How do I set up my Calendar?
Clear and accurate availability calendars are one of the most important aspects of any property rental listing, but that doesn’t mean it should be a lot of work. In updating our new site we know our busy hosts have a lot to manage so we wanted to create an update where you can set it and forget it!
There are still two easy options for owners to choose from Manual Updates or Syncing. We’ll walk you through your Calendar update page so you can master both.
Beginning at the owner dashboard once you’ve logged in, select My Properties from the top.
This will bring you to the properties main page. Select which property you want to work on by clicking the Edit symbol from the far-right-hand side.
This will bring you to the Accommodations page.
- If your property has more than one accommodation, such as with Hotels and B&Bs, choose which accommodation you'd like to adjust.
- If your property only has one, simply click Edit again.
Now, you’re already on the Rates section, we’ve put it right at the top of the property editing page for you. To the left, there is a sidebar with different editing options for your property.
Click on Calendar which is right in the center.
You’ll immediately see the calendar for your property for the next 18 months displayed.
- If you need to make a booking further out, you can do so in the Manual Entry section as described below.
If you want to add an ical, click Sync your Calendars and you'll be brought right to that feature.
Above your calendars are two options a white boxes labeled Rates view and Bookings view with a tip notice to their right. To update calendars, you may ignore this and proceed as it’s the default selection.
- To update your Rates using our advanced calendar option, you’d use that option.
- Detailed instructions on that are available here.
Above that, a color-coded legend of the four booking types is right above the calendars and will stay locked in view as you scroll, so you can always easily view what type of reservation you have confirmed.
They are:
- BoutiqueHomes Booking – Reservations made through this site - Automatically updates
- Synched/Imported – Any reservations pulled in automatically from other websites
- Manually Added – Any items you’ve added in, either from direct bookings or other sites
- Blocked – Any dates you have indicated it will not be available to rent
- This is a great new addition to the website! We’ve found owners often want to stay in their property for holidays, or necessary maintenance pops up, but they were hesitant to put in a manual entry as it blended in with the others. Now you can enter these and keep a great visual so you can adjust.
Adding Manual Entries and Blocked Dates is easy and both are done in one simple area.
Start by clicking on the Check-In date on the calendar and then click on the date of Check-Out.
- The dates will highlight in blue to make it very clear which dates are being reserved.
A sidebar will pop up on the right-hand side of the screen.
First, at the top, it will reaffirm that it is a Manually Added Booking or Blocked. If you chose the wrong one before, simply select from the top the type of entry you're trying to make.
- It will default to a booking.
The Dates are Automatically filled in for you from the previous screen.
- Made a mistake? Click on the Dates to generate another calendar and adjust.
- Need to go further out? Click on the Dates to generate another calendar. From here click on the arrows to go as far as you need, and just click to select your revised check-in and out dates.
Below are all of the information fields for the reservation.
Click on the bank boxes to enter any and all details you’d want to include.
- Fields are: Client Name, Client Email, Client Phone, Rate, Number of Guests, and Pets
When done click on the black Save box at the bottom. That’s it!
To enter a Blocked reservation, simply click Blocked at the top right instead.
- Check the dates, fill in the notes, and click save as before.
When you return to the calendar, you’ll see the dates blocked out with the guest's name written in white across the reservation.
Now, there are times when you may make a mistake, a guest needs to modify, or a cancellation occurs. Life happens, we know, so we’ve made it easy to remove these entries as well.
Back at the calendar, scroll to the reservation you need to remove.
- Click on the reservation with your guest’s name and an edit box will pop up, very similar to what you’d just filled out previously.
- Modify the dates or details as in the previous section and click Save.
- Or simply click Delete to remove it altogether.
Syncing is by far the best long-term time-saving option for our hosts. This allows you to seamlessly update multiple calendars across multiple platforms
This too is available for you to easily set up and update from your Calendar page.
Simply scroll to the bottom of the page for these options.
- Click on the arrow to open up your import and export options.
Export the BoutiqueHomes Calendar
Provides you an automatically generated link to take your calendar from BoutiqueHomes for use elsewhere.
- Just copy the link in this box and paste it into any other sites you may need.
Import your Other Calendars
Click on the + here to insert calendars from any other platforms you use.
- A blank field will pop up, simply paste into your calendar.
- If you need help getting your other icalendar links please click here.
- In order to have your calendars update smoothly and accurately, you must provide any and all calendars you use here.
Most important of all, click Save at the bottom and you’re done!
If you ever want to review your Manually Added Dates, there's a search below the save button!
And, of course, should you have any questions or need assistance, we're always happy to help.