given when they are still free; a cancellation frees every room and reopens the dates on the other platforms.
Does iCalSync read the Hotelbeds virtual card?
No. Hotelbeds does not put card details in its e-mails: they are only available in the Partner Portal.
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