By the end of this guide you'll have copied your subscription link out of Cabintale and pasted it into every external platform you sell on, so a guest who books directly with you can't be double-booked on Airbnb or Booking.com.
What you'll need
- A property under Your setup → Places
- Logins for whichever external platforms you want to push your bookings out to
- About 5 minutes
- Your subscription link copied from the Sources tab
- That link pasted into one or more external platforms
- Your direct bookings showing up as blocked on Airbnb / Booking.com / etc.
Step 1: Find your subscription link
Sidebar → Places → your property → Sources tab.
The first section is Your exports. The row labeled Booking feed for OTAs holds your subscription link. It looks like this:
https://admin.cabintale.com/places/[a-very-long-code]/bookings.icsThis is the link the other platforms will subscribe to. You don't need to understand it — you just copy it.
Step 2: Copy the link
Click Copy URL right on the Booking feed for OTAs row. You'll see "URL copied to clipboard!".
Treat this link like a key to your calendar. Anyone who has it can read your blocked dates — and your guest names, if you've turned that on (see Privacy below). They can't change anything, but they can read along. Only paste it into platforms you trust.
Step 3: Paste it into each external platform
Every platform handles this a little differently, but it always comes down to the same thing: tell the platform to subscribe to your link. Here's where to paste it on the common ones:
| Platform | Where to paste |
|---|---|
| Airbnb | Calendar → Calendar settings → Import calendar → paste link |
| Booking.com | Calendar → Sync calendars → Add new calendar → paste link |
| Vrbo | Manage property → Calendar settings → Import a calendar → paste link |
| Google Calendar | Settings → Add calendar → Subscribe to calendar → paste link |
| Apple Calendar (macOS) | File → Subscribe to Calendar… → paste link |
| Outlook | Calendar → Add calendar → From the internet → paste link |
That's it — from now on each platform checks your link on its own and blocks off your direct dates automatically.
What the other platforms see
Each direct booking turns into a single blocked entry on the other calendar, showing:
- A title — "Booked" by default, or the guest's name if you turn that on (see Privacy below)
- The check-in and check-out dates
- The number of guests
Nothing else travels across — no email, phone number, notes, prices, or payment details ever leave Cabintale.
Privacy: guest names in the feed
By default the feed shows "Booked" as the title — subscribed platforms can see that a date is taken, but not who's staying. To include guest names instead:
- On the Booking feed for OTAs row, click the ⋯ menu → Edit.
- Turn Show guest names on.
- Save.
Switch it back off the same way. If a booking has no guest name, the title falls back to "Booked" regardless.
A few things to know
- The link updates itself. Whenever you add or change a direct booking, it's reflected automatically — there's nothing to re-copy or re-send.
- Changes can take up to an hour to show externally. If you make a change and then delete it moments later, the platforms may still show the older version for a short while before catching up.
- Your link doesn't change on its own. Each property gets its link when it's created and keeps it. If you think it's leaked — say you posted it somewhere public — email us and we'll issue you a fresh one.
- Services aren't covered yet. Time-slot services don't have a subscription link today. To share a service schedule, look at the Manifest feature instead (coming soon) — that's a PDF / shareable link rather than a calendar.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The platform says the link is invalid | The link picked up extra characters when copied (a stray space or line break) | Copy it again using the Copy URL button on the Booking feed for OTAs row |
| A new direct booking isn't showing up elsewhere | That platform hasn't checked your link yet (Airbnb is the slowest — up to 24 hours) | Wait, or trigger a manual refresh on their side if they offer one |
| A booking you deleted still shows up | The link can take up to an hour to catch up | Wait an hour, then refresh the subscription on the external platform |
| Guest names look cut off on the other platform | Different platforms display names differently | The full name is in your link — Apple Calendar shows all of it; some others trim it. This is on their end, not yours |
| I'd rather not show guest names | Guest names are off by default | On the Booking feed for OTAs row, ⋯ → Edit → turn Show guest names off. If they still appear, the other platform cached an older copy — wait for its next pull |
Related guides
- iCal import — iCal import (Sources)
- Cleaning calendar — Cleaning calendar
- Property basics — Property basics