Your bookings on Airbnb aren't blocking dates on Booking.com, or the other way around. Before spending time on the phone with support, run this quick check to find out exactly where the problem is.

First: Test Your Feed in ICS Viewer

Copy the iCal export URL from the platform you're syncing from, then paste it into ICS Viewer.

Events show up — your feed is working fine. The issue is on the importing platform's side.
Blank calendar or error — the feed itself is broken. Fix this first.

If the Feed Is Broken

URL expired. Airbnb and Vrbo occasionally regenerate export URLs for security. Go back to the platform, copy a fresh URL, and update it everywhere you've imported it.
Wrong URL. Make sure you copied the iCal export URL from the sync/export settings, not the calendar page URL or a sharing link.
Listing is paused or in draft. Some platforms stop serving iCal feeds for inactive listings.

If the Feed Is Fine But Dates Aren't Syncing

This is the most common situation. The feed is valid but the other platform hasn't fetched it yet. iCal sync is polling-based — not real-time. Each platform re-fetches imported feeds on its own schedule:

Airbnb: ~1 hour
Booking.com: ~2–4 hours
Vrbo: ~1–2 hours

A booking made at 2pm on Airbnb may not show as blocked on Booking.com until 4–6pm. This is normal — it's how iCal works across all platforms, not a bug specific to your setup.

Force a Refresh

You can trigger an immediate re-fetch by removing and re-adding the iCal URL in the importing platform's sync settings. This bypasses the schedule and forces a fresh fetch.

If It Still Doesn't Work

If ICS Viewer confirms your feed is correct but the importing platform consistently ignores it, contact that platform's support and tell them you've verified the feed is valid — the fault is on their end to investigate.

For high-demand properties where hours of delay is unacceptable, iCal isn't the right tool. Platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo all offer proprietary APIs for real-time availability sync, but these are only accessible to approved connectivity partners — not individual hosts directly. The practical route is a channel manager (Lodgify, Hostaway, Guesty, Beds24) that already has API access and syncs your availability across platforms in real time, with zero polling delay.