Setting up iCal for Booking Notifications

Learn how to set up iCal for booking notifications, including attaching an iCal event to a notification and adding a booking to a personal calendar.

Accessing the features mentioned in this article

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

Manage > Integrations > Communication > iCal

What more do I need to use this feature?

• Admin permissions to manage Integrations and view calendars.
  
  

Which Checkfront version supports this feature - classic items, classic products, or both?

• This feature is available in both our classic items version using classic items (Inventory > Items) and our classic products version using classic products (Inventory > Products).  → Learn more about products

Our iCal notification integration lets you embed iCal event requests in your booking notifications.

When enabled, an event is attached to the outgoing notification email, with a summary of the booking and the date and time of the event. Similar to a meeting request, your Customers can quickly add the booking to their calendar directly from the notification.

iCal events can be read by most common mail and calendar applications, including Gmail, MS Outlook, and Apple Mail.

Looking to add iCal Feeds to your external calendar? Learn more here: Exporting your Booking Calendar to an external calendar (iCal)

Syncing with Vrbo via an iCal link is not currently supported.

To activate the integration in Checkfront, you can find the iCal integration (Manage > Integrations > Communication). Click on the iCal tile to open the Setup modal.

Enter the email of the Organizer that will appear in the calendar event and click the blue Activate button.

The ability to attach an iCal notification can be activated per notification. Simply edit the notification as usual and select the option labelled Attach an iCal event request to this e-mail.  

Once the Customer receives the email notification, they can double-click the iCal link directly below the invoice to add the booking to their calendar.

After clicking on the link, a pop-up window appears from which the Customer can select a specific calendar to add the booking.

Once added to the calendar, the event's status reflects the booking's current status.

• If the booking is Pending, it shows on the calendar as Tentative.
• If the booking is Paid, Reserved, or Deposit, it is confirmed.
• If the booking is Cancelled and you send a cancellation email, it also updates your Customer's calendar.

The appearance of the iCal link and the process for adding the booking to the calendar may vary, depending on the platform with which your Customer works.

Not all external calendars, such as Outlook and Thunderbird, automatically adjust an iCal event's start and end time to match your Customer's timezone when added to their calendar. Some calendars that do are Google Calendar and Apple Calendar.