Outbound iCal Links - in Beta
For Stays using the Boutique system, each of your rooms has an iCal link that can be copied and placed into other iCal compatible systems.
This allows the other system to read the Nomad Stays calendar and determine if the room is available for booking or not on any particular night.
NB: This feature hasn't been tested with all the iCal companies used by Stays yet.
Background
iCal sharing is a common way that OTAs like Nomads Stays, booking.com, airbnb, VRBO and others, share room availability with each other.
It means that when one OTA closes off a room then the others will also receive the iCal feed and be able to record the same room as being closed, on the same dates, for the same room.
Finding Your Nomad Stays iCal Link
Nomad Stays publishes an iCal URL for each room listed under our Boutique room system.
Your iCal URLs can be found on the Rooms Page of your Stay Dashboard. Each room will have a unique iCal URL.
Sample
Example
https://www.nomadstays.com/stayiCal/fkPXm9033HtWOfJ619n2w7Nqi03035g3pqyj58Bhv90339cFyd3k3569/695
Using your Nomad Stays iCal Link
You use this iCal link by :
- Copying the link for your room from your Nomad Stays Dashboard,
- Then, pasting it into the other iCal systems that you use (Airbnb, Booking,com etc.). it will be placed in the room area for the same room on their system.
- Lastly, you should validate or testing that the other system is reading the Nomad Stays iCal information correctly.
Where to Paste the Link
Every platform has its own location to store 'inbound' iCal links from other companies.
You will need to familiarize yourself with the other company's system to know exactly where to place it. Each platform usually has its own Help desk articles to explain where to paste and test these links.
As iCal sharing is done at the 'Room' level the most likely place to be pasting the Nomad Stays link is in the Room Information section for the same room.
Testing the iCal
After pasting and saving the Nomad Stays iCal URL in the other system you should test it.
As iCal is a global standard on the internet usually this is quite straight forward.
You can also test that your Nomad Stays iCal URL meets the global standards by using an independent iCal Validator service like that from iCalendar.org
https://icalendar.org/validator.html
What if there is a Problem
Luckily the iCal system is a global standard on the internet.
If there are problems, it is usually because:
- The other platform needs to authorize feeds from Nomad Stays, or
- The other platform wants more information about each blocked night
- The other platform has not implemented their iCal reading technology quite right
To resolve the issues you should
- Contact the other Platform and ask they check out the feed from Nomad Stays
- Also, let us know so that we can help you with more testing.